Portfolio

Buyer beware! The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority today issued an investor alert regarding the burgeoning alternative mutual fund asset class.

Despite challenges, wirehouses are still the most attractive distribution opportunity for product manufacturers, according to Boston-based global analytics firm Cerulli Associates.

First Allied Holdings, an independent broker-dealer, is set to be acquired by RCAP Holdings.

With the passing of Dodd-Frank, the SEC is paving the the way to adopt a uniform fiduciary standard for broker/dealers and investment advisors. Barry Glassman of Glassman Wealth says that there's no feasible way for brokers to uphold the same fiduciary standard to which RIA are held. He writes, "for them to come under the fiduciary standard as it currently exists, their businesses would have to split up into so many micro pieces that it would be disastrous for them." But the alternative, as it is being proposed, is for the very meaning of the fiduciary standard to change.

Huntington, NY-based Catalyst Capital Advisors has added George Amrhein as Director of Business Development to build upon the firm’s key distribution relationships and manage the continued expansion of its lineup of mutual funds.

Broker-dealers charged billions of dollars in excessive markups on municipal bond trades from 2005 to 2013, according to a new study.

Advisors who don't prepare their firms for demographic changes, regulatory uncertainty, and succession planning are setting themselves, and their firms, up for failuae.

Most planners do a lot more than select investments. So how do you measure the value of providing financial planning?

John Hancock Financial Network is picking up another 280 registered representatives?with the acquisition of Symetra Investment Services.

In a business where scale is everything, regional broker-dealers are growing rapidly. Check out which firms have the most advisors, and which are gaining ground.