Wealth management

Bankers Life and Casualty Co. in Chicago said Wednesday that it had hired Michael Plazony to be a vice president of underwriting.

Tompkins Insurance Agencies Inc., having seen good revenue growth from its first agency acquisitions in western New York, says it wants to build on that success with its latest agency deal, for Banfield & Associates Inc. in Ithaca.

U.S. hedge funds posted gains last year but lagged the broader financial markets and fell short of the double-digit returns they delivered in 2003, according to Hennessee Group, a New York hedge fund consultant.

HSBC Brokerage Inc. said Tuesday that it has merged into its broker-dealer affiliate, HSBC Securities Inc., and taken the latter's name.

Mellon Financial Corp.'s human resources and investor solutions business announced an alliance Tuesday with Fiserv Inc. to provide health savings accounts.

JPMorgan Investor Services appointed Michael J. Leary Tuesday to oversee its compliance solutions program, which is designed to support clients' chief compliance officers.

Compass Bancshares Inc. announced Tuesday that it had bought Stavis, Margolis Advisory Services Inc., a Houston investment advisory firm with about $500 million of assets under management.

Janus Capital Group Inc. has reported a small increase in assets under management during December.

Farmers Capital Bank Corp. and Hamburg Insurance LLC have announced the closing of their purchase of Kentucky Home Life Insurance Co.

Jackson National Life Insurance Co. in Lansing, Mich., said Monday that it had introduced Ultimate Investor, a flexible-premium variable universal life product.

Univest Corp. of Pennsylvania in Souderton said it has completed the purchase of Donald K. Martin & Co.

Many high-net-worth investors are not fully prepared to deal financially with their death, according to a study released Monday by PNC Advisors, which has concluded that financial companies must be more aggressive in advising these customers.

Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. said its subsidiary Endurance Reinsurance Corp. of America has been subpoenaed by the New York attorney general for documents related to an investigation of contingent commission agreements.

Ibbotson Associates, a Chicago provider of investment tools and information, said Thursday that it has created a paper-based tool to produce model portfolios for clients in or near retirement.

Encore Bank, a privately held bank in Houston, has announced the purchase by its affiliate, Town and Country Insurance Agency Inc., of John A. Bumstead & Associates Inc., a Houston agency specializing in personal insurance lines.

Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co., a Richmond, Va., insurance and risk management intermediary, said Friday that it has bought Ed Murray & Sons Inc., a Cheyenne, Wyo., insurance broker - its second such deal announced this year.

"Full-service" brokerages that promise to advise clients and monitor their investment accounts are not legally obliged to do more than execute trades requested by the customers, these firms are arguing in arbitration cases heard recently.

Ace Ltd., one of the largest U.S. property and casualty insurers, has boosted its asbestos reserves and given a 2005 forecast that disappointed some analysts; it also named Brian E. Dowd chairman and chief executive officer of its U.S. property and casualty retail brokerage division, succeeding Susan Rivera, who resigned.