Saying it’s just as impermissible to make directed-brokerage payments as it is to receive them, the NASD charged American Funds—one of the country’s most reputable asset managers—with paying kickbacks to brokerages for...
American Express announced today that it is spinning off its Financial Advisors unit (AEFA) from its credit card and travel operations. American Express shareholders rejoiced, sending shares up 6.4 percent. AEFA will be spun off to shareholders...
Consolidation and cost-cutting measures continue to have their effects on the brokerage industry. National broker/dealers, regional firms, independent b/ds and insurance b/ds all shed reps from 2003 to 2004, with only RIAs and banks showing an...
If Edward Jones reps are dismayed by the firm's record-setting SEC fine and the subsequent dismissal of their managing partner, Doug Hill, they're doing a good job of covering up. They've told us not to be alarmed or anything, and we're not, one...
The recent bear market was one of the worst in history, but investors in the Calamos Market Neutral Fund, a mutual fund, hardly noticed. With annual total returns averaging a solid, if unspectacular, 8.4 percent from 2000 through 2002, the bear...
Edward Jones announced in an SEC filing settling its revenue-sharing charges that managing partner Doug Hill would resign from his position at the end of 2005 (see story at right). The company has not announced his replacement. Hill took over from...
Countless contributions have been made for victims of the devastating tsunami that has killed more than 160,000 people. But one UBS advisor provided some relief of his own. John Alex, a UBS advisor based in New York, took 10 days leave to...
Not long ago, becoming a registered investment advisor (RIA) was hardly considered a rep's best career move. In the early years of this decade, many of the registered reps switching to a Series 66 RIA designation had been bounced from major...
Irene Bann's tenure as a Smith Barney broker is full of lessons for the reps of today, but perhaps none is so important as her approach to overcoming adversity in her career and in life. You just get on with it, she says. It's a philosophy that...
