Here's one way to evaluate equity research: Measure the impact it has on stock prices. Bespoke Investment Group, a financial research firm, did just that, and apparently, Robert W. Baird takes top honors. Out of 16 firms, Baird's upgrades impacted...
There is such a thing as the affluent touch: It's a matter of attitude and approach. In fact, this quality is often the very thing that makes one financial advisor more successful at courting the affluent than another. But it's not terribly...
Picking an independent broker/dealer to join is a daunting task. After all, on paper, most independent b/d networks provide similar platforms and services. While every firm will say it has it all and, in most cases, they really do in the end an...
Q: I provide performance reports on the accounts of some of my selected clients to prospective clients. Any information by which a client could be identified is redacted from the performance reports. When I mentioned this to a rep who works at...
From September 1999 until January 2005, Salvatore F. Sodano was the chairman and CEO of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), a quasi-governmental, self-regulatory organization (SRO), which was a subsidiary of the NASD from 1998 through December...
Wall Street Breathed a Sigh of Relief when Eliot Spitzer moved into the governor's mansion in Albany. Word was that Andrew Cuomo, New York's newly elected attorney general, had other fish to fry. And, sure enough, he went on to make headlines with...
They didn't get to "Talk to Chuck," but attendees of the 2007 Schwab IMPACT conference did get a chance to talk to Walt Bettinger, president and chief operating officer, as well as Charles Goldman, executive vice president of Schwab Institutional...
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association released a “white paper” today about how well the mandatory arbitration system works. The system, you’ll recall, was established 20 years ago and forces customers to...
Ameriprise Financial Services has long been accused of possessing a culture that’s more concerned with sales commissions than compliance. The latest allegations against the company from the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation...