Financial services companies seem to be finally recognizing the need for a solid, integrated communications platform that goes beyond Wall Street.

SPRINGFIELD, MA: MassMutual selected Weber Shandwick as AOR for its corporate and US insurance businesses, following a competitive pitch.

Time Warner Cable and other cable operators plan to sign a petition urging regulators to step in the next time there is a fee dispute with content providers in order to prevent stations from going dark as happened this past weekend during the Oscars.

Reebok is helping a Canadian Olympic star relocate his stolen (or lost?) hockey gear.

In recent months, the financial services industry - banks in particular - has stepped up its PR and marketing activities, looking to rebuild trust with a recession-worn public skeptical of its motives.

The communications director of New York Governor David Paterson has quit as an ethics scandal continues to unfold around the governor.

BOSTON: Carol Cone will step down later this month as chairman of the firm she founded 30 years ago.

SAN FRANCISCO: Horn Group has hired Linda Clarke, a veteran of the tech industry, to lead its San Francisco office as MD

CHICAGO: Discover Financial Services has hired Burson-Marsteller as its global AOR following a competitive pitch.

In a surprising - and some say unprecedented - move, Goldman Sachs legally acknowledged that "adverse publicity" is one of the financial risks it faces.