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Criminal charges were filed Thursday against a former financial adviser at UBS Financial Services who the Securities and Exchange Commission charged with siphoning $3.3 million from investors to pay for luxury cars, prostitutes and gambling debts.

Although 2010 was generally a good year for retirement plan investors, with average balances returning to pre-recession levels, MassMutual found in a survey of 1,517 participants, women appeared to become far more cautious investors—with gap in confidence between women and men widening.

A member survey by Tiger 21, a peer-to-peer learning group for high-net-worth investors, shows they continue to have concerns about the economy.

Charles G. Turgeon has joined Eaton Vance as vice president, institutional business development. In this role, reporting to Scott P. Ruddick, managing director of institutional, Turgeon is responsible for developing relationships with institutional investors and consultants.

AXA Equitable has launched yet another Facebook page to draw attention to its AXA Achievement college scholarship foundation that awards $1.3 million in scholarships each year. Since its inception in 2003, the program has awarded $18.5 million to 3,900 students around the country.

Certified public accountants expressed their highest level of optimism on the U.S. economy since the third quarter of 2007, according to the latest AICPA/UNC Quarterly Economic Outlook Survey, in which 1,168 CPAs were queried. In addition, the CPAs’ expectations for hiring and capital spending on IT and other areas improved slightly.

Thirty-six percent of the 1,019 investors that Edward Jones surveyed said they believe technology will be the best-performing sector in 2011, and 31% are betting on gold.

Assets in 529 college savings plans have grown 56% in the past 24 months, beating industry estimates by 30%, Financial Research Corp. told the College Savings Foundation at its annual conference in San Diego yesterday.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X FTSE Argentina 20 ETF, rounding out its suite of Latin American exchange-traded funds.

Fidelity Investments has expanded its referral strategies program for independent financial advisers, “Centers of Influence” (COI), with the launch of web-based resources at Referral-EDGE, where advisers can find prospective clients and network.

Retirement plan participants using an online tool save at an average rate of 39% higher than other plan participants, according to a study by Principal Financial Group of its clients.

Long-term funds had inflows of $7.91 billion for the week ended Feb. 23, the Investment Company Institute said Wednesday.

Fund managers are bullish on the prospects for equities and emerging markets in 2011, but have bearish views on government bonds, a survey of 141 fund managers at the end of 2010 by Towers Watson found.

MetLife and PIMCO have partnered to create a lifetime income solution. A client can purchase PIMCO mutual funds designed to provide inflation-adjusted monthly distributions to protect against inflation risk and separately purchase MetLife longevity insurance to provide monthly income after mutual fund distributions end.

Transamerica Asset Management, having completed its adoption of the TS&W International Equity Portfolio, has re-introduced the fund as the Transamerica TS&W International Equity Fund.

Thirty-four percent of the 3,171 adults that The Harris Poll surveyed in February expect the economy to improve in the coming year, 42% expect it to stay the same and 25% think it could get worse.

Harbor Funds has launched the Harbor Flexible Capital Fund, managed by Marsico Capital Management.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has launched the Goldman Sachs N-11 Equity Fund, a long-only U.S. fund that will invest in the “next eleven” countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam.

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 Monday. This puts margins back to the level they were at before the credit crisis of 2008.

Eagle Asset Management is running its first advertising and branding campaign, “Keeping Our Word,” with online and print promotions.