Wealth management

Community Bank System Inc. in Dewitt, N.Y., reports 20% average annual revenue growth this decade in its benefits consulting business and attributes its success in the highly competitive field to focusing on a niche market typically underserved by the big providers.

Nearly four years after buying a tiny New Jersey bank, executives at the insurance giant MetLife Inc. say it is on track to meet its goals for deposit and asset growth but that their focus is on expanded distribution and integration with the insurer's other products.

Vanguard Group has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an actively managed equity fund.

Standard & Poor's said Monday that it has added an option to its Portfolio Advisor platform to give financial advisers the ability to create portfolios for their fee-based clients that include individual stocks.

Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. announced the hiring Monday of Mark Rhodes as a senior managing director and executive director in the private-client services division.

American Express Financial Advisors said it began an advertising campaign Monday targeting mass-affluent investors for its financial advisory services.

Genworth Financial said Friday that it has named Kate Carey to lead its government relations office in Washington.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has announced easier access to a flexible spending account program available to customers for its group life, accident, and disability insurance.

Northern Trust Corp., the largest Chicago-based money management company, was fired Friday as custodian and index fund manager for the Illinois State Board of Investment, severing a 20-year relationship with five public pension funds.

Though banks continue to gain momentum with managed account sales, most lag in selling the more sophisticated unified managed accounts that link a collection of investment products on one platform, according to executives in Franklin Templeton's private-client group.

Principal Financial Group has announced an individual disability insurance association program to make the insurance more affordable for association members and employees of growing businesses.

Great-West Retirement Services in Greenwood Village, Colo., Thursday announced that John Farmakis has joined its record keeping entity, Financial Administrative Services Corp., as a vice president of institutional sales and relationship management.

For Huntington Bancshares the path to successful commercial insurance sales has been circuitous.

Phoenix Advisors LLC announced Wednesday that it will offer financial advisory services to municipalities and school districts as well as to state, county, and municipal authorities and special taxing districts.

The Japanese subsidiary of Prudential Financial Inc. said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Aoba Life Insurance Co. in Tokyo from a French investment firm, Tawa SA.

Piper Jaffray Co. said Wednesday that it had agreed to buy Vie Financial Group Inc.'s broker-dealer unit in order to expand its electronic trading capacity.

Ascent Assurance Inc., a Fort Worth insurance affiliate of a Credit Suisse First Boston LLC subsidiary, started its version Thursday of a Health Savings Account compatible with high-deductible health plans.

Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. of Novato, Calif., has hired Robert Courtemanche as the president of its personal insurance business.