Edward Jones

The dispute shows Edward Jones has become emboldened in taking legal actions against advisors perceived to have inflicted harm on its business interests by leaving for another firm, one industry recruiter said.

The regional giant reported $2.2 trillion in client assets last year, despite seeing its net new flows decline.

Edward Jones stood accused of not properly supervising advisors who were charging clients commissions for mutual funds and then moving the fund shares over to fee-generating accounts.

FINRA charges restitution but forgoes punitive fines for the three firms after crediting them for cooperating in its investigation.

Merrill's digital match program is finding client growth by using an algorithm to pair clients and advisors largely based on personalities rather than asset distribution. Meanwhile, Mercer Advisors uses human matchmakers.

Edward Jones' 2024 winning streak continues. In the third quarter, the firm's advisor headcount expanded and its net revenue rose by double digits.

The new offering, rolled out to 600 advisors this month, will let clients pay $3,600 a year for services that extend beyond asset management to include tax and trust planning.

Edward Jones is also lowering its fees on certain asset ranges and seeing faster-than-expected adoption of the MoneyGuide investing systems.

The "reverse churning" case highlights the regulatory gap investors can fall into when moving between brokerage and advisory relationships.

The regional wealth manager reports losing 41 advisors in the second quarter, although its headcount was still up 4%.