Wealth management

John Hancock Life Insurance Co. has become the latest provider of long-term care insurance to enhance its efforts to sell the product. The company, one of a handful of big players in the much-talked-about niche, has quadrupled its support staff behind LTC insurance sales through all channels, including banks.

First Republic Bank announced Tuesday that it has bought a minority interest in Cypress Wealth Advisors.

Hedge funds rose 0.15% in June, according to the Morgan Stanley Capital International Hedge Fund Composite Index released Monday.

Wachovia Bank and McCamish Systems have renewed their nonqualified administration record keeping agreement for five years, the companies said Monday.

Morgan Stanley announced Monday that it had chosen eight independent research firms to supply stock analysis in compliance with a regulatory settlement.

Dave Sedman was named manager of securities lending Monday for Northern Trust Co.'s Canadian unit.

AIG Small Business, a unit of the property and casualty insurance subsidiaries of New York-based American International Group Inc., Monday introduced WorldRisk TravelPak, a package of international coverages designed for U.S.-based commercial enterprises with employees traveling on business abroad.

Financial services companies consider cross-selling to be extremely important but find barriers such as a lack of product knowledge, trust among salespeople, and sales support standing in the way of success, a Towers Perrin survey found.

St. Paul Travelers Cos. Inc. said Friday that it will increase its loss reserve allowances for uncollectible reinsurance by $1.625 billion, possibly leading to a second-quarter loss. This prompted Fitch Ratings and A.M. Best to downgrade the company, but Standard & Poor’s affirmed its ratings.

Fidelity Investments said Thursday that second-quarter results for its Fidelity Brokerage Co. showed eightfold growth in net new client assets and a 75% increase in trading volume subject to commissions.

American International Group Inc. Thursday reported that its second-quarter net income rose 25.7%, to $2.86 billion; excluding realized capital gains or losses, profits rose 19.2%, to a record $3 billion.

An effort by the College Savings Plan Network and others to standardize 529 plan disclosures is a way for fund companies to take the initiative on self-policing of a product that came under Securities and Exchange Commission scrutiny this spring, according to industry observers.

Janus Capital Group Inc. reported second-quarter net income Thursday of $130.2 million, or 56 cents per share, a 180% increase from the year earlier, but it also offered a calculation of earnings adjusted to exclude onetime and nonoperational items, that showed a 19.8% profit decline.

Banks have not plunged into offering retirement health-care products for the broad consumer market — despite the growing need — because the products to help retirees cope with health-care costs remain limited and expensive.

Janus Capital Group Inc. said Wednesday that it has hired John H. Bluher, 46, to be a senior vice president and its general counsel and chief public affairs officer, starting Aug. 23.

Legg Mason Inc. said Tuesday that its board had approved a 3-for-2 stock split, payable Sept. 24 to shareholders of record Sept. 8. The move came a day after the company reported quarterly earnings that missed analysts’ expectations.

Charles Schwab Corp. on Tuesday missed analysts’ second-quarter earnings estimates despite having guided Wall Street lower last month when it warned that a slowdown in retail trading compounded by its new lower fee schedule could harm the bottom line.

Banc of America Securities has announced the hiring of Steven Hollender to be a managing director and head of investment-grade credit sales.