MFS Investment Management and Morgan Stanley's announcements in March that they will no longer pay soft dollars to brokerages for third-party research might be the snowflake that causes an avalanche. Many observers believe the announcements signal...
Assuming the top job at Edward Jones is a bit like playing left field for the Boston Red Sox for the first time: Nothing an executive has done before quite prepares him for the particulars of the new position. When Douglas Hill inherits the...
Nary a day passes without some brokerage firm or another announcing an initiative aimed at attracting wealthy customers. With their new private wealth management groups, more sophisticated money management offerings, alternative investments or...
It is at once the simplest and most complex question a rep can ask: How many clients are too many? Clearly, a rep cannot service an unlimited number of customers at least not effectively. Still, it's not as though an alarm sounds when the customer...
Edward Jones has been hit with a fine of $2.7 million by the NASD. NASD ruled in an arbitration hearing that one of the firm's brokers overloaded a client's account with unsuitable investments on margin. William and Jean Torrence, clients of...
If you don't look too closely, you might think the securities industry is in a golden age. After all, the thing that matters most profits is up. Way up. The Securities Industry Association estimates that pre-tax profits for the broker/dealer...
When it comes to developing new business, Tom Croft has a foolproof weapon. Six years ago, Croft, a rep with Edward Jones in Santa Rosa, Calif., joined a referral network called Sonoma County Executives Association a group of some 70 business...