Larry Barrett

Deborah McWhinney, the head of Citigroup's flagging personal banking and wealth management group, is leaving her post after a tumultuous two-year run in which she attempted to makeover the nation's third-largest bank following the spin-off of its Smith Barney brokerage unit in 2009.

An audit of financial services firms' advisor websites reveals that most have improved in a number of key categories, but most still only rank somewhere between "fair" and "good."

The market's heating up and banks and investment houses need new or better employees to fill their holes and more and more of them are looking outside the industry for help.

New survey finds tighter regulation, investment in new technology and enhanced marketing efforts have Canadian asset managers perched in the catbird's seat.

Initiative aims to loosen up credit to small businesses for expansion, job creation and improve local banks' liquidity.

Rule-making body wants the SEC to make changes to prevent potential conflict of interest in municipal securities trading.

The popularity of social media is making its way from Main Street to Wall Street, creating a new generation of instantly wealthy clients that need solid financial advice.

"We're no closer to an end game than we were before the report," one panelist said Thursday. "Maybe even further away."

The country's seventh-largest, fee-only RIA has carved out an exclusive and extremely profitable niche providing full-service investment advice and services to the ultra rich.

New survey finds that small business owners are more optimistic about their economic future than they've been since early 2004.

The common refrain of needing to spend money to make money doesn't necessarily apply to social media marketing where time and enthusiasm can trump budget.

A survey indicates that retirement income planning and management is paying big dividends for advisors who take the time to understand their clients' unique needs and opportunities.

Firms have been tracking the adjusted cost basis of the equities and mutual funds bought and sold by investors for years. The challenge now is how best to capture this data and accurately report it to the IRS and investors.

Now that the SEC has thrown down the gauntlet on reform of the securities industry, what can independent broker-dealers and advisors expect to happen next? A lot of studies. And more rules.

Independent broker-dealers and financial advisors could very well be thanking Bernie Madoff and legislators who passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act in the not-too-distant future. Innovation in financial markets, which advisers can capitalize on, will follow.

During a session at the FSI Broker-Dealer conference, a panel of marketing experts and one self-effacingly "clueless" independent broker-dealer executive weighed in on the challenge of motivating advisors to grow their client base, manage compliance issues and install meaningful continuity and succession plans without neglecting their existing roster of clients.

Retirement expert says far too many of the tens of millions of Baby Boomers reaching retirement age in the next decade are financial unprepared for their golden years. And it's hurting everyone.

Experienced investors talk at the Financial Services Institute annual conference about lessons hard learned in financial crises, their distrust of large firms and the value of establishing a personal relationship with their advisor.

Who will create and enforce a new, uniform fiduciary standard for not just brokers, but investment advisers, as well?