Dan Shaw

The Munster Freeman Group will add to Wells Fargo's offerings for wealthy and ultrawealthy clients with offices in the Los Angeles area, Arizona and Colorado.

Dueling announcements Friday show that UBS is still struggling with advisor retention even as it brings in a new executive to oversee its recruiting efforts.

RBC pulls $1.2B and $705M teams from rivals, Merrill gets a $420M duo, and several large M&A deals close.

The Financial Services Institute is pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt formal procedures to prevent what it deems the sometimes capricious enforcement of industry rules.

Matthew Madera has become the latest former JPMorgan private client advisor to be sued after leaving for another firm. In a recent stipulated order, he agreed to stop soliciting former clients until the dispute can be resolved.

The Couch Group's return to Morgan Stanley is the latest evidence that UBS hasn't been able to stop the recent wave of advisor departures.

Stocks have been on a historic bull run, but the good times can't last forever. Now's the time to diversify with private equity, credit and other alternatives, say wealth managers at Dynasty, Nuveen and WEG.

Also, an Ex-Truist/Balentine duo start an RIA, Raymond James grabs a team from Wells Fargo and Janney names a new head of advisor recruiting.

Merrill wealth co-head Eric Schimpf says the firm does about as good a job as its rivals in drawing in net new assets. But given Merrill's relationship with Bank of America, "We can do better."

Scott Posner, who's in charge of advisor and institutional recruitment as LPL's business development head, on why LPL leads in advisor "capture" at a time when fewer teams are switching firms.

LPL CEO Rich Steinmeier said the firm is nearing its goals for retaining Commonwealth Financial Network's assets and advisors, freeing up internal recruiters to bring in advisors from other firms.

Wells Fargo pulls $722M in AUM from Merrill while Osaic adds a $540M team from Primerica (but gets sued); Stifel sells independent unit, and First Clearing names new head.

Speakers on an "AI & Compliance" panel at Financial Planning's ADVISE AI conference say advisors can use existing basic compliance principles to make sure their AI use doesn't step on any regulatory landmines.

The Oasis Group CEO and founder John O'Connell dazzled his audience at ADVISE AI by showing how artificial intelligence can shave hours off the production of plans, stock analyses, even web pages. But at least one advisor remains skeptical.

The Swiss wealth management giant says many of its U.S. clients now "largely rely on other banks for their everyday banking needs."

Wells Fargo also pulls from Merrill and Raymond James again from Commonwealth, while AlphaCore buys up a big RIA and the FPA gets a new CEO.

The SEC hasn't put forward a new rule for advisors' use of AI since dropping a proposal earlier this year. Is the lack of regulation hindering innovation?

Industry compliance experts say there are few more complicated decisions than knowing when to leave a firm and start your own advisory practice. The government shutdown is making it worse.

Dynasty Financial Partners' investment bank joins Diamond Consultants to help departing teams vet transition options, whether that's joining another wirehouse, selling to an RIA aggregator or starting their own business.

The wirehouse leaves its basic paygrid untouched for the fifth year in a row while giving advisors extra incentives to tout banking products and work with existing clients' children and grandchildren.