Wealth management

Morgan Stanley, Wall Street's top money-maker in asset management until last year, said Tuesday that it had promoted Dennis Shea to succeed Joseph McAlinden as the fund unit's chief investment officer for equities.

Fidelity Investments' clearing arm has launched a managed account platform designed to help develop assets through third parties, including banks.

Banks should prepare themselves for an increasingly strenuous competition to realize the business benefit of President Bush’s proposals to enlarge the tax breaks for health savings accounts, industry observers say.

John Hancock, a Boston unit of Manulife Financial Corp., said Monday that it had appointed Mary M. Refior a vice president and national accounts manager for its bank channel.

State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corp. in Boston, introduced three exchange-traded sector funds Monday.

Wachovia Corp. added 15 retirement consultants Monday to support its Wachovia Financial Center employees.

SEI Investments, an Oaks, Pa., provider of asset management services, announced Monday that Westwood Holdings Group Inc. had chosen it to serve two new, no-load mutual funds.

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M&T Bank Corp.’s purchase of a Maryland agency last week moved its insurance operation for the first time into the Middle Atlantic region it entered with a big bank deal in 2003, and it may have nearly doubled the unit’s revenue.

Illington Fund Management LLC said Friday that it had started the first mutual fund managed by Hugh Johnson, a nationally recognized investment strategist.

KeyCorp's asset management arm, Victory Capital Management, announced Friday that it had hired Greg River to be a managing director and the head of equities.

Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. says it plans to expand its private-client services division nationally by opportunistically opening satellite offices.

Union Bank of California said Thursday that it had consolidated its insurance operations under a single brand name, UnionBanc Insurance Services Inc., and will aggressively expand its client base with an initial focus on California and Oregon.

Deutsche Bank AG announced Thursday that it is rebranding its U.S. mutual fund business, Scudder Investments, as part of a global asset management strategy focused on increasing distribution through advisers.

BB&T Corp. says it plans to expand its asset management operation deeper into the Southeast through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

BNY Brokerage Inc., a subsidiary of Bank of New York Co. and member of BNY Securities Group, has expanded the services offered in its Boston office by adding a sales trading desk and increasing its sales force, it said Wednesday.

A.M. Best Co. in Oldwick, N.J., has upgraded the financial strength ratings of four Encompass companies that are part of the Allstate Insurance Group of Northbrook, Ill., to A-plus, from A-minus, and issuer credit ratings to "aa" from "a-minus."

Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. announced it had added a guaranteed minimum accumulation benefit to its RiverSource lineup of variable annuities.