Prudential's decision to shutter its Equity Group eliminates 420 jobs in sales, trading and research, including 33 senior equity analysts. The company's June 5 announcement provides fresh evidence that the business of providing equity research and related services to institutional investors is withering. It also closes the door on a two-decade effort by parent Prudential Financial to diversify into the securities business from its primary base in insurance. The final chapter in... Read more

Fidelity Investments' latest management realignment could point the mutual fund giant toward becoming more of a general financial services firm, one that offers tax advice, estate planning and even health insurance alongside its traditional offerings in investment portfolio management. Last Thursday, Fidelity elevated Ellyn A. McColgan to president of Distribution and Operations. She will oversee several Fidelity subsidiaries that sell funds both directly to individuals and through intermediaries such as life... Read more

Dresdner Bank is to slash 1,980 jobs and its Wasserstein moniker from its investment banking arm as part of a wide-ranging restructuring by its parent company, German insurer Allianz. A further 500 cuts will be made at German and domestic subsidiaries. Financial News reports the cuts will come from middle and back-office jobs, half of which will be in processing and half in central and regional management functions. It is not known... Read more

As any young trader driving a fast car with an ornamental (and probably female) passenger will tell you, investment banking is seen as a sexy industry to work in. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of insurance. The discrepancy is causing a degree of consternation in the usually low-key community around Lime Street, the hub of the London reinsurance market, where it’s felt that insurers’ lack of allure is behind something... Read more

The ICMA Centre, a financial services-focused business school attached to the UK’s University of Reading, received a £5m (€7.4m) grant to finance the expansion of its teaching facilities this month. The endowment was a gift from the centre’s benefactor and namesake, the International Capital Markets Association. But Reading is not the only university to run specialist finance courses with outside help. In 2002, Cass Business School, part of the City University,... Read more