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The breakaway broker phenomenon continues at Columbia State Bank, Tacoma, where the brokerage unit has hired three wirehouse veterans over the past six months, and the $5 billion-asset bank may not be done.

Advisers are missing opportunities to expand existing relationships and attract wealthy clients, according to a survey by ByAllAccounts, an account aggregator in Woburn, Mass.

SEC Votes 5:0 for New Target-Date Disclosures

Merrill Lynch debuts its first-ever online brokerage window today, Merrill Edge, consisting of 500,000 investors it inherited from Bank of America out of the gate.

The big three credit rating agencies have long made the disclaimer that investors should not use ratings as a substitute for independent judgment. Now regulators want banks to prove they aren't doing that.

American Banker's front-page story lays out the details of how the financial regulatory reform bill, now at a critical juncture in House-Senate conference committee, would change the banking and retail investment management industries: http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/175_117/senate-financial-reform-1021072-1.html

Citigroup Inc. plans to raise more than $3 billion for its private-equity and hedge funds, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

Despite the resistance of small employers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the mutual fund industry in general, legislation to require companies with 10 employees or more to provide employees with a seamless lifetime savings plan through an Automatic IRA, is definitely gaining steam.

Is it possible the media has overhyped the interest level in conversions? Bank of America recently reported that its first quarter Roth IRA conversions surged beyond expectations (see MME 5/10/10). Earlier this year, MME reported that while Roth IRA conversions had the potential to put $3 trillion in play, some fund companies were treating this opportunity merely as a way to reconnect with clients to speak with them in a meaningful way about their retirement planning and tax situation.

Matt McGinness has a reputation for producing heavy hitting research in practice management.

Direxion, a pioneer in providing alternative investment strategies to sophisticated investors, announced Thursday it will execute a 1-for-5 reverse split of the shares of the Daily 3x Bear funds: the Direxion Daily Energy Bear 3x Shares (ERY), Direxion Daily Real Estate Bear 3x Shares (DRV), Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3x Shares (TZA) and Direxion Daily Technology Bear 3x Shares (TYP) for shareholders of record after the close of the markets on Wednesday, July 7, 2010.

NYSE Technologies on Thursday will introduce a service that displays up-to-the-minute statistics on how fast it delivers details on orders and transactions to customers.

Can Angelina Jolie explain credit default swaps and securitization to America?

Standard & Poor’s and Financial Research Corp. announced a content-licensing and distribution agreement Thursday whereby FRC data will be available on S&P’s MarketScope Advisor platform for financial advisers. Terms of the agreement, including financial considerations, were not disclosed. An S&P spokesman denied the deal is a precursor to an acquisition of FRC from its parent, private equity firm Mercatus Partners LLC.

Investor confidence has declined, but concerns over the European economy appear to be easing, a monthly Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of fund managers found.

Bloomberg said Wednesday that it is nearly halfway through the rollout of a new version of its Launchpad software that supplies advanced data sharing, personalized news and content suggestion features to users of its information services.

Jeff Peiffer was so frustrated that his bank didn't offer an app for his phone that he made one himself, put it online — and watched it become one of the top finance downloads for Android handsets.

France raised its pension retirement age by a mere two years, from 60 to 62, and people took great umbrage to that. Protests broke out in the street, and union leaders said they'll strike. One-third of the nation's TVG fast trains were expected to be canceled.

Proponents of the fiduciary standard for all financial advisors will be watching the House-Senate conference committee very closely Wednesday, when the group will begin to consider whether to include the requirement in the financial regulatory reform bill.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 5:0 Wednesday to require target-date funds to do a better job of explaining the purpose of their retirement date, how their asset-allocation glidepaths change over time, and, in a new twist, to include easy-to-understand visuals in ads.