| PNC to acquire Central Jersey wealth management services firm
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. has agreed to acquire a provider of portfolio accounting and wealth management services. PNC Chairman and CEO James Rohr said Albridge Solutions Inc. of Lawrenceville, N.J., will broaden the offerings of PNC's PFPC Worldwide Inc. investment services unit. Albridge provides consolidated client account information from hundreds of data sources including mutual funds, managed accounts banking, brokerage, insurance and retirement. It works with 150 financial institutions and more than 100,000 financial advisers whose assets under management exceed $1trillion. PNC (NYSE:PNC) of Pittsburgh is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services organizations, providing retail and business banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending, wealth management, asset management and global fund services.
Banking: Tune Money hitting the high notes
TUNE Money Sdn Bhd, the first "no-frills" online financial portal in Malaysia, has big ambitions and aggressive targets. To make the business work, it needs to quickly change the way Malaysians buy financial products, like insurance and unit trusts, and convince those who are not yet insured or invested. And despite being an upstart with a relatively new concept in Asia, Tune Money was set out to be a regional player from the very beginning. Chief executive officer Tengku Zafrul Aziz said it has already started talking to regulators in some neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand on its expansion there, although its portal has only gone live in Malaysia last month. "We want to launch everything we need to launch by December, before starting aggressively at regional expansion.
(AFX UK Focus) 2007-11-14 17:40 GMT: Euroshares end volatile day with gains, technology sector outperforms UPDATE
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Europe's leading exchanges ended a volatile session with gains today, with the technology sector impressing investors following fourth-quarter results from chip maker Infineon and a broker upgrade at JP Morgan for Alcatel-Lucent. The Dow Jones STOXX 50 closed 21.18 points or 0.57 pct higher at 3,733.05, while the STOXX 600 ended the session 1.94 points or 0.53 pct higher at 370.46. "We've seen an upbeat, but nervous market today," one Frankfurt-based trader said after investors followed Wall Street and the banking sector through several ups and down during the session. "The banking sector recovered a little, thanks to comments from Goldman, but every time we reach critical levels, new rumours arrive," he added, pointing to speculation surrounding Alliance & Leicester earlier today, which were promptly rebuffed as the bank confirmed its share buyback programme and said it continues to raise funds when needed.
UT Southwestern's A-list?
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas keeps a detailed list of wealthy, high-profile and influential people and their family members to ensure that they get favored treatment if they become patients. UT Southwestern officials defend the practice, and some industry experts said hospitals and other nonprofits often take special care of donors or other powerful people. But some specialists in medical ethics said the list raises ethical questions. For instance, the list includes state officials and legislators who can steer tax dollars toward UT Southwestern, a state-supported institution. Dr. John McConnell, executive vice president for health system affairs at the medical center, said people on the list only get a personal greeting when they arrive at the medical center, might get a special escort to their appointment, and sometimes get free parking.
Fed Injects Liquidity To Unfreeze Credit; Markets End Mixed
The Federal Reserve injected $38billion into the banking system in three operations Friday, attempting to avert a credit crunch that could threaten the economy. The central bank pledged to provide cash as needed "to facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets." .
Kenya: Mobile Phone Charges Ripe for Free-Fall Phase
When Communications Commission of Kenya director-general Joseph Waweru told journalists last November that mobile phone call tariffs would drop by half in the next 12 months, very few believed such a feat was achievable. Then, the average cost of a wireless call within one network stood at a high of Sh30 per minute, while calls across networks were priced at as high as Sh50 per minute. According to Mr Waweru, the move would be driven by the entry of a new player on the market - Telkom Wireless. .
|
