While fund portability gets a lot of lip service, few brokerage houses are voluntarily disclosing whether their in-house funds can be moved."The industry seems to generally support portability, but in the last year there hasn't been much movement...
It hasn't happened yet. But it could.One day Merrill Lynch's 14,000-plus financial consultants could walk into work and find themselves suddenly employed by Chase or Citibank after a mammoth takeover. Improbable? Not in the least. Just ask brokers...
A little more than a year ago, a new kind of savings plan burst onto the already-crowded investment scene. Called a medical savings account, or MSA, it combined a health insurance policy with a tax-deferred investment account that insurers thought...
When Dean Witter and Morgan Stanley announced their merger early last year, executives at the companies crowed about the synergies to come from Morgan's underwriting prowess and Dean Witter's distribution capability. The firm also quickly became...
In another case against Edward Jones, a panel of judges for the Missouri Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Jan. 7 on whether to vacate a $750,000 arbitration award won by former Jones broker Channing Schwartz in 1995.Edward Jones alleges...
Regional brokers have closed the gap on their wirehouse competitors when it comes to sales performance and practices, according to results of a recent mystery shopping study by Prophet Market Research in San Francisco.But it wasn't so much...
Coming off a year (1996) in which median gross production ($280,989) and broker earnings ($108,064) were at an all-time high, one might think brokerage firms would leave well enough alone. But this year, five major firms have made compensation...
Piper Jaffray brokers are voicing few complaints about the proposed sale of the firm to U.S. Bancorp. Most seem relieved that the faltering firm will wind up in the arms of another Minneapolis financial services company."Without a doubt, it's...
Since the mid-'70s, when the investment world went to negotiated commissions and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act mandated professional management and investment policies for qualified plans, wrap accounts have grown and been...
In 1998, when PaineWebber doubles the number of its broker trainees--from 600 in 1997 to 1,200--it also will institute a new and tougher training contract which will state that brokers cannot contact their clients for a period of six or 12 months...
