Lorie Konish

Raymond James’s retention bonus offers to Morgan Keegan’s financial advisors are starting to trickle in following the deal to acquire the firm earlier this month and so far it looks like they’re being graded on a bell curve.

Raymond James reported net income of $67.3 million for the first fiscal quarter of 2011, an 18% decline from the first quarter of last year and 2% fall from last quarter.

Edward Jones is rolling out a new national recruitment force to help the firm hire a targeted number of 747 financial advisors in the U.S. and Canada this year.

Affluent investors looking for market cues to invest more toward their retirement this year are most watching stock market volatility and improvement in the job market, according to preliminary results from a Merrill Lynch semiannual survey.

Former Major League Baseball player Douglas Mirabelli and his wife, Kristin Mirabelli, hit a home run in an arbitration dispute with Merrill Lynch this week when a FINRA panel ordered the firm to pay the couple more than $1.2 million.

A FINRA arbitration panel has ordered Citigroup to pay $24 million to a team of financial advisors formerly employed by the firm.

Wells Fargo Advisors hired three new financial advisor teams this month who previously oversaw a total of $728 million in client assets.

HighTower Advisors has hired an advisor team from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s Graystone Consulting business who oversaw $2.5 billion in client assets to open its first Scottsdale, Ariz., office.

Janney Montgomery Scott adds a pair of financial advisors from Wells Fargo Advisors and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Morgan Stanley’s Global Wealth Management Group said its pre-tax income from continuing operations dipped to $244 million in the fourth quarter – down 37% from $390 million in the year-ago quarter.

Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management business saw its 2011 fourth quarter net income decline 22% compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 as lower transactional activity offset higher net interest income and asset management fees.

Most logical path to the future growth of wirehouses is through their largest advisor teams.

Stifel Financial’s potential offer to buy Morgan Keegan would have had a substantially larger retention payment pool for the firm’s employees, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Raymond James pulled the trigger and ponied up $930 million for Morgan Keegan. Here's everything you need to know about the deal.

News that Raymond James will acquire Regions Financial’s Morgan Keegan brokerage received a mostly tepid response from industry observers.

Raymond James’s acquisition of Regions Financial’s Morgan Keegan brokerage followed months of waiting after intentions to sell the firm were announced in 2011 and could be the first of many similar deals in 2012.

Raymond James Financial will acquire Regions Financial’s Morgan Keegan brokerage for $930 million in stock, a move the firm said will create one of the largest wealth management and investment banking firms away from Wall Street.

UBS Wealth Management Americas has hired two financial advisor teams from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in New Jersey and California.

As new reports emerge that Raymond James Financial could be in the lead to acquire Regions Financial’s Morgan Keegan brokerage, Morgan Keegan’s financial force is really wondering what is in it for them, recruiters say.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has hired Gary L. Burgess from Deutsche Bank to serve as senior vice president and resident director of its Chicago Monroe office.