Subject Root Tag

With no estate tax, everything could go to the kids.

ING Financial Solutions is launching today a new, simplified variable annuity, called ING Select Opportunities, with much lower fees than its flashier, pre-crash offerings.

Baird Private Wealth Management, a division of Milwaukee-based Baird has not said exactly how many advisors they want to recruit from the wirehouse channel this year, but this much is clear: the Arizona market is heating up.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Jones v. Harris Associates excessive mutual fund fee case Tuesday, essentially vacating the Chicago federal appeals court’s rejection of the case on the basis that such cases can only be heard when they involve fraud. The Supreme Court has asked the lower court to reconsider the case.

Two wirehouse team members took the plunge and struck out on their own and so far, they say, they’re happy with their decision.

A recent survey released by the Financial Women's Association (FWA) reveals that in 2009 the presence of women at the highest levels of major corporations in New York remained flat, while the number of women in board and executive positions either increased slightly or decreased when compared to the 2008 study.

ING plans to launch a registered indexed annuity called Select Multi-Index next month and is voluntarily registering it with the Securities and Exchange Commission in anticipation of Rule 151A.

RBS plans to open more branches in markets where it has a small presence and to test the waters in Florida, the Carolinas and several other Southeastern states with automated teller machines, said Martin Bischoff, a vice chairman who runs consumer and business banking for RBS' U.S. operation.

A key banking industry argument against the creation of a consumer protection agency — that the new division would write rules that conflict with safety and soundness standards — is shaky.

With the Treasury Department planning what essentially could amount to a series of frequent block sales between now and the end of the year, investment companies, pension funds and mutual funds could find an easy way into the stock that would allow Citi, notable among big banking companies for its retail-heavy investor base, to narrow the gap with sector peers.

With investors more prone to invest in alternatives in the wake of the financial crisis, they might want to consider commodities, according to an article written by three university professors and the managing director of the CFA institute in the upcoming issue of Journal of Investing.

Along with turnkey asset management programs, which allow advisers to outsource functions such as manager research, portfolio construction and performance reporting in order to gain operational and cost efficiencies, unified managed accounts are gaining popularity.

Most non-retired Americans doubt they will ever have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, according to a Gallup poll. But Allianz Life Insurance Co., offered a series of tips to help.

As IMCA hires MacKenzie from the FPA, the latter looks forward to more advisor-focused collaborations.

McCarthy Heads Citi ETF Investor Services Team

T. Rowe Price was named the Best Overall Fund Group for large companies at the 2010 U.S. Lipper Fund Awards ceremony held March 24 in New York.

A new investment firm is promising to shake up the way Americans invest by providing individuals with direct access to institutionally priced mutual funds and other investments.

Fidelity Investments expects sales of its 401(k)s to continue to increase through third-party financial advisers to small and midsized companies-and the company plans to reduce fees to gain additional share. In August, Fidelity plans to switch its Advisor 401(k) platform to a system where the adviser receives a flat fee from Fidelity instead of several different fees in the form of 12b-1 fees.

Charles Schwab filed arguments in federal court in San Francisco to try to preclude the Securities and Exchange Commission from suing it over its YieldPlus fund. Once one of the biggest short-term bond funds in the world, with $13.5 billion at its peak in 2007, YieldPlus lost 35%, before dividends, in 2008 due to high exposure to mortgage-backed securities, which comprised nearly 50% of its portfolio. Today, a mere shell of its former self, it stands at $184 million.

Recovery to Exceed Expectations: Barclays