Wealth management

Assets in hedge funds rose 1.31% in June, according to the CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index, which was released Friday.

Sun Life Financial Inc. in Toronto announced the completion Friday of a domestic public offering of about $268 million of noncumulative preferred shares at $20.62 per share yielding 4.80% annually.

Two large fund companies that have been cutting fees, Fidelity and Vanguard, say their plans have not changed as TIAA-CREF, the largest U.S. retirement fund, seeks approval to raise fees on 12 institutional funds that are part of its relatively small mutual fund family sold to the public.

A recent survey by Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. of 502 retirees and preretirees who have a professional financial adviser has found that this group has become more concerned about making sure they do not outlive their money than with a focus on asset allocation or investment performance.

A research report on health savings accounts released Thursday by TowerGroup in Needham, Mass., says the biggest investment management opportunity for financial institutions may be limited to extending relationships with businesses and consumers.

Leesport Financial Corp. in Wyomissing, Pa., said Thursday that it had bought an equity position in First HSA LLC, a national health savings account administration company for which Leesport Bank acts as account custodian.

A.M. Best Co. said Wednesday that it had assigned a financial strength rating of A-plus and an issuer credit rating of aa-minus to the members of the newly formed pool, St. Paul Travelers Insurance Cos.

Jamie Shepherdson has been hired by Axa Financial Inc., the U.S. unit of the French insurance giant, to be an executive vice president and head its wholesale distribution division, Axa Distributors LLC.

Within seven years, 25 to 50 large financial advisory firms, each managing at least $15 billion of assets and with $50 million of revenue, will dominate the industry as large salaries, operating expenses, and difficult market conditions force a shakeout, JPMorgan Asset Management asserts in a study released Wednesday.

Prudential PLC in London announced Wednesday that FMR Corp. and Fidelity International Ltd. had informed it that since Nov. 11 they had raised their Prudential stock holdings to 3.039% of the common shares.

Royal Bank of Canada has opened the first of 100 retail insurance offices planned for Canada to augment a business line that produces more than $3 billion of annual revenues in 30 countries.

Stone & Youngberg, a San Francisco fixed-income securities firm, said Tuesday that it had hired Jack Turner, a former executive of Banc One Capital Markets, to head its taxable-fixed-income department.

Fidelity Information Services, a division of Fidelity National Financial Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla., has announced that it is offering banks a "flexible deposits solution" that works in tandem with health savings accounts.

Independent Financial Marketing Group in Purchase, N.Y., said Tuesday that its chief executive officer, Bob Spadafora, has left the company and would be succeeded on an interim basis by Gary Corsi, a vice president and the chief financial officer of Sun Life Financial (US), the U.S. subsidiary of its Toronto parent company.

Registered investment advisers say they expect their businesses to grow steadily for the next five years, and a survey released Tuesday said they consider referrals a top driver of growth in this period.

Mellon Financial Corp. has announced that its investment manager solutions group will administer the back-office for Stephens Investment Management Group, which manages assets for institutional and Stephens private-client-group customers.

Genworth Financial's retirement services group has announced the hiring of David Reynolds to be a regional vice president and wholesaler.