Bank channel

Global wealth management firms engaged in 65 M&A deals from the beginning of 2011 to the end of the third quarter of 2012. During that time, $635 billion in assets under management changed hands.

Former Navy Seal imparts management lessons for business and everyday life.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management has added three senior portfolio managers and two senior directors for business development to its Southern California team.

Since it was formed last year, Citi Private Bank's North America Asian Clients Group has increased its client base by 10percent and its assets under management by over 40 percent.

The use of specific words has lessons for all FAs, according to research unveiled at the Raymond James Financial Institutions Division Management Symposium.

Matt Williams, incoming chairman of the American Bankers Association, says banks can rebound by drawing on lessons from past crises, updating business models and hiring a new generation of bankers.

Mary Martuscelli, a 33-year J.P. Morgan Chase veteran, will be responsible for growing and managing all aspects of the wealth management business in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.

Citi Private Bank has hired foreign exchange trading expert Oscar G. Salem as director and foreign exchange investment specialist. In this newly created position, Salem will oversee the bank's currency business in the Southwest region.

Bank of America said Friday it would pay $2.43 billion to settle a shareholder lawsuit over its purchase of Merrill Lynch, in an expensive effort to resolve one of many problems it faces from the financial crisis.

The Pittsburgh company is among several banks aiming to boost visibility on college campuses in hopes of attracting young consumers who many not have a dime to their names now but could be high earners down the road.

The Birmingham, Ala., regional banking company has quietly consolidated its investment-related groups under one wealth management group. The restructuring was partly spurred by the company's sale of Morgan Keegan earlier this year.

Though banks have always measured customer satisfaction, there is a greater focus now on understanding exactly what drives the customer experience and how it can help the bottom line.

Hindsight isn't really 20/20 because there's a good chance one could misinterpret what happened. And if we connect the dots incorrectly and claim a pattern that isn't there, then we've gone through the pain without learning anything. And we're bound to repeat the same mistakes someday.

Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services has long provided trust companies and banks with custody services for the mutual funds they offer. Now the firm is expanding those capabilities to become a "full-service custodian" for all bank and trust asset classes, including equity and fixed-income securities and money market funds, Fidelity announced today. …

More than four in 10 investors (41%) view themselves as "very inexperienced" with investing, up from 27% last year.

Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, is considering combining its asset-management unit with the private and investment banking divisions, a person familiar with the matter said.

Northern Trust hired Randall S. Burkert, a 20-year Goldman Sachs veteran, as managing director of development for its wealth management arm.

PNC is among several banks aiming to boost visibility on college campuses in hopes of attracting young consumers who many not have a dime to their names now but could be high earners down the road.

After the shock of 2008, investors had a generally sunny outlook: they were satisfied with their portfolios and their advisors and the firms that employed them. But that is no longer the case.

Though banks have always measured customer satisfaction, there is a greater focus now on understanding exactly what drives the customer experience and how it can help the bottom line.