Portfolio

One of the biggest topics on the minds of financial services executives in 2011 has been volatility, with a slew of articles and TV news stories pinning the blame on high-frequency trading, hedge funds and leveraged ETFs.

One of the biggest topics on the minds of financial services executives in 2011 has been volatility, with a slew of articles and TV news stories pinning the blame on high-frequency trading, hedge funds and leveraged ETFs.

Here’s one way RIA firms can measure their firms’ success: they can see everything from where their revenue is coming from to total assets under management — benchmarked to other firms — the same way you’d look at dials on a car dashboard.

TIAA-CREF has launched the TIAA-CREF Global Natural Resources Fund, aimed at providing investors with diversification, a hedge against inflation and an opportunity to participate in the growing demand for resources among the world’s seven billion population.

Goldman Sachs' asset management division has agreed to purchase the mutual fund division of Dividend Growth Advisors, in a push to offer more income-generating funds.

For the second straight year, MetLife leads life insurers in annuity considerations through the first three quarters, ended Sept. 30, 2011. Prudential Financial and Jackson National Life Group round out the top three in the rankings released by SNL.

Bonds.com Group said it raised $16.6 million from a group of investors that includes an entrepreneur that created the first hedge fund in Beirut, Lebanon.

The main drivers of markets in 2012 are likely to be similar to last year’s themes —uncertainty over the fate of the Euro, and the related question of whether or not there will be a global recession, said Alan Brown, group chief investment officer at Schroders.

Washington Wealth Management, a breakaway RIA founded last December, continued its explosive growth by acquiring its third breakaway advisor in just the past three weeks, bringing it ever closer to $1 billion in AUM.

When Nasdaq OMX Group Chief Executive Robert Greifeld took the stage at an event at his company’s Times Square office this week, he said the frequently cited high levels of volatility are a myth.