SAN FRANCISCO — After years of being heralded as the next big thing in banking, reverse mortgages have come into their own, morphing from a mom-and-pop industry to big business in just the last six months.
PHILADELPHIA — Despite concerns from financial advisers, more mainstream mutual fund companies are spicing up their fund lineups with products that employ strategies long used by hedge funds.
NEW YORK — Recent market volatility is unlikely to curb investors’ appetite for collateralized debt obligations and other complex securitized-debt products despite the risks, wealth management executives said.
CHICAGO — The seemingly endless quest for cost-effective alternative investments has increased the interest in collective trusts among employee benefit plan sponsors and financial advisers, though concern about transparency remains a hurdle.
IRVINE, Calif. — Wachovia Securities LLC’s whirlwind tour of brokers at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. has helped calm anxieties about the merger of the two firms, but it hasn’t kept some representatives from abandoning ship. A 40-city tour by six Wachovia executives, including Wachovia chief executive Danny Ludeman and his counterpart at A.G. Edwards, Bob Bagby, is scheduled to conclude this week.
NEW YORK — Another independent broker-dealer has shut its doors, months after one of its brokers got in trouble with regulators.
DETROIT — Financial advisory firms that concentrate on holistic planning and leave the investment management to outside professionals are seeing the benefits in real dollar terms, according to a recent study.
CHICAGO — Financial advisers play a big role in directing individual retirement account rollovers. Fully 67% of individuals who completed a rollover during the two-year period through April did so with the help of a professional adviser, according to a study released Aug. 23 by Spectrem Group in Chicago.
NEW YORK — Chief executives are feeling more confident about expanding their companies’ reach into emerging markets, but portfolio managers are still wary of investing in the sector.
WASHINGTON — Investment opportunities in India are on the rise, as experts predict that the country’s potential lies well beyond customer call centers. Greenwich (Conn.) Advisors LLC recently created an open-end fund that will invest in 25 to 40 Indian companies in a range of industries, including software, banking, infrastructure, retail, pharmaceuticals and real estate.
