Margarida Correia

BMO Harris Private Banking is sticking to its cautiously optimistic 12-month outlook despite economic turmoil in Europe and anxiety over the much-discussed fiscal cliff.

Alliant launched the investment program in 2009 and said it wanted to take the business to the next level.

The firm promoted Garrett Alton, a managing director of sales for Georgia, to a newly created role overseeing the firm’s sales teams in key Central and Mid-Atlantic U.S. markets.

More than half (55%) of Americans age 53 – 65 say they plan to continue working full-time as long as their health permits, up from 51% last year.

The agreement will help the bank fill the service gap that was left after it sold its brokerage unit, Morgan Keegan, to Raymond James earlier this year.

Financial services companies that cater to advisors have a lot of room for improvement—especially insurance companies.

The bank holding company for the Bank of Oklahoma participated in one of the largest M&A deals in the third quarter, buying The Milestone Group, a wealth management firm with more than $1.3 million in assets under management.

The New York-based technology services company promoted Tim Gokey to chief operating officer and hired Stephen Racioppo, a former executive at Accenture, as its chief revenue officer.

“Last night’s speech showed that he knows that he needs the whole country engaged and to work with him,” BNY Mellon Investment Management CEO Curtis Arledge said of President Obama.

U.S. bank has added two new professionals to its super-wealthy business and hired a former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney officer for its business serving high-net-worth clients.

The firm hit $19.9 billion in AUM in the third quarter of 2012, an 18% jump from $16.8 billion in the third quarter last year. Most of the increase came from new client inflows.

The Pa.-based community bank generated $8 million in revenue from wealth management in the third quarter, up 31.1% from $6.1 million in the same period last year.

But the increase comes from the fact that more banks began reporting for the first time— an apples-to-apples comparison is not so rosy.

Jonathan Blackwood joined as a senior private banker, while David Noosinow joined as senior sales director to help develop business throughout Georgia and in Lexington and Louisville, Ky.

More than eight in 10 (85%) are saving less than 10% of their income for retirement.

Updated to include information about LPL. While the Northeast hunkered down yesterday waiting for Hurricane Sandy, it was pretty much business as usual for bank advisors—or at least for their clients.

Most Americans, 81%, say they plan to give the same or more to charity this year, up nine and 18 percentage points from 2011 and 2010, respectively.

Paul Cummings will serve as regional managing director for the Northeast Region, overseeing asset management and other services in New York and Philadelphia.

Almost seven in 10 mass-affluent couples (69%) discuss their finances at least a few times a month. That’s more than what many spend talking about other topics, such as the election, work, sex, and even their kids.

More than half of the nation’s affluent investors (52%) report that their net worth has grown at least 20% since 2007, and 73% believe they have “a lot of control over their financial future.”