J. Ezra Merkin, one of Bernie Madoff's most important sources of cash, pocketed an average of $35 million in fees every year for funneling money to the Ponzi schemer and other investment firms.
Although improving financial markets have helped lift some life insurance carriers, the firms still have a ways to go before they recover fully, according to a report from Moody's Investors Service.
Americans' personal savings rate slipped to 4.6% in June, from 6.2% the previous month, the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today.
Bank holding companies raked in $3.03 billion in insurance brokerage fee income during the first quarter, down from $3.21 billion a year earlier, according to a report.
Hard-hit Swiss bank UBS AG reported another quarterly loss today while France's BNP Paribas posted a 6.6 percent increase in net profit.
Natixis Global Associates, in conjunction with the AlphaSimplex Group LLC, has launched a multistrategy absolute return fund, Natixis announced today.
A private-sector measure of U.S. manufacturing activity declined last month at the slowest pace since August. Production jumped to its highest level in more than two years as manufacturers worked to restock customers' bare shelves, another sign that the recession may soon be over.
Banking group Barclays PLC said today that first-half net profit increased 10 percent as stronger earnings from its expanded investment banking division outweighed an increase in bad loans.
HSBC Holdings PLC, the world's fifth-largest bank by assets, reported a 57% fall in first-half profit as bad loans increased due to the global economic downturn.
Higher assessments by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. are shocking some brokerage firms.
Foothill Securities Inc. an employee-owned broker-dealer based in Mountain View, California, is merging with Cue Financial Group Inc., a smaller independent firm based in Phoenix.
With major equity indexes soaring past their high-water mark for 2009, advisers now seem to agree that the markets have hit their bottom. How long they will continue in positive territory, however, is up for speculation.
MetLife Inc. ended the second quarter in the red, reporting a net loss of $1.4 billion, or $1.74 per share.
Annuities will continue to take a back seat to other insurance and wealth management products at Genworth Financial, according to the insurer's finance chief.
The U.S. economy sank at a pace of just 1 percent in the second quarter of the year, a new government report shows. It was a better-than-expected showing that provided the strongest signal yet that the longest recession since World War II is finally winding down.
An Ohio man has sued life settlements and insurance guru Barry Kaye's firm, alleging that the firm encouraged him to buy a $5 million life policy and left him hanging when it couldn't find a buyer on the secondary market.
Wirehouses lost approximately $1.5 trillion worth of market share last year, according to a report from Cerulli Associates Inc. of Boston.
Independent advisers are mulling a switch to monthly electronic statements in order to cut costs.
Consumers who track their finances online increased their household spending by an average of $400 during the second quarter, compared with the previous quarter, reversing an 18-month trend, according to data released today by <a href=http://www.Mint.com>Mint.com</a>.
The Hartford (Conn.) Financial Services Group Inc. booked a $15 million loss, or 6 cents per share, for the second quarter.
