Wealth management

Exante Financial Services, the four-year-old banking unit of Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group, says it is closing in on the lead in health savings account deposits.

Life of the South, a Jacksonville, Fla., credit insurance provider, said Tuesday that it had hired a former AmSouth Bank and Bank of America executive to be client-service manager for its financial institution group.

CIT Group Inc., a New York consumer and commercial finance company, said it would announce today that its global insurance services business has formed a strategic alliance with Frenkel & Co. Inc., a full-service international insurance brokerage, to provide insurance products and services to its commercial clients.

The Advisor Confidence Index rose slightly in May, according to a report Tuesday by Rydex AdvisorBenchmarking Inc., an affiliate of Rydex Investments in Rockville, Md.

Henderson Global Investors, a London asset manager, announced Tuesday that it had agreed to outsource its middle- and back-office hedge fund services to JPMorgan Hedge Fund Services.

Hellman & Friedman LLC's plan to buy Gartmore Investment Management from Nationwide Financial Services Inc. furthers the separation of product manufacturing from distribution at large financial services companies and illustrates small asset managers' preference for independence over consolidation.

American International Assurance Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of American International Group Inc., announced Friday that it had gotten approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to do group insurance business throughout AIA’s China operation.

Wilmington Trust Corp. announced Thursday that it had a deal to buy PwC Corporate Services Ltd., a Cayman Islands provider of administration and bookkeeping services, from Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the big accounting firm.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said Thursday that it had chosen Manahan Group, a West Virginia marketing and advertising agency, to market the 529 college savings program sponsored by that state.

Bank of America Corp. says it has gathered a wealth of assets by assembling teams of bankers and investment advisers to target the mass affluent.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. announced Thursday that it had a deal to sell Gartmore Investment Management PLC, the London investment management arm of its Gartmore Group, which manages $46 billion of assets in the United States.

State insurance regulators have reached their operational goal for activation of an interstate compact on product regulation whose goal is to develop uniform national standards for life insurance, annuities, and disability income and long-term-care insurance.

Kerry Hatcher, a trust and investment specialist and market manager in the First Interstate Financial Services division at First Interstate Bank of Billings, Mont., has gained a $35 million book of business, given it up, then started all over again to create a business he says is growing almost too fast to keep up with.

State insurance regulators have reached their operational goal for activation of an interstate compact on product regulation whose goal is to develop uniform national standards for life insurance, annuities, and disability income and long-term-care insurance.

Convinced that variable annuity growth is being stymied by high costs, Raymond James Financial Inc. says it will cut its commissions to address the problem.

Pershing LLC, a member of BNY Securities Group and a subsidiary of Bank of New York Co. Inc., said Tuesday that it had completed a $20 billion customer account conversion for Northwestern Mutual Investment Services.

ING Group NV, a global financial services company based in Amsterdam, announced Tuesday that it had enhanced its plan review function for defined contribution plan sponsors.