NEW YORK — National Financial Partners Corp. will continue to pour money into acquisitions this year. At a recent conference for analysts and investors, company officials disclosed that they have earmarked $20 million to spend on acquisitions this year, a $5 million increase over 2006’s allocation.
Regulators are turning the spotlight on companies that specialize in using high-pressure marketing tactics to sell financial products and services to older Americans.
One of the most pressing issues in the investment industry today is retirement plan fees and expenses. A lot of questions have been raised about them recently, all of which can be answered simply à la college basketball commentator Dick Vitale: “It’s about fiduciary responsibility, baby!”
State securities regulators are worried that the recent emphasis on making U.S. capital markets more competitive could lead to the pre-emption of their power by federal regulators.
NEW YORK — ING Advisors Network Inc. has reshuffled key spots in its top management ranks, with its president, Valerie Brown, leaving to become executive vice president of wealth management and annuities for ING U.S. Financial Services.
Nobody ever accused companies that push annuities on older Americans of being subtle.
Worried about giving clients a fair deal and keeping regulators at bay, some brokerage firms are tamping down the commissions on variable annuities that registered representatives and financial advisers sell.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is getting close to bringing a first-of-its-kind privacy case against a broker-dealer for using client data in the account transfer process, and industry attorneys said that the SEC is investigating similar cases against as many as a dozen other firms.
WASHINGTON — The Department of Labor has put the issue of enhanced 401(k) fee disclosure on its agenda, a move that could take some of the wind out of the sails of a legislative threat.
LONDON — If you can’t beat it, trade it. That approach toward volatility is increasingly making inroads among institutional investors, including pension funds such as the $275 billion Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP of Heerlen, Netherlands.
NEW YORK — IBM Corp.’s announcement that it will offer financial planning services to all 127,000 of its U.S. employees is the biggest sign yet that companies are increasingly interested in providing workers with more individual — and effective — counseling on financial topics.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — For asset managers, forecasting whether the Federal Reserve will cut U.S. interest rates for the first time in four years might become a little easier, thanks to a budding derivatives contract.
BOSTON — Institutional investors that shun potential money manager candidates because of below-median returns could be lowering their odds of picking a long-term winner, research from investment consultant DiMeo Schneider & Associates LLC shows.
By OTTAWA — The minority Conservative government’s budget, released last Monday, drew immediate fire from two Canadian opposition parties, the Liberals and New Democrats.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — For fixed-income investors, few words cause more fear in the over-the-counter-credit-derivatives market and its whopping $26 trillion notional value than “default” and “bankruptcy.”
Merrill Lynch & Co. analysts are mad as hell that people are simultaneously belittling and stealing their investment ideas, according to Crain's New York Business.
OptionsXpress Holdings Inc. announced today that it promoted its chief financial officer to the role of president and its chief operating officer to the role of executive vice-chairman, according to published reports.
Morgan Stanley today posted a 69% increase in first-quarter profits on strong advisory fees from higher trading levels and increased investment banking fees.
IRVINE, Calif. — In an expected move, Wachovia Securities LLC this month launched a client loyalty program called 4front.
NEW YORK — Just as Federal Reserve monetary policymakers will use economic data to determine what to do with the federal funds rate this week, financial advisers and asset managers rely on such data to pick investments.
