With scandals continuing to dominate the news and broker/dealers under more fire from the investing public, it come as little surprise that arbitration figures rose again in 2003. According to the NASD, 2003 brought more arbitrations than any year...

Creating a high-performing wealth management team requires a significant amount of good old subjective judgment, but that doesn't mean objective measures are of no use. In fact, through our ongoing research into what makes for successful advisory...

Hydie Sumner, one of the remaining 50 or so registered reps who sued Merrill Lynch for gender discrimination, is expected to hear a decision from an arbitration panel within the next few weeks. Among remedies to her claims proposed by her lawyers...

In one of the few memorable scenes in Godfather III, Michael Corleone laments his inability to break free of the gangster life: Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. Some subjects of NASD disciplinary actions know that sort of...

Those yearning to learn the secret of successful wealth management teams can take heart in the words of the famous industrialist and financier, Cornelieus Vanderbilt. There is no secret about it, he said in response to a question about what was...

Let the finger pointing begin. As the mutual fund scandal kicks into high gear, brokers are starting to unveil their plans for fighting regulators' charges of fraud against them. And if the legal documents filed by some former Pru employees are...

In November, Charles Schwab & Co. disclosed instances of late trading and market timing in its Excelsior Funds, operated by its U.S. Trust unit. Not only did the news mark Schwab's first public implication in the mutual fund mess, it also trained...

Coming off a sustained period in which new customers were painfully hard to come by, it would stand to reason that financial advisors would have learned a thing or two about expanding relationships with existing customers. But, according to my...

Bureaucracy that smacks of willful ignorance that's what one would-be tipster (and client of mine) encountered when he tried to anonymously notify regulators of trouble at his broker/dealer. As an attorney who has been practicing securities law...

It's pure coincidence that an anagram of is but the connection still can be twisted into an important lesson regarding high-net-worth advising. Namely, those who get confused about the importance of teams are dead meat, professionally speaking...