Vanguard Group, Northern Trust Investments, BlackRock and Fidelity Investments scored the lowest among 121 institutional money managers in supporting labor proxy-voting issues in 2012, according to a survey by the AFL-CIO.

Northern Trust reported fourth-quarter assets under management totaling $758.9 billion, up 1.2% from the previous quarter and up 14.5% from the previous year.

Bo Kratz was named managing director, Asia-Pacific region, at Northern Trust Global Investments.

Northern Trust had third-quarter assets under management of $749.7 billion, up 6.4% from the prior quarter and up 16.4% from the year-earlier quarter.

Indiana Public Retirement System hired CoreCommodity Management to run $500 million, split evenly in two separately managed active commodities portfolios.

George Hindmarsh was named head of Northern Trust's Asia Pacific corporate and institutional services business development.

Tony Glickman was named senior vice president, global client solutions, at Northern Trust's corporate and institutional services unit.

Northern Trust on Wednesday reported $704.3 billion in assets under management in the second quarter, a 1.7% drop from the previous quarter and up 3% from the second quarter of 2011.

Hidehiro Nakayama was named representative director and president of Northern Trust Global Investments Japan.

Northern Trust reported $716.5 billion in assets under management in the first quarter, up 8% from both the previous quarter and the first three months of 2011.

Following the news that 15 of the 19 largest U.S. banks passed the Federal Reserve's latest stress tests, banks were quick to jump at the chance to return capital to shareholders. Wells Fargo led the way, increasing its quarterly dividend to 22 cents per share, up 83% from 12 cents.