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Prudential Financial on Oct. 18 launched its “Morse Code SOS” advertising campaign touting the 401(k) administration and healthcare insurance services it offers U.S. companies.

Although American investors have grown much more aware of the risks of investing in stocks and have lower expectations for average annual returns, they do still plan to keep them as an integral part of their retirement portfolios, according to a Vanguard survey conducted in late May.

Russell Investments has introduced Russell Enhanced Asset Allocation, which using forecasting models to identify unsustainable movements in the market and map out a plan to maximize returns while limiting risk and maintaining adequate liquidity. The strategy covers 11 geographic regions and 11 asset classes and produces 114 asset class pair combinations.

In anticipation of the great demand for retirement income products by Baby Boomers as they begin to retire, financial services companies are working hard to develop products and services to capture this “money in motion,” according to Deloitte.

The sell-off in municipals last week finally stemmed the tide of cash that had flooded municipal bond mutual funds for the better part of a year. Investors entrusted $615 million to municipal funds during the week ended Oct. 14, according to Lipper FMI. That is the puniest slug of money poured into muni funds since April.

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the long-term senior debt of FMR, the parent company of Fidelity, from A2 to A1, citing profit margins not meeting expectations.

Invesco is acquiring the retail asset management business of Morgan Stanley, including Van Kampen, for $1.5 billion in cash and stock. Invesco is paying $500 million in cash and tendering 44.1 million shares representing $1 billion in Invesco equity that will give Morgan Stanley a 9.4% minority stake. Morgan will continue to manage $267 billion in institutional assets.

In May 2009, Broadridge Financial Solutions, a leading global provider of technology solutions to the financial services industry, acquired Access Data Corp. Access Data provides enterprise-wide reporting and data management services to asset managers and financial intermediaries. Its technology platform, Access Data SalesVision®, is currently utilized by more than 40 firms to support distribution, administer wholesaler compensation and distribution payments and manage shareholder compliance.

Brockgreiten in Key Client Role at Access Data Corp.

83% of Fund Managers Expect Earnings To Increase Sharply in Third Quarter

U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, with more than 40 years of experience in servicing mutual funds, recently obtained the ISO 9001 certification for its transfer agent services. Money Management Executive recently spoke with Ian Martin, executive vice president, transfer agent, about this process and how its Knowledge Management System played a key role.

Stunned by trillions of dollars of losses in the financial crisis, Americans will be investing significantly less in the future, according to a new survey by AlixPartners. Forty-nine percent of the 1,000 people the consulting firm surveyed have either stopped or reduced investing in stocks or mutual funds, 26% have no intention to return to these bedrock financial vehicles in the next three years, and another 27% were unsure whether they had the endurance to return to the markets in that timeframe.

Financial advisers generally prefer to manage a small number of high-net-worth clients rather than a large number of small accounts, but recent advances in automation technology could change this dynamic.

Though Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s wealth management revenue has slumped, the unit's head is touting its resilience and plotting an aggressive strategy through mergers and acquisitions.

Many financial service companies were only able to survive last year's recession by slashing staff and utilizing automated technology solutions to support customers, advisers, salespeople and their remaining workers.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Morgan Stanley $90,000 for buying and selling corporate and municipal bonds at unfair and unreasonable prices.

Minneapolis-based Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America has beaten a class action lawsuit in court. A federal jury ruled against the plaintiffs in the case, Mooney v. Allianz Life Insurance Co.

DundeeWealth, a Canadian wealth manager, is offering is first U.S. mutual funds. DundeeWealth is selling the six funds through its American subsidiary.

State Street Corp. has added portfolio construction tools to its web-based hedge fund-of-fund platform, AlphaFrontier, which also includes custody, fund accounting, cash management, registration, risk services, investor services and credit.

The Internal Revenue Service has decided to keep contribution limits for 401(k)s, IRAs and other retirement accounts unchanged in 2010, rather than lowering them, as some had feared due to negative inflation. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the consumer price index has fallen 1.3% over the past 12 months.