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Prudential Retirement has added the stable value Prudential Protection Account to its suite of institutional 401(k) retirement solutions. The account guarantees up to $250,000 of principal and accrued interest through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Legg Mason announced Tuesday it has formed the Legg Mason Retirement Advisory Council, comprised of 14 industry leaders who will meet quarterly to discuss major challenges facing retirement products, service provides and best practices.

FINRA panel says firm must pay $1.8 million to investor.

A survey of affluent investors by research firm TNS shows that the TNS Investor Confidence Index rose to 116 in October, its highest level since hitting 129 in 2007. Its lowest point was 81 in October 2008.

As it readies for a massive pruning of its mutual fund family, Columbia Management Investment Advisers is promising a stronger, more affordable lineup.

Automating client communications has doubled Ross Marino’s production while halving his time at work.

Fidelity Investments announced Tuesday that since it introduced its Fidelity Rewards Card in 2003, which gives back 2% of purchases in cash for investment accounts, customers have earned $300 million. Customers may apply this money to 529 college savings plans, brokerage or retirement accounts.

The unilateral market crash has half of high-net-worth clients wondering whether they’re not better off self-directing.

The inclusion of one word in the Dodd-Frank law is raising concerns among bankers that it will lead to a ban on certain financial products or services.

According to LIMRA’s Guaranteed Income Annuities report released on Monday, women buy six of every 10 immediate annuity contracts, a significant chunk of the $250 billion annuitization market.

Canada's Industry Regulatory Organization has proposed the implementation of single-stock circuit breakers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named Jennifer B. McHugh as acting director of the division of investment management, replacing Andrew “Buddy” Donohue, who left Friday after four years heading the division.

The FBI raided the offices of three hedge funds Monday, beginning its investigation into insider trading, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The FBI is planning to raid additional hedge funds, they said.

The average 401(k) retirement account rose nearly 32%, 31.9%, in 2009, according to a report issued Monday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the Investment Company Institute. The average balance among those who consistently contributed to their 401(k) plan reached $109,723 at year-end 2009, up from $61.106 at year-end 2003—for an annual growth rate of 10.5%.

One thing that most choosy investors insist on these days is a strategy that is built to be as risk-free as possible, depending on their tolerances. With that in mind, Scivantage developed a new portfolio-rebalancing module, which it released to advisors on Monday

Some 51% of respondents have failed to make a rent, mortgage, credit card, auto loan or college loan payment over the last year because they were short of funds.

C. Malcolm Holland, who led the Texas division of Colonial Bank, has raised $45 million in capital to buy small, clean Texas banks with the goal of rebuilding the size business he lost when Birmingham, Ala.-based Colonial failed in August 2009.

Absolute-return funds may only comprise $140 billion, a scant 1.2% of the $11.26 trillion in mutual funds, but that will grow to 10% to 15% over the next decade, predicts Putnam Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Reynolds.

Stephen Wedel, an LPL adviser and founding partner of Four Seasons Wealth Management in St. Louis, is gathering a lot of assets by investing his clients' money in alternatives, including non-traded real estate investment trusts, oil-and-gas limited partnerships, managed futures and private equity.

Bay Colony Partners has named Paul G. Escobar senior vice president of its new wealth management division.