Wealth management

Executives at Hancock Bank in New Orleans and at J. Everett Eaves Inc., a New Orleans-based agency with an office in Covington, La., jointly announced Monday that they had signed a definitive agreement for Hancock to buy Eaves and make it a division of Hancock Insurance Agency.

Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of Bank of New York Co. Inc., said Monday that it has broadened its focus on registered investment advisers through its repositioned Pershing Advisor Solutions unit.

SunTrust Banks Inc. has combined two brokerage units and adopted an open-architecture, advice-driven strategy in an effort to generate assets in a unit that needs a jump-start.

Members of minority groups and lower-income households that want and need life insurance the most are being slighted in the marketplace, according to a survey released Monday by a Washington-based market research and consulting firm - polling company inc.

South Financial Group Inc. in Greenville, S.C., said Friday that it has bought Bowditch Insurance Corp. in Jacksonville, Fla., as the "foundation agency" in the insurance business for Mercantile Bank, its Florida subsidiary.

Ross Rogers, the new head of Comerica Inc.'s insurance and securities distribution businesses, came to the Detroit banking company this month from a firm that specializes in separately managed accounts.

Acordia Inc., the giant insurance brokerage subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co., announced Friday that it had hired executives to be the managing directors of its operations in Boston and Colorado.

The new head of Citigroup Inc.’s private bank said he believes it can continue to grow in Asia despite a regulatory scandal the private bank has faced in Japan.

National City Corp. has rebranded its asset management units under the Allegiant name in an effort to develop assets through cross-selling, but analysts also see it as an effort to cut costs.

Webster Insurance, a subsidiary of Webster Financial Corp. in Waterbury, Conn., said Thursday that it had promoted William N. Guerrera to senior vice president, public entities division, and Frank N. Pulito to senior vice president, financial services.

VantisLife Insurance Co. said Wednesday that it has a distribution agreement with Workers' Credit Union of Fitchburg, Mass.

Citigroup Global Wealth Management's CEO says it plans to substantially increase its share in the fragmented European market in the next three to five years as it expands its platform overseas.

The Detroit banking company Comerica Inc. hired Ross Rogers Wednesday to be a senior vice president and the chief executive officer of Comerica Securities Inc. and Comerica Insurance Group Inc.

National City Corp. of Cleveland said Wednesday that it is rebranding three organizations, including its Armada Funds group, as the Allegiant Asset Management Group.

HSA Bank, a division of the Webster Bank unit of Webster Financial Corp., will discount health savings account administration services to the more than 600,000 small-business members of the National Federation of Independent Business, it said Tuesday.

Banks, private banks, and trust companies are well positioned to gain market share in an environment that, for the first time in four years, is dominated by pessimism among the wealthiest investors, says an executive of U.S. Trust Corp., the private banking arm of Charles Schwab Corp.

Nearly half of Americans are unaware that bank trust departments offer investment services, according to a survey released Monday by GlobalBridge Inc., a nationwide provider of separately managed account programs.