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Advisers seeking better client communication tools are likely to have their wish come true, according to a new report from Celent, a Boston-based financial research and consulting firm. The wealth managers surveyed in the report indicated that they are likely to add or enhance client-relationship management systems and client-reporting and client-facing technology tools within the next two years.

Investors pulled more than $125 billion out of mutual funds that invest long-term in stocks last year, according to the latest data released by the Investment Company Institute. Of that, $5.2 billion got pulled in the week leading up to New Year’s Eve.

Investors added $117.6 billion to their holdings in exchange-traded funds in 2011. That is almost identical to 2010, when they added $118.7 billion, and 2009, when they added $119.4 billion. But the value of their holdings only increased $51.4 billion, because the value of their shares fell, according to the Exchange Traded Fund Association.

Long-term mutual funds were hit with $2.62 billion in outflows the week ended Dec. 28, the Investment Company Institute said Wednesday. This was up from outflows of $1.87 billion the week ended Dec. 21.

Morningstar on Wednesday announced its Fund Manager of the Year Awards, with the top honors for the fixed income category going to portfolio managers at Fidelity Investments, Artisan and Tweedy, Browne.

Did you have the foresight to invest heavily for your clients in Pacific Investment Management Co.’s 25-year zero coupon U.S. Treasury exchange-traded bond fund, one year ago?

The operators of the Chicago Board Options Exchange said its futures exchange achieved record volume in 2011, based on its fear index.

U.S. Pensions’ funded status dropped 12.7 percentage points over the full year 2011 to 72.4%, thanks to a sharp increase in liabilities that outpaced any rise in plan assets, according to BNY Mellon.

You never know what to expect. But events of 2011 gave plenty of clues for what lies ahead in 2012, as trading firms and exchanges speed up and beef up. Take a look at our slideshow.

2011 was a tumultuous year, one that left most industry executives deeply uncertain about the future. The following predictions are meant to provide the industry with 10 key insights that should help clarify some of these uncertainties.

Hedge funds will take in record net new assets in 2012, predicts consultancy Agecroft Partners, based on interviews with more than 2,000 institutional investors. In 2011, hedge funds took in $67 billion, to reach $1.72 trillion.

The multi-million dollar lawsuit that Trust Company of the West brought against former star portfolio manager Jeffrey Gundlach, who TCW fired in 2009 but who then formed his own, competing firm, DoubleLine Capital, was settled last Thursday out of court.

The best-performing mutual funds of 2011 invested in large-cap, dividend-paying stocks—putting utility, real estate investment trust, healthcare and consumer staple funds at the top of the heap.

Investors pulled a net $37.97 billion out of mutual funds in November, according to the Investment Company Institute. Most of the outflows throughout the month came from equity funds and most of the inflows were posted by money market and fixed-income funds.

Volatility, the fear of a second worldwide recession, continued aversion to equity funds and uncertainty over Dodd-Frank regulatory fallout-all headlined 2011.

Financial advisers will remember 2011 as "The Year of Volatility" or "The Year of Uncertainty," according to a survey of 200 financial advisers polled by the SEI Advisor Network.

After Congress, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Housing Federal Agency and, last but not least, the Securities and Exchange Commission all failed to recognize the hazardous levels that mortgage-backed securities were reaching in 2008, regulators realized something was seriously wrong.

Union Bank has promoted bank veteran Terry Negendank to regional managing director of The Private Bank, in charge of wealth management in Northern California.

Morgan Keegan's brokerage force has stayed in wait-and-see mode as parent firm Regions Financial looks to sell that business, but that could all change if uncertainty about the firm's future persists or if a new deal presents unfavorable terms, experts say.

For Patrick Colle, international is not enough. For BNP Paribas Securities Services to be successful, he believes it has to be global.