MetLife, the largest life insurer in the US, confirmed on Thursday that it is in talks to sell its roughly 4,000-strong adviser force MetLife Premier Client Group to Massachusetts-based MassMutual Financial Group.
2015 was the weakest year for US equities since 2008, the exception being the technology sector that was buoyed by the ‘Fangs’ – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google.
UK-based exchange traded fund provider Source launched two new US sector Ucits ETFs, providing targeted exposure to the financial services and real estate sectors of the S&P 500 equity index.
The scale of activity of US alternative fund managers in Europe has been barely affected by the introduction of the EU’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).
The United States accounts for around half of the global equities index so whether you like the asset class or not you can never ignore it, or eliminate it from a portfolio.
Net revenue was down by a quarter at Canada’s third largest insurer by assets, Sun Life Financial, during the fourth quarter and full year of 2015. The company also incurred a C$63m (£31.1m, $45.3m, €40.2m) restructuring cost related to the closure of its US wealth business.
Legal & General has entered into a second US pension risk transfer deal with a buy-out of around $65m (£44.9m, €57.7m) in pension liabilities.
American expats should not renounce their citizenship because of FATCA without considering all of their options, according to Nigel Green, chief executive and founder of deVere Group.
The first rate rise since the financial crisis was a long time coming and markets initially responded relatively well, but it is starting to look like a miss-step by the Federal Reserve.
Like any good rollercoaster, global equity markets had, by the end of the year, returned pretty much to where they started, while at the same time leaving investors somewhat shaken and a little nauseous for all the ups and downs along the way.
Investors will remember 2015 as a year spent trying to guess what major central banks around the world would do or say next.
The last time the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, Daniel Craig had just taken on the mantle of James Bond and Sylvester Stallone had just successfully resurrected the Rocky franchise from the ignominy of 1990’s Rocky V.
