Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Three months after her departure from the Securities and Exchange Commission, former Chairwoman Mary Schapiro has been nominated to join the board of General Electric. If she accepts, she will be the third former regulatory chief to join a board of directors this year.

Here are the top firms according to their basic payout for producers at the $200,000 mark.

HighTower, a national company serving high-net-worth and institutional clients, brings prospective partners to the firm’s Chicago headquarters for a day of one-on-one meetings with the top executives. Here's an in depth look at one step in the firm's recruiting process.

Competition for top financial advisory talent has stayed strong, but the kinds of advisors interested in moving has changed, according to the eight recruiters who gathered for On Wall Street's annual Recruiters Roundtable this year. Check out the key trends set to influence advisor movement in 2013.

How are you going to improve your book of business? Check out these essential tips to improve your practice.

The list has been narrowed down. On Wall Street and New York Life/Mainstay Investments have named the top 100 branch managers for their steadfast leadership, commitment to their advisors, and their ability to recruit and retain talent no matter the circumstances. Click through for a breakdown firm-by-firm of those at the top.

Many investors are carrying the scars of the past five years into 2013. Some may lose money sitting in cash or fixed income while failing to recognize some long-term opportunities. Others may be too keen on trying to time the market to avoid potential downside. To clear up some misconceptions, Wells Fargo explains some of the less focused-on market trends that investors and advisors should keep in mind and also offers some timely reminders that are relevant no matter what direction the market turns.

Lack of knowledge is the top reason for not using alternative investments followed by lack of track record, according to Cambridge, Mass.-based consulting firm Cogent Research. As popular of an investing tool as they have become, there are different theories about what role alternatives play in a portfolio as well as what actually constitutes an “alternative,” so it’s easy to understand why there could by some misunderstandings.

Institutional investors' investment philosophy is changing with the times. The products they're asking for are becoming more and more in-line with larger social and macro-economic trends, according to a report from Boston-based consulting firm Cerulli Associates and the Institutional Investor Institute.

So much research comes out this time of year with many major firms cautiously offering their predictions for the new year that we wondered how they would stack up on the major issues. We’ve parsed through some of the larger reports from Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS, ING and Wells Fargo to track the top themes and condense it down. Here are some of their more interesting recommendations on global themes as well as some more local, unique investment ideas that they had to offer.