Second-quarter variable annuity sales fell to $41.9 billion, down 11.2% from the comparable period last year, according to NAVA Inc.
Confidence among global institutional investors continued to slump this month as increased market turmoil has caused investors to lose their appetite for risk, according to the State Street Investor Confidence Index.
The bond ratings agency said it has “sufficient” cash and government securities to fund potential termination payments related to guaranteed insurance contracts even if the notes issued by its MBIA Insurance Corp. unit are downgraded.
At a time when major investment banks are failing, the independent-advisory business is flourishing, according to a recent research report.
When politicians from Al Gore to T. Boone Pickens push for an issue such as alternative energy, you might think the sector is a bright spot in the struggling stock market.
The sputtering economy is continuing to take a toll on college savings, but Section 529 college savings plan officials remain upbeat.
The extreme stock market volatility kicked off a week ago when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 500 points underscored the fear spreading across the investment community, leaving financial advisers scrambling for answers and sound advice.
Financial advisers could soon find themselves paying more for AIG's variable annuities.
Last week's implosion on Wall Street has given financial advisers and their clients a jolt of unprecedented proportions.
Defending his decision to drive Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. into the arms of Bank of America Corp. in less than 48 hours of negotiations, Merrill chief executive John Thain told the firm's 16,000 brokers last Monday that he had saved their jobs.
Adding to sweeping government actions announced to alleviate the financial crisis, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. this morning proposed new measures aimed at buying bad mortgages and distressed debt.
More than 77% of 1,003 advisers who responded to an <i>InvestmentNews</i> survey over the past 36 hours fear the news coming out of Wall Street is likely to get worse before it gets better.
Legislation that would set up the Office of Insurance Information within the Department of the Treasury has stalled in the House.
MetLife Inc. has some $800 million in exposure to the now-collapsed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the just-rescued American International Group Inc. and is assessing the recoverability of those investments.
Dekania Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company looking to invest in an insurance business, announced Monday that it was merging with Chicago-based Advanced Equities.
Morgan Stanley, which saw its stock fall as much 28% at one point on Tuesday after a drop of 13.5% on Monday, rushed out its fiscal third-quarter earnings report after the market closed today, trying to reassure investors that it is standing up to the market turmoil that has felled some top competitors.
Following this weekend’s turmoil on Wall Street, financial-sector job cuts may hit new heights, according to a report from Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc. of Chicago.
“There will be massive defections of clients and advisers,” said Liz Nesvold, managing partner of Silver Lane Advisors LLC of New York. “The wirehouse model, which was damaged, is now broken.”
After a weekend of turmoil, shares of American International Group Inc. lost more than half their value in the first hour of trading.
Wayne Christian figured the registered representatives of Center, a small town in eastern Texas, could use a business boost. He also thought its pension funds and endowments, which fund scholarships, needed some new investment options.
