News

The last 18 months of turmoil in the financial markets and at the individual New York brokerage firms appears to be benefiting the RIA industry.

Morgan Stanley, one of the last remaining stand-alone Wall Street titans, is considering merging with Wachovia Securities, according to the New York Times and CNBC.

A family’s good name needs protection like any other asset. Yet it’s more vulnerable than ever in these instant-information celebrity-obsessed times

Morgan Stanley, perhaps in an effort to quell investor fears that it was on similarly shaky ground as Lehman Brothers, pre-announced its third-quarter earnings yesterday, surprising analysts with census beating results.

At a press conference early Monday morning, John Thain, chief executive of Merrill Lynch & Co., insisted that the firm’s employees supported being taken over by Bank of America of Charlotte, N.C.

After days of looming bankruptcy rumors, AIG’s life was spared last night thanks to the Federal Reserve.

Barclays Capital (BCS), one of Britain's largest banks, is nearing a deal with Lehman Brothers to buy its core broker/dealer business, and is in talks to sell its investment management unit to one or more private equity firms.

The $20 billion loan AIG was allowed to borrow against itself yesterday didn’t have much of an impact after S&P, Moody's and Fitch cuts its credit ratings last night.

Among those companies experiencing death or near-death on Wall Street in the past 72 hours is New York-based insurance conglomerate AIG.

So why did John Thain do it? Well, he didn’t have much of a choice.