Pamela J. Black

“I’ve been guessing we’re in the foothills of a long 20-year rise with cyclical interruptions,” said Dan Fuss, who runs the Loomis Sayles Bond Fund.

While half of U.S. banks are aware of the opportunity with mass affluent investors and are busy enhancing their online capabilities, the other half believe they distinguish themselves from the Charles Schwabs of the world with in-person advice.

Optimism reigns in the bank brokerage world, according to the first annual Kehrer-LIMRA 2011 Predictions Survey.

How can advisors take advantage of opportunities created by limitations on fees and transactions? Program managers at BISA’s bank broker-dealer breakout session presented some interesting answers. “Banks are struggling with where to get more revenues because of fee reductions,” said Rob Comfort, head of Huntington Investments. “This gives us an opportunity to play a prominent role.” …

Cetera Financial Group announced on Wednesday a new program to reward advisors for increasing their assets under management in fee-based accounts.

LPL announced on Monday that it will move all Uvest bank brokers from Pershing to LPL’s self-clearing platform.

Fixed and variable annuities each changed course, the former rising and the latter falling in January of this year, according to the Kehrer-Jackson Monthly Bank Annuity Sales Survey.

Advisors need to consider a Net Unrealized Appreciation calculation, according to C. James Johnson, a presenter of retirement planning and tax strategies for Allianz Life Financial Services.

Is this really no big deal for bank advisors?

Sam Guerrieri is listed as president-elect in the trade's group's board members section, but he will not become president of BISA until 2012, according to current BISA's president, Marc Vosen.

There are two proposed pieces of legislation sitting in Congress that would seem to be no-brainers for helping people save for retirement and helping advisors help their clients.

Life insurance seems to be the breakout product of 2010 on many levels for bank brokerage programs.

While the occasional active investor/mutual fund will beat the market over time, the odds are weighted powerfully against that happening.

A paradigm shift is occurring in how bank investment program executives see retirement planning, according to Scott Stathis, managing director of Kehrer LIMRA. Stathis discussed with me some of the key findings of his retirement roundtable back in October.

There are a variety of working styles and strategies represented by the top 50 bank reps, but some themes stand out that have helped keep them above the cut.

We’re thankfully off for the next two days so I wanted to send you to your turkey dinners early with some words of thanks to you and for you. Here are a few silver linings and just plain gold realities that we can be thankful for this holiday season. Jobs: The glass is more than half full when it comes to the job market. While a stubborn 10% of people still don’t have jobs, you have…

Sales of annuities through banks in September lost their momentum after hitting a peak for the year in March.

When you think about it, what is a dollar bill but a piece of paper with a picture on it. But when it comes to our clients there are so many various emotions around money.

One critical theme running through the third annual Financial Behavior in Retirement Summit in Chicago focused on how life planning is critical for advisors that want to help clients plan for retirement.

Rick Kahler of the Kahler Financial Group said at the Financial Behavior in Retirement Summit in Chicago on Monday that when planners discuss money with clients, they have to be careful because when they hit a “fear trigger,” clients may get overwhelmed and shut down without the planner realizing it.