Wealth management

Evolution Benefits Inc. in Avon, Conn., and HSA Bank said Thursday that they have agreed to a product integration that combines HSA Bank's health savings accounts and Evolution's benefits debit card known as Benny to support consumer-directed health-care programs.

Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. in Richmond, Va., has announced the purchase of True Benchmark Insurance Services LLC, an excess and surplus lines broker in Oak Brook, Ill.

Calvert Group Ltd. has announced the start-up of a fixed-income fund, an actively managed long-term corporate bond portfolio that employs a relative-value strategy to produce incremental income.

National Penn Bancshares Inc.'s most recent agency purchase - of Krombolz Agency Inc. in West Chester, Pa. - was just the latest in a campaign to expand fee income and exploit cross-selling opportunities, the leader of its insurance subsidiary says.

Wealthy investors were increasingly positive about asset growth as 2004 ended, according to data released Wednesday.

Placemark Investments, a unified managed account provider, announced Wednesday that managed account industry veteran Alan Sislen has joined its board of directors.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said it has named Robert Ivey a regional vice president of its expanded Pennsylvania regional office.

Schwab Institutional said it has started a bundled managed account product that gives advisers access to portfolio management by its U.S. Trust bank subsidiary.

Wachovia Corp.'s corporate and institutional trust division has announced the hiring of a former J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. executive to be a relationship manager in its structured finance trust services group.

Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. in Richmond, Va., has announced the purchase of True Benchmark Insurance Services LLC, an excess and surplus lines broker in Oak Brook, Ill.

VantisLife Insurance Co. says it is looking beyond banks to form more alliances with credit unions in order to increase its scale.

Legg Mason Inc. announced Monday that it had completed its purchase from Deutsche Bank of the Scudder Private Investment Counsel offices in New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Chicago.

Wells Fargo & Co. announced Monday that it had completed its acquisition of the mutual fund company Strong Financial Corp.

Tompkins Trustco Inc. in Ithaca, N.Y., said Monday that its subsidiary, Tompkins Insurance Agencies Inc., had bought Banfield & Associates Inc., an insurance agency in Ithaca.

S&T Bank in Indiana, Pa., announced Monday that it had acquired Bennett Associates Inc. and Cowher-Nehrig & Co., (the Bennett Group), two multiline insurance agencies in Cambria County, Pa.

Small-cap stocks outperformed large-cap equities for a sixth consecutive year in 2004, according to the small-cap Russell 2000 Index.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners said Thursday that it had supported model legislation for disclosure requirements that would ensure people could understand how brokers are compensated for selling insurance products.