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For some time now, pension funds and other institutional investors have been looking for new ways to hedge against inflation and generate solid, reliable income. By hiring seasoned industry professional Joyce T. Shapiro, Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors (FTREA) believes it has found a way to deliver on both demands.

If nothing else, the last two years have taught affluent investors and financial professionals that change is often unexpected, swift and brutal. But despite taking severe double-digit losses on their portfolios, affluent investors surveyed recently by HSBC still largely have the same portfolio allocations they did at the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.

By hiring seasoned industry professional Joyce T. Shapiro, Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors (FTREA) believes it has found a way to hedge against inflation and deliver reliable income.

New distribution momentum in bank brokerages and other intermediary channels is a source of good news for T. Rowe, which has been successfully rebuilding its assets under management while it expands its presence overseas.

Putnam Investments will reveal all of the fees in the defined contribution plans it manages through a new sponsor website that launches next month.

After spending more than a year and a half trying to launch the Municipal Infrastructure and Assurance Corp., executive vice president Richard ­Kolman Monday announced that he left the start-up bond insurer to join U.S. Bancorp, which is ­launching a muni underwriting business.

Warns of Details In Reform Bill

Toronto-Dominion Bank's announcement Monday that it plans to purchase South Financial Group Inc. is as notable for what it is not — a failed-bank deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. — as for what it is: an acquisition featuring key Treasury Department concessions on Troubled Asset Relief Program-related securities held by the target.

Kim Wright-Violich is the woman behind the money at Schwab Charitable.

An uptick in product sales across the board seems to suggest investors are ready to reenter the market.

A Fidelity Investments poll of broker/dealers and RIA firms found 86% intend to accelerate firm growth and profitability this year by hiring more advisers and brokers, in addition to building new and existing client relationships. Only 2% say eliminating or cutting non-essential costs will be the biggest driver of profitability this year, compared to 27% in 2009.

Wholesaler support and better client-focused materials are vital to annuities’ sales growth.

State Street Global Advisors and Nuveen Investments launched an exchange-traded fund tracking Build America Bonds Thursday, as investment vehicles devoted to taxable municipal debt continue to proliferate.

The Department of Labor is revising its guidance on investment advice in 401(k) plans by expanding its focus from independent advice to redefining fiduciary duty.

Fidelity Promotes Johnson To Oversee All Distribution

FINRA Eyes Action Against Firms Selling Municipal Bonds

Michael Decker, managing director and co-head of municipal securities at SIFMA, sets forth his case for not federally regulating underwriters when they provide what he calls “advice” to municipal securities issuers.

Municipal bond mutual funds continued to garner cash last week despite the flight from risk that has driven most of the flows this month.

Better grades hinge on ethical conduct, not just products.

It wasn’t a hedge fund, a proprietary trading desk at an investment bank or a rogue trader that may have been the key trigger behind the “flash crash,” one-thousand-point drop in the Dow.