Wealth management

T. Rowe Price in Baltimore said Monday that it has started an individual 401(k) plan that lets self-employed people and small-business owners with no employees other than a spouse to save more for retirement.

Sandy Spring Bank in Olney, Md., is looking to bolster noninterest income through deals for insurance agencies with $3 million of annual revenue or less, the bank's president and chief executive says.

UnumProvident in Chattanooga, Tenn., has announced a group long-term-care product that can help preserve the assets of employees and their families from the financial effects of illness and injury.

Putnam Investments in Boston said Friday that Deborah F. Kuenstner, the managing director and chief investment officer of the large-cap value and international value teams, has decided to leave at yearend.

Prudential Retirement in Newark, N.J., a business of Prudential Financial Inc., said it has hired two senior actuarial consultants.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has announced the start-up of a group health savings account product with Mellon Financial Corp.'s human resources and investor solutions business.

Insurers including Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and thousands of insurance brokers and agents are lobbying to limit new rules aimed at deterring kickbacks alleged by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Wachovia Corp. says it plans to develop assets by aggressively cross-selling retirement products and services across its business lines.

Bank of New York introduced a full-service brokerage solution for high-net-worth investors Thursday.

Sandy Spring Bank in Olney, Md., said Thursday that its insurance unit has reached an agreement to acquire certain assets and liabilities of Wolfe & Reichelt Insurance Agency in Burtonville.

The latest agency deal by BB&T Insurance Services Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., fits its strategy of strengthening the banking company’s employee benefits and property/casualty businesses and bolsters a business whose revenue has risen 78% this year.

MFS Investment Management said it has added its MFS International Diversification Fund to the menu of funds available in its 529 college savings plan portfolio.

State Street Corp. announced that it has been appointed the investment service provider for the British Airways Pension Trustees fund.

Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America plans to add bank distribution alliances and increase its multicultural marketing efforts next year, the executive named its sales and distribution director said Wednesday.

Assets held in exchange-traded funds grew 5% in October, according to data released by the Investment Company Institute on Wednesday.

HSBC Holding PLC, Europe's biggest bank by market value, said Wednesday that it will split its global fund management business into two units and withdraw from actively investing in U.S. and Japanese equities.