Wealth management

MetLife Inc. announced Friday that it is no longer considering selling its 51% stake in Reinsurance Group of America Inc. to help fund its planned purchase of Citigroup's Travelers Life and Annuity business.

HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. said Thursday that it had hired seven U.S. professionals to further its global equities expansion.

Charles Schwab Institutional says it has developed billions of dollars of assets under custody and accumulated intermediary fees by referring affluent customers to independent advisers.

Greater Bay Bancorp, an East Palo Alto, Calif., banking company with $6.9 billion of assets, announced Thursday that its insurance subsidiary had signed a definitive agreement to buy Lucini/Parish Insurance Inc. in Reno, Nev.

Mellon Financial Corp.'s human resources and investor solutions business said Wednesday that it had agreed with Group Insurance Trust of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants to offer health savings accounts to about 28,000 California Society of CPAs members.

Janus Capital Group Inc. is looking to develop its large-cap value capabilities as the Denver fund company known for its growth products continues to report outflows and lower revenues.

Merrill Lynch & Co.'s asset management unit said Wednesday that it had agreed to buy two Dutch asset management units of the giant Royal Philips Electronics corporation.

St. Paul Travelers announced Tuesday that it has started an Internet liability policy aimed at small to midsize technology businesses.

BB&T Corp. in Winston-Salem, N.C., said Tuesday that it has begun offering automatic individual retirement account rollovers for commercial customers' employees who depart with low balances.

Fidelity Brokerage Co., a unit of the mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments, reported first-quarter results Tuesday that included higher client assets, client accounts, and average daily commissionable trades and a decline in new client assets.

Symetra Life Insurance Co. in Redmond, Wash., said Tuesday that it had enhanced its custom fixed annuity by raising the minimum rate guarantee to 2%, from 1.5%, during the first seven years of the contract.

Safeco Corp., a Seattle property and casualty insurer, said on Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings fell but easily beat estimates because last year's results included $51 million from its divested life and investments operations.

American Express Co.'s financial advisory unit has sued the state of New Hampshire, claiming that federal law pre-empts state regulators' authority to pursue fraud charges against Amex brokers.

Minnesota Life Group Insurance in St. Paul achieved a 12% hike in insurance in force and 99% customer retention during 2004, it said Tuesday.

A joint insurance venture in Brussels of Fortis AG and FB Insurance is to use Fortis' "dedicated" business model in the banking and independent intermediary channels, according to Jozef De Mey, the chairman appointed to lead the venture, which is to be legally established by next year as Fortis Insurance Belgium.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a reorganization Monday that would underline its position as one of the biggest players in custody services, with a combined $9.1 trillion of assets under custody.

Lloyd's chairman Lord Levene was to urge in a speech Monday night to business leaders at the Philadelphia Club that the insurance industry work with regulators, people outside the industry, and corporations' top executives to show that ethical business behavior was insurers' norm.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. announced Monday that Patrick Marsh would join it as a managing director and head of municipal structuring in its global markets division and that Josh Sherman has joined as a vice president in municipal structuring.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. announced that Japan had named Gregory Boyko, the chairman and chief executive officer of Hartford Life International Ltd., as the Asian nation's honorary consul in Simsbury, Conn.