Wealth management

ABN Amro Asset Management announced Friday that it had a deal to sell the distribution rights to its U.S. mutual fund business for $38.6 million to Highbury Financial Inc. but will remain subadviser to the funds.

Vanguard Group in Malvern, Pa., announced Thursday that it had begun constructing a portfolio for its new Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund.

Northern Trust Corp. said Thursday that it has added socially responsible investing guidelines to its Compliance Analyst, a customizable, Web-based tool that monitors investment portfolio guidelines and reports holdings that are nearing or have breached established limits.

Nationwide Financial Services Inc.'s newly chartered savings bank will deposit payouts from its sister insurance companies directly into customers' savings and checking accounts and will eventually offer them insurance, investments, and other products, the bank's president says.

The Japanese insurer Tokio Marine announced Wednesday that it will buy Asia General Holdings in a move to enter the Singapore and Malaysia markets. Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance Co., a unit of the Millea Holdings Group, said it expects to pay $427 million for the Singapore insurer, according to a Tokio Marine spokesman.

National City Bank's asset management arm for the ultra-wealthy hired a former Mellon executive Wednesday to be its chief executive officer.

Merrill Lynch & Co. advisers Scott Macolino and Roger Shaffer had it all - a partnership serving a book full of ultra-wealthy investors with a minimum account size of $5 million.

After its sixth consecutive quarter of higher revenue, Merrill Lynch & Co. will focus on organic growth in all its business lines, its finance chief said Tuesday, while looking for strategic acquisitions to accelerate growth.

The Office of Thrift Supervision has approved an application by the insurer Nationwide Financial Services Inc. to operate a full-service savings bank.

State Farm Insurance Co. told the Louisiana Department of Insurance that it will not write new insurance policies for homeowners south of Alexandria, La., an article in The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report said Tuesday.

UMB health-care services, a division of UMB Financial Corp. in Kansas City, Mo., said Tuesday that it had formed a partnership with ConnectYourCare, a consumer-directed health-care company, to offer custodial, investment, and health payment card services for health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, and health reimbursement arrangements.

HSBC Private Bank, a division of HSBC Bank USA, announced Tuesday that it had hired Larry Ingraham for a new post in New York, head of administration in its global wealth solutions group for the Americas.

Wilmington Trust Co.'s growth is being helped along by a wave of consolidation among financial companies that cater to the affluent, the company says.

Phoenix Companies Inc. announced Monday that it had hired Edward W. Cassidy to be the senior vice president of life distribution, reporting to Philip K. Polkinghorn, the executive vice president, life and annuity.

To help the 8,000 baby boomers the Census Bureau says will turn 60 each day this year, Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Horsham, Pa., said Monday, it has added a rider to its Cornerstone Variable Universal Life IV insurance policy, offering policyholders supplemental income for retirement.

Principal Global Investors, a member of Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, said Monday that it had appointed M. Randall "Randy" Strickland a managing director, consultant relations.

New York Life Insurance Co. announced Wednesday that it had elected Mark E. Arning a senior vice president.

Three wealth management affiliates of Sterling Financial Corp. in Lancaster, Pa., have been combined under the management of Gregory A. Church in Sterling Investment Services Group, the diversified financial services company said.