The Senate voted 60-40 Thursday to end weeks of debate on Christopher Dodd’s financial regulatory reform legislation. Hotly debated proposals to extend the fiduciary standard to brokers did not make it into the final version of the legislation.

Asking for referrals—and getting them—can be as natural as any other part of your business m.o. But it can’t be an after-thought. It requires a well thought out, soup-to-nuts strategy, one that makes you—and your clients&...

Though it recently wrapped up a national advertising campaign for Merrill Lynch, Bank of America continues to ramp up branding of the division, with an extension of the Merrill New York Yankees sponsorship as well as recent visits to Merrill...

Legislators in Congress are reportedly considering creating a kind of Roth IRA version of the estate tax. On The Money, a blog of the congressional newspaper The Hill, this week said lawmakers are considering whether to let taxpayers have the...

After Edward Jones lost two top producing reps and increased production expectations last month, some media outlets and recruiters made a lot of noise about rising advisor defections at Edward Jones. The truth is, Edward Jones attrition remains...

With news Thursday that a preliminary criminal investigation has been launched into some of Wall Street’s biggest firms concerning potentially misleading sales of CDOs to clients, the fiduciary train is set to gain additional momentum in...

BOMs are increasingly considered a cost of goods sold on the P&L statement. Consolidation is forcing them out of the business, or, if they are lucky, they are being pushed back into production. Or they can take a pay cut.

FINRA Chairman and CEO Richard Ketchum thinks broker/dealer firms need to bulk up on disclosure regardless of whatever rulemaking comes out of Congress on the fiduciary issue. He also said that there need to be shock absorbers in the market for...