Any advisor who has worked for a wirehouse is familiar with the “penalty box.” The penalty box refers to a painful double whammy: A precipitous drop in production that knocks an FA down the payout grid. It’s a fact of life at...
The ax began to fall at Bank of America/Merrill Tuesday morning, according to Dealbreaker. The layoffs weren’t expected to begin until tomorrow. Some claim that every business group will be hit. If you find yourself, suddenly, office-less...
The market skidded into a ditch this morning, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average opening below 7,000 following a global selloff overnight in Japan and Europe. Mid-morning it continued to slide, down around 3 percent, or 220 points, to 6858. It...
Looks like financial advisors catering to the affluent will have a new disaster to talk about: Obama’s tax hikes and closing of personal exemptions and itemized deductions. Oh, that and the nearly $4 trillion fiscal year in government...
Ken Lewis had a date with New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, today. He was called to testify on what he knew about the $3.6 billion in bonuses paid out to Merrill Lynch employees late last year. The bonuses were paid just as Merrill was...
Whether it’s redemption requests or the fact that the regulatory staff is working overtime (18 hour days in some offices we hear ) since the Madoff bust or some combination of both, the capital market cops are putting up some big charges of...
Ah, nevermind about those asset sales. AIG is no longer planning on selling businesses to pay back the government’s $85 billion loan, Bloomberg reports. Instead the company may give stakes in some businesses directly to the government.
Just a week after signing a $787 billion stimulus bill and launching a $275 billion attempt slow down the rate of housing foreclosures, President Obama is advocating fiscal responsibility. It’s curious time to imagine a plan to halve a $1.3...
Exactly how Tremont Group Holdings plans to defend itself against claims that it was “reckless” with client money that was invested in Madoff funds is something those affected by the Madoff scandal—and really, anyone interested...
On Friday, hours after Wachovia Securities told managers that the firm’s financial advisors would not receive any retention bonus, Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley reps got some good news: Some extra cash is on the way. Top producers at both...