Wealth management

Assets in U.S. mutual funds declined 1.6% from March to April, to $7.919 trillion, the Investment Company Institute said.

GlobalBridge Inc. of Minneapolis, a provider of managed accounts to bank trust departments and wealth managers, said its president, Ross Rogers, had resigned.

Lehman Brothers said it had hired a team from JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s private banking business to join its private investment management group.

Mellon Financial Corp. of Pittsburgh said Thursday that it had sold its human resources consulting and outsourcing businesses to Affiliated Computer Services Inc. of Dallas for less than the deal price announced in March.

Wilmington Trust Co. has hired Gregory F. Sanford to be president of its Wilmington Trust FSB unit in Southern California.

Regions Financial Corp.'s insurance unit has taken another step forward in its expansion plan, adding the customer accounts and staff of an agency in a city, Memphis, where it has ample cross-selling opportunities.

PFIC Corp. has announced an agreement to buy the dual-employee, direct-access brokerage, and employee-stock-ownership-plan administration business lines of Fiserv Investor Services Inc.

Deutsche Bank said Wednesday that it had hired Bart A. Grenier for the new post of head of specialty fixed-income in its asset management subsidiary.

Northern Trust Co. in Chicago announced Tuesday that it has developed the first proprietary solution to let multinational companies commingle defined benefit retirement plan assets with assets from non-U.S. subsidiaries in an offshore pooling vehicle.

A New York company, through an alliance with Fidelity Investments and Aetna Inc., introduced the first health benefit program Tuesday tailored to help people save money for retirement health expenses.

Symetra Life Insurance Co. said Tuesday that it has expanded its distribution arrangement with U.S. Bancorp Investments Inc., a unit of the Minneapolis banking company, to add two annuities.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced the purchase Monday of Alternative Market Specialists headquartered in Edina, Minn.

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. said Friday that it will enter mainland China's health insurance market by setting up a subsidiary, Ping An Health Insurance Co. of China Ltd.

Japan's Financial Services Agency plans to postpone full liberalization of insurance policy sales at banks by eight months, until December 2007, according to sources cited Friday in a report by The Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

MassMutual Financial Group unveiled an IRA annuity rollover campaign Thursday targeted at financial professionals.

HSBC Group’s announcement last week that its investment business would buy Atlantic Advisors LLC, a New York investment management company, was a step forward in the reorganization and strengthening of its global institutional asset management business, an executive said.