Margarida Correia

The Insured Retirement Institute said third-quarter annuity sales rose to $57 billion in the third quarter, up 5% from the year-ago period. Sales year-to-date were $175.4 billion, up from $163.1 billion in 2010.

San Francisco-based Bank of the West is making a major push to beef up its wealth management services for affluent and high-net-worth individuals. The bank has opened three new office centers for the exclusive use of wealth management experts and client relationship managers.

BNY Mellon has promoted wealth management veteran Ridgway Powell to a new position leading a team of advisors to ultra high-net-worth families and family offices.

Advisors take note: It’s not a company’s size but rather the demographic makeup of its workforce that influences whether it sponsors a retirement plan.

Raymond James is partnering with Actiance to provide financial advisors access to compliant social media tools, including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. In addition, the firm is offering advisors optional marketing support with access to a library of pre-approved content and tools to measure engagement.

Vanguard this week announced plans to introduce two international bond index funds for U.S. investors. The two funds -- Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund and Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund -- are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2012 pending review of the registration statements by the SEC.

In September, more money flowed into mutual funds than flowed out, breaking a three-month pattern of fund outflows, according to Cerulli Associates’ October report on product trends. Despite the reversal into positive territory, however, mutual fund assets remain at a yearly low of $7.4 trillion.

Investors reaching or in retirement are more likely to stay in the stock market if they’re invested in financial products that provide guaranteed income, an online survey of 1,000 Americans shows.

Putnam Investments has unveiled a redesigned website that provides advisors with advanced portfolio modeling capabilities, practice-management resources and a social media component for sharing and surveying information on Twitter and Facebook.