In the past year, Merrill Lynch has spent heavily on an ongoing upgrade of its wealth management technology platform, rolled out a number of new alternative investments, created a structured products team and redesigned its account statements. It...
Financial advisors working at Edward Jones seem to be living a charmed life. Don't believe us, just ask them. When invited to rate the quality of life at the nation's seventh-largest brokerage firm, an overwhelming number of reps piled on the...
Across the country, registered rep employees of national broker/dealers daydream of chucking it all the scripted days, the morning squawk box and going off on their own. But how far do you go? You can become an independent contractor rep by...
Wirehouses, regionals and independents reacted quickly to the Katrina disaster, offering donations to the Red Cross, matching employee contributions and taking other relief measures. Some brokerages with affected advisors and clients worked to get...
Selling proprietary product via a firm’s own sales force was once considered a great strategy for maximizing revenue. In another sign that that strategy is dead (as if you needed one): UBS and Ameriprise are now embroiled in separate class...
Mark Little, a San Antonio-based broker gave away 99 percent of his clients. And that, he says, is the best thing he has ever done to boost his income.
Joel Marks is in a race to get big before he gets crushed. Marks, vice chairman and COO of independent broker/dealer Advanced Equities in Atlanta, more than tripled the size of his independent advisor force with two acquisitions in the past year...
As one A.G. Edwards financial advisor sees it, regulators and broker/dealer management have gone overboard with mutual fund disclosure. Take the case of the B-share class of mutual funds. Right now, B shares are the baddest guys on the Street, the...
The recent flurry of mutual fund-related punishments from the SEC is likely just the beginning of a coming avalanche of similar regulatory actions, legal experts say.