Wealth management

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has announced the purchase of $247.5 million of multiyear, collateralized catastrophe reinsurance from Foundation Re Ltd., a Cayman Island reinsurance company.

North Carolina Mutual said Friday that it has acquired 10,000 policies from American Life and Health Insurance Co. of Missouri.

ING Group's announcement that it has a deal to sell its Atlanta insurance subsidiary, Life Insurance Company of Georgia, to Jackson National Life Insurance Co. furthers a strategy to focus on the wealth management business within its insurance division, according to the company.

Hartford Life Inc. is planning to expand its global operations beyond Brazil and Japan, beginning next spring by distributing insurance products in Europe.

Fidelity Investments announced Thursday that it is expanding its retirement income planning program for financial advisers.

ING Group, the Dutch financial services company, and Prudential PLC, the British insurer, said Thursday that they have agreed on the sale of ING's Atlanta subsidiary, Life Insurance Company of Georgia, to Prudential's U.S. subsidiary, Jackson National Life Insurance Co.

Hedge funds grew about 4.2% in the third quarter, a slower pace than earlier in the year, Tremont Capital Management Inc. said on Thursday.

Bank of New Hampshire, a division of Banknorth in Portland, Maine, said Wednesday that it will begin offering health savings accounts Jan. 3.

HSA Bank, the trade name for State Bank of Howards Grove, Wis., which is a leading custodian and administrator of health savings accounts, said Wednesday that it has agreed with a unit of Trustmark Mutual Holding Co. to be the primary financial trustee of the HSAs associated with the latter's high-deductible health plans.

Sales of unified managed accounts are increasing at banks as more institutions try to use the product to move from asset manager to wealth adviser.

Gary Pilgrim and Harold Baxter, co-founders of the money management firm Pilgrim Baxter & Associates Ltd., have agreed to pay record fines of $80 million each to settle charges that they allowed and profited from abusive fund trading, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.

Assets held in 529 college savings plans grew 5% during the third quarter, according to data from Financial Research Corp. that was released Tuesday by the College Savings Foundation.

Amid companywide layoffs and speculation about a possible sale, Putnam Investments' chief executive officer says he is confident that the company can get bigger by getting smaller.

The life insurance distribution alliance Comerica Insurance Group announced Tuesday with Highland Capital Brokerage of Birmingham, Ala., is expected to bolster the latter's strategy for bank channel sales and reach an underserved segment of the banking company's customers.

Columbia Management Group, Bank of America's investment management arm, said Tuesday that it has hired Randall Royther to be the chief investment officer for its money market investments platform.

Deutsche Bank announced Monday that it had signed a definitive agreement to sell the New York City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Chicago offices of Scudder Private Investment Counsel to Legg Mason Inc., a Baltimore broker and asset manager.

John Hancock Life Insurance Co. in Boston said Monday that a fixed annuity called Guaranteed Principal Annuity Plus offers multiple interest rate guarantee periods to supply flexibility for varying interest rate environments.