NEEDHAM, Mass. — TowerGroup will host a one-hour Webcast on Thursday looking ahead at 2009′s top trends in securities and investments.

Led by Rob Hegarty, managing director and practice leader of TowerGroup's securities and investments practice, the session will highlight the overall trends and directions for 2009 and explore strategies and technologies for adapting to the shifts taking place.

"The events of September and October 2008 packed more change in eight weeks than the industry could ever have imagined," TowerGroup said. "We witnessed the disappearance of the independent, bulge bracket brokerage firm and replaced it with the bank holding company model. Governments own financial institutions through injections of capital, derivative instruments are under additional scrutiny, money market safety is a new topic of discussion between advisors and their retail clients, and fee revenue is dissipating for traditional and hedge fund managers."