PaineWebber trains 1,200 brokers a year on everything from new products and new regulations to legislation and sales tactics. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter trains 1,800 brokers. And Salomon Smith Barney educates 800 brokers.Those numbers sound...

The latest generation of variable annuities offers more investment options with new wrinkles, such as nursing home waivers, and a formidable array of cost structures that only actuaries could devise.Difficult as the annuity market is, brokers need...

Short selling has invaded the mutual fund industry. The reason: the repeal of the short-short rule under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The rule had previously penalized active trading by mutual funds. With that burden lifted, funds are now...

A survey of mutual fund Web sites shows that the number of fund companies offering on-line account information and transactions has roughly doubled since last year.According to a survey conducted this summer of 322 mutual fund company Web sites...

Fists are flying in the closed-end fund arena. Shareholder activists are demanding that fund sponsors eliminate persistent double-digit discounts or ailing performance.Several activists have sued sponsors. Others have submitted proxy proposals to...

In mid-July, First Marathon Securities, one of Canadas largest independent broker/dealers, was slapped with the heftiest fine ever imposed on a member firm by the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE). The $4 million (Canadian) penalty, which includes...

The SEC is giving investment advisers greater latitude in charging certain clients performance or incentive fees, but has also made it tougher for investors to qualify for such treatment.In July, the agency eliminated all of the contractual and...

Product pushing is alive and well on the Street. Since the beginning of this year, 13 closed-end funds have been launched. Thats as many as were launched in all of 1995, 1996 and 1997 combined. Six of these are high-yield junk bond funds that may...

The day when advisers can link multiple custodians and produce one statement for clients is here. Several vendors are targeting independent advisers who use more than one custodian.Advent Softwares new RexService offers a choice of 13 custodians...

Firms will still be able to sue defecting brokers in court under provisions of a proposed NASDR rule filed with the SEC in July.The proposal deals with how firms may obtain temporary restraining orders (TROs) and injunctions against brokers when...