RIAs

Merrill Lynch has scooped up two advisors with $3 billion in assets under management from rival wirehouse giants UBS and Deutsche Bank.

The value of advisory firms is now being driven by growth, cash flow and risks, says investment banker and consultant David DeVoe.

The Cypress Group, a former Morgan Stanley team that managed about $740 million in assets, has left the wirehouse to join Integrated Wealth Management.

With nearly $400 million in assets, the trio will bring their new firm's assets to roughly $1.3 billion.

In a court filing, the CFP Board says it has logged more than 2,000 hours of legal work in a lawsuit by two Florida planners.

Independent planners can not win a battle against Wall Street unless they find a way to defeat well-funded lobbyists in the industry.

'Mariner is a well-organized and well capitalized growth company,' says John Furey, principal of Advisor Growth Strategies. 'The pace of growth is best in class and I expect it to continue.'

RIAs are gaining market share of assets, although wirehouses will still control nearly $6 trillion by 2016, the research firm predicts.

Three advisors for San Diego-based Total Wealth Management -- including one who apparently once worked for the FBI -- now face SEC charges for allegedly paying themselves concealed revenue-sharing fees from investments they recommended to clients.

Washington Wealth Management has recruited two advisors from UBS and Wells Fargo, where they collectively managed approximately $150 million in assets.