Larry Barrett

Sean Curley, a 20-year financial services veteran, was named senior vice president and product specialist at Genworth Financial Asset Management where he'll be responsible for supporting financial advisors and providing strategic leadership to the firm's investment management group.

Wells Fargo Securities has named Michael Buttner as the new managing director of its bank strategies group where he'll lead and oversee a team providing portfolio management to financial services clients.

Chief financial officers in the U.S. and Europe are largely optimistic about sales and earnings for their individual companies through the rest of the year, but rising commodity prices and extreme volatility in the equities markets has most convinced inflation is on the rise and will likely hinder any substantial recovery in the overall economy.

Investors desperately seeking diversification amid all the volatility in stocks both in the U.S. and abroad found some salvation in commodities last month as 15 of 19 constituents in the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index gained ground.

World cotton production in 2011 is now expected to exceed more than 27 million tons, according RISI, resulting in lower prices in the dissolving pulp market.

Rockefeller Financial this week named Jeffery Moy as its new head of private equity where he'll oversee the wealth management firm's private equity and venture capital endeavors.

BNY Mellon this week said it will expand its treasury services group's electronic billing and payment processing services to include notifications via SMS text messaging to clients' mobile devices.

Scottrade this week debuted a new mobile trading application for investors looking to access real-time research, news and analysis and execute trades from their smartphones and iPad tablets.

NexCapital and Barrier Advisors this week announced they will merge to form a single investment banking, corporate restructuring and operations advisory services firm.

Green Bank N.A. this week announced that it now has more than $1 billion in total assets, up from $667 million at this point last year.

Threshold Group this week hired Ronald Albahary as its new chief investment officer. The 20-year investment management veteran will be responsible for providing strategic leadership and team management of the Philadelphia-based private wealth management firm's advisory services group.

The state of Arizona this week signed a five-year contract extension with Nationwide Retirement Solutions to provide deferred compensation plans for more than 26,000 plan participants.

Credit Suisse this week added Barbara Reinhard as the new managing director and chief investment strategist of its Private Banking Americas group.

Huntington Funds this week announced the debut of its Huntington Disciplined Equity Fund which purports to offer investors a fund that delivers solid, stable annual returns with lower volatility than mutual funds.

First Republic Bank this week named Dale Smith as the new managing director of the private bank and wealth management firm's San Diego office.

Fidelity Investments this week named Scott Couto as the new president of its Financial Advisor Solutions unit where he will oversee the firm's product suite, investment consulting services, product analysis and marketing endeavors.

Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected sales and a smaller-than-expected loss in its second quarter Thursday, posting a loss of 38 cents a share on sales of $9.3 billion.

Beverly Hills Wealth Management this week announced that Anita Brown will join the firm as a senior vice president and wealth management advisor.

Annuity fee income at bank holding companies (BHCs) shot up 28.4% in the first quarter to more than $748 million, according to the Michael White-ABIA Bank Annuity Fee Income Report.

Kinetic Concepts (NYSE: KCI) this week announced it has agreed to go private for $68.50 a share with private investors share include Apax Partners, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board.