Insurance

Tax-exempt municipal bonds are heading to their worst quarterly performance in more than 16 years according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Municipal Master index.

The index, which accounts for price changes and interest …

Applications for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since July 2008 for the week ended Dec. 25.

Applications decreased by 34,000 to 388,000 for the week, according to figures from the U.S. Department of …

Credit cards that give cash back prompt consumers to spend more and accrue more debt, according to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The initiation of a 1 percent cash rewards program yielded, …

Raleigh, N.C.-based Captrust Financial Advisors announced yesterday that it will open an office in Des Moines through a partnership with Holmes Murphy and Associates Inc.

Captrust, an independent retirement plan advisory firm, will acquire a …

Banks may be forced to tie risk-taking and lending practices to executive pay if new rules are adopted by international regulators, TheStreet.com reported.

The rules, proposed today by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, could …

H&R Block Inc. said HSBC Holdings plc will not provide funding for the tax preparer’s refund-anticipation loans, or RALs, after U.S. regulators ordered the lender to terminate the contract, Reuters reported. Instead, H&R Block will …

U.S. banks could lose billions of dollars in revenues as a result of new debit-card restrictions proposed Thursday by the Federal Reserve, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The restrictions, most of which won’t be finalized …

Wells Fargo & Co has passed JPMorgan Chase & Co. to become the largest U.S. bank by stock market value, Bloomberg reported. At the close of New York trading on Thursday, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo’s …

M. J. Kelly Co., a specialty lines insurance brokerage based in Springfield, Mo., announced that it will expand its Iowa operations. The acquisition of a book of business from RDS Group, as well as the …