Wealth management

Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Co. and AIG Sunamerica Retirement Markets Inc. have expanded their 401(k) offerings to meet small-business plan sponsors' demands to reduce administrative burdens and boost plan participation.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has announced that Killbuck Savings Bank Co. in Killbuck, Ohio, chose its health savings account program and has opened hundreds of accounts in less than four months.

By expanding its roster of wholesalers who sell retirement products to intermediaries like banks, Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. says, it increased 401(k) plan sales by 28.1% last year, and an executive said it could keep up this pace.

A.M. Best Co., the Oldwick, N.J., ratings agency, said Friday that a soft market has emerged in commercial lines insurance, dimming the industry's long-term business prospects after a period of price firming during the hard-market period early this decade.

Symetra Life Insurance Co. announced that it had formed a partnership with Independent Financial Marketing Group Inc. to offer Symetra annuities to customers of Banco Popular North America, a Rosemont, Ill., bank.

Quadrangle Group LLC, a New York private equity firm focused on media and communications investments, said Friday that it would start a hedge fund focused on the media and communications industry.

Phoenix Cos. Inc., a Hartford, Conn., financial services company, has announced the promotions of Amy Fisher, Stephen D. Gresham, and Francis G. Waltman from vice president to senior vice president in asset management.

American International Group Inc. said Friday that a Taiwan subsidiary had agreed to buy Central Insurance Co. Ltd. of Taiwan through a share swap valued at $183 million to $187 million.

RiverSource Investments LLC, a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Minneapolis, said that it had introduced six mutual funds to be sold through its advisers and retirement plans.

In an effort to address regulators' concerns about banks' annuity sales practices, some insurers have begun offering certification courses for bankers who sell their annuity products.

Brinker Capital, an independent provider of managed account and mutual fund services, said it has introduced a unified managed account.

Evergreen Institutional, a unit of Wachovia Corp.'s investment management arm, announced Thursday that it had hired a director for short-term investment management sales.

Putnam Investments is looking for European banks, insurers, and asset managers as partners for its effort to expand distribution overseas.

Benefit Resource Inc., a Rochester, N.Y., administrator of employee benefits plans, introduced a MasterCard debit card Wednesday to let people pay for health-related expenses using funds from a health savings account, health reimbursement account, or flexible spending account, it said.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. added two directors Tuesday to its Canadian products group.

Charles Schwab Corp. said Tuesday that it had attracted net new assets of $9.5 billion last month, up 138% from a year earlier and up 3% from December.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. announced Tuesday that it had named Andrew J. Pinkes president of Heritage Holdings Inc., a unit that oversees the company's property and casualty runoff operations.

NASD said Tuesday that it had ordered Diversified Investors Securities Corp., a mutual fund company, to pay more than $2.2 million in fines and restitution for allegedly allowing market timing in its international equity fund.