Investment Grade Municipal Income Fund Inc. a closed-end management investment company normally investing substantially all of its assets in a diversified portfolio of tax-exempt municipal obligations, with common and preferred shares outstanding, today announced that the Fund’s Board of Directors has declared a dividend from net investment income of $0.0725 per share of common stock. [...]

The Phoenix Companies, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Harris Bankcorp Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Bank of Montreal (TSX, NYSE: BMO – News News), under which Harris would acquire $45 million in convertible preferred stock, representing a 23 percent equity position in Virtus Investment Partners, Inc., Phoenix’s wholly owned asset management [...]

MGIC Investment Corporation has announced plans to release its 2nd quarter 2009 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, July 16, 2009. A conference call/webcast has been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to allow securities analysts and shareholders the opportunity to hear Management discuss the Company’s results for the quarter ended June [...]

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney announced that Jonathan Madrigano, Director of Wealth Management, has achieved the company’s prestigious Family Wealth Director title.
Jonathan Madrigano will continue educating principals of private companies that are pre-IPO, private business owners who face near term appreciation events or business succession issues and clients whose wealth has the potential to change the [...]

new economic reality means consumers can no longer rely on what’s worked for them in the past. And the ever-changing life insurance marketplace means financial professionals must find even more creative solutions to their clients’ needs.
To meet those needs, Nationwide Financial Services, Inc. launched the newest version of its YourLife® suite of life insurance products [...]

Aquiline Capital Partners LLC (“Aquiline”), a New York-based private equity firm investing in the financial services sector, today announced it has acquired Conning & Company (“Conning”), a leading global provider of expert solutions and services to the insurance market. The sale by Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd. (“Swiss Re”), under undisclosed terms, will include Conning’s U.S. [...]

AMERISAFE, Inc. a specialty writer of high hazard workers’ compensation insurance, today announced the appointment of Brendan Gau as its Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Gau, age 34, will join the company June 23, 2009.
Prior to joining AMERISAFE, Mr. Gau was employed by AIM Capital Management in Houston, Texas, which he [...]

Tri-Continental Corporation held its 79th Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Meeting”) in Baltimore, Maryland. Stockholders voted in accordance with the recommendations of the Corporation’s Board of Directors on each of the three proposals at the Meeting.
Stockholders elected four Directors at the Meeting. The newly elected Directors are Kathleen A. Blatz, Pamela G. Carlton, Alison [...]

The nation’s fourth-largest privately held insurance firm, Keystone Insurers Group (KIG), has purchased an equity interest in East Coast Risk Management, LLC (ECRM), specialists in risk management services. The transaction, recently completed, will provide KIG-franchised locations with an expanded suite of services.
ECRM is headquartered in North Huntington, Pa. The firm will offer – exclusively to [...]

It’s official: According to the Labor Department, the economy has lost 5.1 million jobs over the past 15 months. As if those numbers weren’t scary enough, the figures show a disturbing trend: The number of long-term unemployed has continued to rise. According to Executive Financial Coach “Chuck” Steege, president, SFG Wealth Planning Services, Inc., senior [...]