BlackRock Inc. announced in a regulatory filing that it plans to introduce a portfolio to give high-net-worth investors access to difficult-to-obtain hedge funds.

State Street has signed an agreement to acquire Mourant International Finance Administration for an undisclosed amount of cash. Based in Jersey in the Channel Islands, Mourant specializes in fund administration for alternative investments. The deal marks a continued expansion into alternative servicing for State Street. Mourant has $170 billion in assets under administration and 650 employees in locations including Dublin, Singapore and New York.

Noting the urgency and immensity of their task, global financial leaders are frantically making small and large changes to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and international financial accounting standards (IFRS) to make them more similar, and the Securities and Exchange Commission has recently made a single set of standards a high priority.

Following up on President Obama's mandate for change, regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently crafted a report that details their plans to harmonize the regulation of futures and securities.

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.

Bank of America plans to sell its long-term asset management business, Columbia Management, to Ameriprise Financial for as much as $1.2 billion in an all-cash deal.

NEW YORK - Regulatory officials are pondering significant changes to the way the U.S. oversees financial markets in the wake of last year's credit crisis and the failure to prevent Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, but lawmakers will have to make some hard choices before any real changes can happen.

Broadridge Financial Solutions and DeltaConcept, a global provider of portfolio management solutions, have aligned to launch a Switzerland-based platform that provides front-to-back integrated solutions for private banks and asset managers.

UMB Financial Corp. is installing Advantage Fee software from Fiserv Inc. to streamline billing activities in its investment management units, Fiserv said.

Wall Street's M&A business for asset management companies will be fueled by strategic expansion purchases and corporate divestitures over the coming year, according to a new survey by Jefferies Putnam Lovell.

Sometimes we seek out opportunities for change. Other times change is thrust upon us. Market conditions in the past 24 months have produced seismic shifts in the mutual fund industry, and several business drivers have emerged that will shape our industry's future. As asset managers, distributors, suppliers and others evaluate their next steps, these demands will drive strategies and shape new solutions.

Financial advisers have been going independent or switching wirehouses in record numbers since the economic crisis began at the end of 2007, and brokerages are scrambling for ways to get them and their loyal clients to come back.

For anyone in a rush to snap up wealth management firms, or who thinks Wilmington Trust Corp. is poised for a buying spree, Ted T. Cecala says think again.

Fidelity Investments aims to double its assets under administration in the next five years, and stepped-up sales through banks will be a major contributor, company executives said.

While mergers and acquisitions among asset management companies were down significantly during the first half of 2009, many M&A experts predict this decline will flatten out or reverse by the end of the year, driven by renewed faith in the profitability of asset firms and banks' continued need to raise capital.

Hennessy Advisors has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of two Japan funds with a combined $65 million in assets, the SPARX Japan Fund and the SPARX Japan Smaller Companies Fund.

As fund companies continue to look to streamline their operations to cut costs, even with the market recently rising, they will most likely merge additional funds, experts say. Some, particularly asset managers held by banks, will look to be sold.

State Street Corp. and Vanguard Group are reeling at the annoucement of BlackRock Global Investors, the $13.5 billion merger between BlackRock and Barclays's asset management arm.

BlackRock is reportedly the lead bidder for Barclays’ fund unit, and could pay more than $12 billion for the company, which has $1.5 trillion under management. BlackRock manages $2.81 trillion.

Federated Investments has acquired two mutual funds from Touchstone Advisors, the Touchstone Value Opportunities Fund and the Touchstone Diversified Small Cap Value Fund. Combined, the two funds have $233 million in assets. And they will be folded into the Federated Clover Value Fund and the Federated Clover Small Value Fund, respectively.