Practice

Since the recession, institutions have had difficulties garnering trust, with 75% of those surveyed in a recent Capco/Tower study saying their trust in large institutions decreased after 2008. Making matters worse, 25% of financial advisors and wealth managers are leaving their firms and going independent, taking trusted client relationships with them, said Alvi Abuaf of FIS in a breakfast session at the ABA Wealth Management Conference Tuesday.

The company added six wealth executives in California, two in St. Louis, two in Washington state, one in Portland, Ore., one in Nasvhille, one in Portland, Maine, and one in Chicago.

The 27-page term sheet handed to the five largest mortgage servicers last week is a detailed, dense list of requirements that, if implemented as proposed, would fundamentally change the relationship between servicers, investors and borrowers.

Hendel is set to start in New York in June as managing director and head of global prime brokerage.

Being financially prepared for retirement consistently ranks at or near the top of investors' lists of priorities regardless of their age, ethnicity, income level or gender. But this basic albeit mundane goal was largely forgotten by fund managers, financial advisors and even investors themselves in the past decade as cheap loans and skyrocketing home prices distracted many from the big picture.

Sixty percent to 80% of all interpersonal communication is non-verbal, which means everything financial advisors do is meaningful, said Joe Navarro, author of “Louder Than Words” in his luncheon speech at the ABA Wealth Management Conference.

Between the SEC's broad and unspecific recommendations to safeguard shareholders from unscrupulous advisors and the Department of Labor's recent attempts to redefine the conditions under which a financial advisor becomes a fiduciary, the financial advisors and broker-dealers providing the guidance and products investors need for retirement are huddling up to decide which regulations and rule changes they should support in the face of looming legislation.

The fine, related to the sale of municipal securities, will require the firm to ensure it is complying with Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules.

As they say: The more things change, the more they stay the same. That goes for the American Bankers Association Wealth Management Conference in Miami.

Trust, but verify.