John Hancock Financial Services shareholders have approved the takeover by Manulife Financial Corp., leaving just regulatory approval in the way of creating the second largest North American insurer. Votes representing 69 percent of Hancock's shares were cast at the meeting
Northern Trust has announced its selection by Founders Trust Company to provide global custody, foreign exchange and fund accounting services for their $93 million Arlington Private Value Fund LLC. As a specialist provider of asset services to the global fund
BNP Paribas Securities Services has announced that Aberdeen Asset Management (AAM) has signed an agreement committing to its use of BNP Paribas' back office outsourcing services for an additional seven years. The agreement means that in addition to servicing AAM's
The Bank of New York announced that it has been appointed by Britannia Building Society as successor issuing and paying agent to its existing global commercial paper and certificates of deposit programme. Under the programme, Britannia Building Society may issue
MasterCard Advisors, a subsidiary of the MasterCard credit card group, has acquired the financial services industry research and advisory firm TowerGroup from Reuters. MasterCard Advisors is a consulting, research, outsourcing and information products and services provider, and it believes Tower
Citigroup is reported to be close to finalizing a deal to buy a controlling stake valued at $1bn in South Korea's Koram Bank from a US consortium led by the private equity fund Carlyle Group. Carlyle has been in talks
ABN AMRO is to sell its 80.77% stake in Bank of Asia in Thailand. The divestment, says the Dutch bank somewhat mysteriously, reflects "on going consolidation in the Thai retail banking market brought about by the introduction of the new
North Fork Bancorp agreed to buy rival GreenPoint Financial in a $6.3bn stock deal, creating a merger in two of Mew York's biggest banks. Together the combined banks possess more than $50bn in assets and $30bn in deposits and have
Secretive Singapore government investment agency known Tamasek Holdings which retains a stake in Singapore based regional custodian, DBS is to go for a credit rating by 2005. The aim is to increase transparency ahead of an overseas investment drive. In
After rolling out Web sites designed to help 401(k) participants navigate their investment choices, corporate plan sponsors are coming to terms with an unpleasant realization Most people don't use them. Recent research by Greenwich Associates reveals that only 35% of