Wealth management

Bankers Life and Casualty Co. in Chicago has hired John W. Wells to be its senior vice president of operations.

AmerUs Group Co., a Des Moines producer of life insurance and annuity products, announced Friday that Ward M. Klein and Heidi L. Steiger have joined its board, bringing the complement to 13 directors, 11 of whom are independent.

CNA Financial Corp. in Chicago has announced the hiring of D. Craig Mense to be chief financial officer, succeeding Robert V. Deutsch, who was CFO from August 1999 to October 2004.

Hartford Life Inc. in Simsbury, Conn., said it has promoted Gregory Boyko, the head of international operations for The Hartford Financial Services Group, to be an executive vice president of Hartford Life.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Thursday that it has assigned its A-minus preferred stock rating to the $175 million of deferrable debentures to be issued by Great-West Life and Annuity Insurance Capital LP.

American International Group Inc. in New York said Wednesday it has promoted David M. Hupp and Vincent J. Masucci to AIG Cos. senior executives for the eastern and western regions, respectively.

Bank of New York announced Wednesday that it has been hired by Great-West Life and Annuity Insurance Co. to provide custody, insurance trust, and securities lending services for about $8.5 billion of assets.

Trustmark Corp. has announced that it plans to buy a Pensacola, Fla., insurance agency in a move to further diversify its revenues and to expand its presence in the Florida Panhandle.

GlobalBridge Inc., a Minneapolis separate account asset manager for individual investors, said Wednesday that it has hired Sally Oberstar and Mary McMahon to be principals of the firm and relationship management directors.

Wachovia corporate and institutional trust announced Wednesday that it has hired S. Paul Sanko to be the vice president of sales in its equity services group.

America's millionaires showed renewed confidence in the economy last month, according to an index released Wednesday by Spectrem Group, a Chicago consulting firm that specializes in the affluent and retirement markets.

Affiliated Managers Group Inc. said Tuesday that it has completed the previously announced purchase of an additional 19% interest in Friess Associates LLC from the firm's founder and chairman, Foster Friess, as originally agreed Oct. 31, 2001.

Trustmark Corp. in Jackson, Miss., said Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to buy Fisher-Brown Inc., an insurance agency in northwest Florida, as part of a strategy to become a more diversified financial services organization.

Family Office Exchange, a provider of advice and guidance to ultra-wealthy families, and U.S. Trust Corp., a New York banking company that caters to the wealthy and whose fund family has been touched by scandal, have developed a set of tools to help investors identify and deal with conflicts of interest among investment advisers.

The new head of cross-selling at Acordia Inc. says that expanding this effort with parent Wells Fargo & Co. is a top priority for the Chicago insurance agency.

Century Bank and Trust Co. in Boston has announced an investment management agreement with BlackRock Financial Management Inc. for Century's securities portfolio.

Wachovia's corporate and institutional trust division in Charlotte, N.C., said Monday that it has hired Richard Scott to be a managing director of sales for institutional trust.

Scudder Investments in Chicago introduced Scudder Pathway Growth Plus Portfolio on Monday, the latest entry in the Pathway Series of fund-of-funds products that use asset allocation strategies.