Merrill Lynch is working on a new compensation plan that will encourage brokers to focus on wealthier households and sell a broad array of products and services. Though nothings been released officially from firm headquarters, Merrill brokers...
The industrys system of requiring arbitration of harassment and discrimination claims is under attack, and things will be coming to a boil soon as Congress, the courts and firms further address the issue.In June, the SEC approved the NASDRs...
Prudential Securities brokers will soon be signing their first non-compete agreements. Now in the hands of branch managers, the mandatory agreements prohibit any departing broker from contacting inherited accounts. Brokers still will be free to...
American Funds, the nations third-largest fund company, may begin to share some of its fees with brokerage firms in a so-called revenue-sharing deal.The arrangements are common in the industry, but American Funds, with its popular stable of...
A former Wheat First broker who blew the whistle on alleged sales practice violations in the firms Washington, D.C., office claims in a court filing that the FBI is now investigating the SECs handling of the Wheat investigation.The broker, Ronald...
An amendment to the financial restructuring bill (H.R. 10), which recently passed the House of Representatives, would require the disclosure of commissions, fees, markups, or other costs customers pay when they buy investment products.It is the...
Prudential Securities has run into public relations trouble with new service fees announced this spring. Clients were told theyd have to pay a $50 annual fee for basic accounts starting July 1, and $32 twice a year to use its on-line service...
Big securities firms may not inherit the earth after all. The dominance of wirehouses is slowly eroding, according to The Cerulli Edge, a research report from Cerulli Associates in Boston. Wirehouses share of industry revenue and sales of...
The retirement planning market will explode over the next decade, and the federal government intends to stoke the fire. Thats the message from two different meetings on the topic held simultaneously in June--the SAVER Summit in Washington, D.C....
The SEC announced June 23 that it had approved the NASDRs proposed rule change that will exempt discrimination and sexual harassment complaints from the NASDRs mandatory arbitration requirement. (See the RR special section on employment...
