Independent firms may be booming, but there are some rough spots to overcome. Stability, consolidation and regulatory problems are just a few.Forging Stability There are two questions about stability in the independent world--does the broker...
A.G. Edwards says all of its 6,800 retail brokers will be equipped with the firm's new ClientOne workstation by the end of October. And despite some complaints about not being able to install unauthorized software programs on the new computers...
Walter Cash, A.G. Edwards, Pine Bluff, Ark.Walter Cash's frustration with his business had peaked. So he sought some advice. He contacted John Hagedorn, vice president and manager of continuing education at A.G. Edwards, for help."I had plateaued...
Prudential Investments has launched a new service called the Prestige Program that offers reps with wealthy clients a liaison to firm experts.Under the program, the firm pairs a "Prestige Analyst" with a broker or insurance agent. A rep then...
Prudential Securities seems to be leading the charge in the undeclared bidding war for brokers."It's the craziest thing," says a Prudential rep on the West Coast. "They'll pay 150 percent of gross, and they won't spend one dime to retain...
In what may be the first arbitration award of its kind, Salomon Smith Barney was ordered in June to pay 730,000 dollars to a former branch manager, reinstating his Capital Appreciation Plan (CAP) assets.David Dalton says he was a producing branch...
Nine years ago, Fred Hensler had second thoughts about being a broker. Today he's making strides toward 1 million dollars in production.When Fred Hensler graduated from his wirehouse's month-long training program in 1989, he was confused and...
John Williams, A.G. Edwards, Paducah, Ky.Outside of his work, music and religion are John Williams' primary interests. So when he decided to make a concerted effort to double his production from 250,000 dollars, he aimed to tie the three together...
Several wirehouses have formed online bond-trading consortiums in the past few months in an attempt to compete with independent bond-trading Web sites.PaineWebber, Goldman Sachs and Spear Leeds & Kellogg were expected to launch a Web-based bond...
The privacy issue is still simmering, and the brokerage industry is worried it may come to a boil.The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB) requires regulators such as the SEC to devise privacy rules that parallel provisions in the law. But in May...
