Special Program Root Tag

About nine months after it floated the idea, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has just asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a rule change to establish a new registration category and qualification exam for certain operations personnel to be called operations professionals.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- When the most celebrated pilot in American aviation, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, was preparing to land the U.S. Airways jet he commanded in the Hudson River, there was no uncertainty in his mind. "I was sure he could do it,'' he told CBS News journalist Katie Couric in a post-landing interview on "60 Minutes."

Fewer hedge funds opened their doors in the fourth quarter, according to HFR Hedge Fund Research.

In an effort to continue its national expansion, U.S. Trust, a unit of Bank of America, has hired 14 wealth management executives.

SEI, an Oaks, Pa., based provider of investment processing, fund processing and investment management services, announced Tuesday its SEI Advisor Network added 406 new registered investment advisors last year as it increased assets under management to $31.1 billion.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Dallas-based financial services company Southwest Securities Inc. $500,000 for soliciting violations related to its municipal securities business.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Nothing that Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner or President Barack Obama can do will prevent the United States economy from coming apart, under the weight of public and private debt.

Variable annuity assets in the U.S. reached an all-time record of $1.5 trillion in 2010, with fourth-quarter sales rises 18% year-over-year to $37.6 billion, the Insured Retirement Institute announced Monday.

Concerns about rising oil prices and an end to the stock market rally once quantitative easing ends has caused 40% of hedge fund managers to be bearish on U.S. equities, up from 26% in January, according to the TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers. And only 26% are bullish, down from 37%.

Putnam Investments is making information on the sweeping new tax laws available to advisers and their clients at its adviser website (www.putnam.com/advisor) and new wealth management center (www.putnam.com/wmc).

NEW YORK-Unemployment may still be 9%. Single-family home starts may be down again. But the outlook from the corner office of fund managers is increasingly sunny.

Trust, but verify.

Rising markets and belt tightening boosted asset managers' net margins to 23.4% in the fourth quarter, up from 21.1% in the third quarter, Kasina reported. This puts margins back to the level they were at before the credit crisis of 2008.

Fidelity Investments recently reported that the average 401(k) account balance it managed reached a 10-year high of $71,500 at the end of 2010, and for those who had consistently contributed to their plan, $183,100.

Putnam Investments has created a new leadership structure for its fixed income investment operations. D. William Kohli, Michael V. Salm and Paul D. Scanlon, are now co-heads the firm's fixed income team of over 60 investment professionals, who manage nearly $60 billion in assets.

Whether they call it "aggressive recruiting" or poaching, financial services companies across the board are predicting the practice will intensify in the coming year, forcing many of them to sweeten their offers and actively seek out skilled professionals both within and outside the industry.

If asset management firms had any question as to the importance of social media as a communications tool, they had better look at what millions of their customers up to.

Janus Capital has hired George Maris as portfolio manager of the Janus Worldwide Fund, reporting to Janus co-CIO Jonathan Coleman. Maris comes to the firm from Northern Trust, where he ran both retail and institutional money.

SunGard has launched a Wealth Management Regulatory and Risk Consulting Practice, part of its Wealth Management Global Services.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Brent crude oil futures for April 2011 delivery ended the week’s trading session at $115.78 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange at close Friday evening.