New York Life has a new head marketer for its life and annuity operations. Patricia Spencer Favreau, chief marketing officer, was at NY Life as vice president in charge of the Communications Division of the insurer's Agency Department. That department serves roughly 6,800 agents.



RBC Dain Builds Broker Relationship Team

RBC Dain Correspondent Services, the clearing unit for RBC Dain Rauscher, has hired Kenneth Ackerman, vice president of business development, to build relationships with brokers. He joins the firm from Fleet's US Clearing where he was director of regional sales and marketing. Ackerman will be based in Baltimore. The firm also promoted Craig Gordon to national director of business development, said Michael Kavanagh, director of RBC DCS. Gordon joined the firm from Fidelity as western regional director of business development in 2000.



OppFunds Lands MAS Trio for Bonds

OppenheimerFunds has snatched a trio of fixed income managers from Morgan Stanley Investment Management, reports Reuters. The team of Angelo Manioudakis, Benjamin Gord and Charles Moon managed $25 billion of investment-grade fixed income securities for Miller, Anderson, Sherrerd (MAS). At OppenheimerFunds they will manage assets for retail mutual funds and institutional clients.



Fido Creates Biotech Group

Fidelity is taking the collapse of the venture capital market as an opportunity to make lemonade from lemons. The effort features a distinctly Twenty First Century twist with a focus on biotech rather than silicon tech. To spearhead the effort the Boston Behemoth hired David A. Lowe as its new chief scientific officer and executive vice president for its Biosciences Group. Lowe is a former neurobiologist with the US unit of Swiss drug giant Roche Group. Mark Peterson is president of the group and Jason Rhodes a principal. Fidelity has yet to make any investments through the group.



Advantus Names Stock Analsyt.

Andrew Adams has taken over as Advantus Capital Management's analysts covering health care stocks for the manager's growth, value, and blended investment portfolios and mutual funds. His new title is investment officer. He joined the St. Paul, Minnesota-based firm in 1997. Advantus Capital Management is an affiliate of the Minnesota Life Insurance Company.



Supreme Court Denies Hearing on 401k Rollover

Defined contribution plan administrators who roll a participant account into a new fund that subsequently under performs the old fund are not at risk. This week the Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Helfrich vs. PNC Bank Kentucky Inc., reported the Bureau of National Affairs. In that case the participant claimed the administrator breached its fiduciary duty by rolling funds into a money market fund rather than the mutual fund the participant had specified. The plaintiff claimed the fund returned only 4 percent compared to 25 percent in the specified fund. The case was appealed from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which ruled that restitution, not money damages were relevant and that the plan administrator failed to profit from the participant's plan assets.  

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