Danielle Reed

Raymond James has added four firms with total assets of $410 million to its RIA division, said Mike DiGirolamo, senior vice president and managing director of the Investment Advisors Division of Raymond James Financial Services.

Joe Russo has been elected chair of the Financial Services Institute’s 2012 Board. Russo, founder of Advantage Financial Group, is the first financial advisor to chair the board.

Here’s one way RIA firms can measure their firms’ success: they can see everything from where their revenue is coming from to total assets under management — benchmarked to other firms — the same way you’d look at dials on a car dashboard.

The main drivers of markets in 2012 are likely to be similar to last year’s themes —uncertainty over the fate of the Euro, and the related question of whether or not there will be a global recession, said Alan Brown, group chief investment officer at Schroders.

Morningstar is drilling down deeper than ever before when it looks at fixed-income funds, the investment research firm said, announcing the launch of a new fixed-income classification system.

National Financial, Fidelity Investment’s clearing and custody company, announced a new myStreetscape portal for investors working with brokers who use the Streetscape platform.

TD Ameritrade this week will roll out an upgrade of its open architecture platform’s integration with cloud-based electronic signature system DocuSign, as it streamlines DocuSign’s pairing with financial form-filling software Laser App.

Microsoft Outlook moved down to second place — overtaken by Redtail — in the CRM software category for advisors this year. It was the first time in the history of Financial Planning’s annual tech survey that Outlook was not in first place.

Ahead of the Department of Labor’s anticipated proposal to redefine fiduciary responsibility, expected sometime in 2012, 55 House Republicans sent a letter asking for more careful consideration of the effects on consumer choice before any new rule is proposed.

ProShares has created a new post, head of capital markets and named Stephen Sachs to the position.

Here’s why it might make sense to diversify into some Asian mutual funds, according to analysts at S&P Capital IQ: While Europe’s growth will be hampered by debt turmoil in the next year, growth in Asia is expected to continue to exceed that of the United States.

FINRA has sanctioned eight firms and 10 individuals for selling interests in private placement offerings “without having a reasonable basis for recommending the securities,” the regulatory agency said in a statement. The sanctions included ordering more than $3.2 million in total restitution.

Transamerica Retirement Services has added 38 new stock and bond options to its investment platform for company-sponsored retirement plans.

Texas Tech’s Personal Financial Planning Division, housed since its inception more than 25 years ago in the College of Human Sciences, will become a standalone department in fall 2012.

BNY Mellon has agreed to acquire Penson Financial Services Australia. The Australian clearing firm, which also processes local exchange-traded equities and exchange-traded options, will become an affiliate of BNY Mellon’s Pershing unit.

Raymond James announced several new appointments in both information technology and operations in what the firm said was a sign of the firm’s “commitment to support its advisors” with leading technology and service.

Retirement plan advisors’ top five concerns include new disclosure rules, market volatility, finding greater flexibility and customization in plans, measuring a given plan’s success and an expected redefinition of fiduciary status.

Bill Miller’s resignation from Legg Mason fund may raise investor risk, according to S&P Capital IQ.

Russell Investments has launched an iPad-friendly version of its Helping Advisors website.

A lot more mass affluent investors know what a CFP is than was the case just a few months ago. That’s what an early study of the CFP Board’s 4-year, $40 million advertising and brand awareness campaign shows, the board reported in a media briefing this week.