The National Securities Clearing Corp. (NSCC) claims its overhauled ACATS system, which went into operation Feb. 22, has cut account transfer times down to as little as three days.The updated version of the Automated Customer Account Transfer...

Securities regulators in Canada, often hampered by disparate provincial regulation, are turning toward technology to track the countrys brokers and advisers.The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) agreed at a meeting in February to start work...

Mariane Miller, Salomon Smith BarneyMy schedule in New York is monstrous. In Florida, I work at a more leisurely pace, says Mariane Miller, vice president, investments, Salomon Smith Barney. Health reasons won her permission from the firm to join...

Dale Grubb of Salomon Smith Barney spent 11 years building a million-dollar business on traditional stock picking, but figured he had only about half of his clients total assets. When Grubb switched to fee-based discretionary portfolio management...

Merrill Lynch has decided to continue its 4-month-old Ask Merrill (www.askmerrill.com) Web site, which gives nonclients free access to Merrills research, but with an adjustment to the rules.At the end of March, Merrill will place a 30-day limit on...

A.G. Edwards is planning to introduce a fee-based discretionary portfolio management program that will allow brokers to perform the role of portfolio manager.Were in the early stages of designing a program, a firm spokesperson says. Brokers and...

Libby Cherrington, American Express Financial AdvisorsAn Ohio native, Libby Cherrington, a CFP and financial adviser with American Express Financial Advisors, has been attracted to the islands off of South Carolina since she first visited there...

George Kinder, George D. Kinder Financial ServicesGeorge Kinder, CFP, remembers the feeling he had when he first stepped off the plane in Hawaii. I knew I had come home. I knew I had arrived where I was meant to be.His reaction surprised Kinder, a...

Do you know if any of your clients are going through divorces? Do you know if any of them recently lost a parent? Chances are you know a lot less than you think.Thats what Salomon Smith Barney discovered last year when it began designing a...

Last fall, the NASD sanctioned Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Biltmore Securities for using illegal New York choice of law clauses in customer arbitration agreements.The clauses are sometimes buried in the fine print of customer agreements. They...