AllianceBernstein Holding, the US investment management firm, will stress investments to boost its wealth management business, an executive said yesterday, according to Reuters.

The company's private client group is "where you will see us making investments," the New York fund firm's chief operating officer David Steyn was quoted as saying at a Goldman Sachs investment conference.

The comment highlights how wealth management, while not having escaped the buffeting of the financial turmoil in the past two years, is seen as offering a relatively secure source of future revenues.

The US firm had assets under management at 30 September of $498 billion, a 16 per cent drop from a year ago, due to equity market depreciation and substantial net outflows, as reported on 29 October.