Lorie Konish

Stifel Financial Corp. saw an 11% profit increase in the first quarter in what shaped up to be its second best quarter on record for net revenue, net income and diluted earnings per share, though the firm still has a cautious outlook for the rest of the year.

Brokerage firm Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. is expanding its virtual presence as it continues to hire new financial advisors, adding a new Twitter presence, corporate blog and YouTube channel.

Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. has opened of a new branch in the Portland, Ore., area staffed with a new team led by a former Wells Fargo financial advisor.

RBC Wealth Management has expanded its Illinois force with the hiring of a mother-daughter financial advisor team from Merrill Lynch and another female financial advisor from Wells Fargo.

Jeff Wolk, together with registered sales assistant Lillian Marini, has formed the Wolk Group of Raymond James.

Syntal formally opened on May 4, and includes Chad Clary and Dane Crunk, who had been employed in Merrill Lynch’s Private Banking and Investment Group since 2006. Also joining Syntal with the team from Merrill Lynch are Barry Brauchi, Cressinda Hyatt, Clarissa Kuzmich and Raquel Padilla.

The new hire is part of Citi Private Bank’s commitment to serving the legal market in Chicago

Robert W. Baird & Co. plans to keep up its hiring pace this year following overall record revenue for 2011 that was bolstered in part by the firm’s financial advisors, John Mabee, managing director and vice chairman of the firm’s private wealth management group said in an interview.

Proving that the competition is still strong for financial advisors from rival wirehouses, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney has snapped up two wealth advisory teams and one more for its Graystone Consulting institutional business.

The four firms were fine a total of $9.1 million for not having adequate supervisory systems in place for billions of dollars of sales of leveraged and inverse ETFs.

The company has nabbed two veteran Morgan Stanley Smith Barney financial advisors for its Dayton, Ohio, branch.

Concert Wealth hired Leslie Ferrone to join its Oak Brook, Ill., office.

The community, called Connect: Professional Women’s Network, will provide content and news on topics including finding success, creating new businesses and balancing work and life. The group is aimed at helping female professionals connect with other female professionals.

The lack of women on corporate boards and in executive suites in the United States is hampering profitability, and investors and investment advisors can do something about it, according to Joe Keefe, President and Chief Executive of Pax World Management and Pax World Funds.

Financial advisors meeting with female clients need to know their silence does not mean they do not understand, and nodding does not mean they agree.

When the Women Advisors Forum conference kicks off in New York Thursday, it will feature a popular panel featuring four female financial advisors who have risen through the ranks, gathered substantial assets and learned key lessons along the way.

As politicians focus on the upcoming elections in November, there is a looming fiscal cliff that the U.S. could fall off in December, Potomac Research Group Chief Political Strategist Gregory R. Valliere predicts.

Six teams officially joined HighTower in the first quarter, all transitioning from wirehouse firms, while an undisclosed number of others are now in the transition process. In 2011, a total of nine teams transitioned to HighTower.

Financial advisors looking to understand how emotion can botch an investment decision need to look no further than the National Football League draft.

When it comes to investing in China, many investors have overlooked a crucial opportunity when they should be allocating at least 9% of their portfolios to that emerging country, Princeton University economics professor Burton G. Malkiel told attendees at IMCA’s annual conference on Monday.