Thomas James clearly is displeased with the growth at Raymond James Financial Services Inc.
NEW YORK — Looking to de-fuse a potential time bomb for independent-contractor broker-dealers, the Financial Services Institute Inc. wants the Securities and Exchange Commission to change its privacy rule.
The end of the broker-dealer exemption rule will create a great opportunity for registered investment advisers to build out their firms, said J. Thomas Bradley, president of TD Ameritrade Institutional, speaking in Chicago today.
A high-profile financial adviser who hosts a weekly financial-advice radio show has lost a $314,000 arbitration claim that focused on his failure to deliver promised investment management.
National Planning Holdings Inc., the nation’s seventh largest independent-contractor broker-dealer network, today posted record revenues of more than $135 million during the first quarter, an increase of 13.5% from the same time last year.
Instinet Group Inc., a global agency broker, has announced the expansion of its BrokerShare commission sharing arrangement program to include non broker-dealers.
For the second consecutive year, the largest 25 independent-contractor broker-dealers saw top-line growth slow, even though it still was up by double digits.
Another top executive has walked away from the Pacific Select Group LLC, the soon-to-be-dismantled broker-dealer network of Pacific Life Insurance Co. of Newport Beach, Calif.
Brokers who left United Securities Alliance Inc. before its March 1 acquisition by Royal Alliance Associates Inc. received a letter from United’s lawyers last month that contained a surprise: They owe United $5,000.
NEW YORK — Raymond James & Associates Inc. recruited 36 registered representatives during the first quarter, compared with the 43 reps hired during the year-earlier period.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday overturned the Securities and Exchange Commission’s broker-dealer exemption rule in a 2-1 decision.
NASD will put increasing emphasis on “principles based” regulation rather than “one size fits all” rulemaking, even as it concedes that such a move could confuse many in the brokerage industry.
In an effort to connect better with customers, financial services companies of all stripes are spending more on information technology, according to one analyst.
NEW YORK — National Financial Partners Corp. will continue to pour money into acquisitions this year. At a recent conference for analysts and investors, company officials disclosed that they have earmarked $20 million to spend on acquisitions this year, a $5 million increase over 2006’s allocation.
Worried about giving clients a fair deal and keeping regulators at bay, some brokerage firms are tamping down the commissions on variable annuities that registered representatives and financial advisers sell.
Intrigued wirehouse executives who are looking for a change are beginning to check out independent-contractor broker-dealers, and what they see interests them more and more, industry executives, consultants and recruiters say.
Continuing its focus on buying small to midsize firms, Royal Alliance Associates Inc. late last month completed a deal to acquire United Securities Alliance Inc.
LPL Financial Services Inc.’s plan to acquire three broker-dealers owned by Pacific Life Insurance Co. came as little surprise to many in the industry, though the deal has raised a few key questions, industry observers and advisers say.
The Financial Services Institute Inc. hopes to bend the ear of the consulting firm chosen by the Securities and Exchange Commission to consider the effect on investors of applying differing regulatory standards to broker-dealers and investment advisers.
NEW YORK — Commonwealth Financial Network of Waltham, Mass., said it is giving pay raises to 400 of its advisers effective April 1, increasing the payout for advisers once they reach $25 million in assets on the firm’s proprietary managed money system.
