Economy

Two former UBS advisors are moving over to Stifel.

As growth has surged at the nation's biggest independent broker-dealers, a new player has rocked the rankings and raised questions for the industry.

On Wall Street unveils the top ten branch managers of the year.

Across the industry, branch management faces increasing demands and fewer resources to mentor and recruit advsiors. Firms like Wells Fargo, Raymond James and Merrill Lynch are taking steps to provide relief.

There's no doubt branch managers play a critical support role for financial advisors, but the job is no longer just the coveted position advisors sought after a successful run.

Tommy Boyd started his practice in 1984 in Selma, Ala. Three decades later Boyd is working with multiple generations of clients across several states.

With new regulations on the horizon, a top FINRA official highlights the agency's efforts to establish a more flexible oversight regime that will be less of a drain on a practice's resources.

Once obscure, business development corporations, small business investment funds, are attracting attention.

Stifel Nicolaus & Co. has added a former Morgan Stanley advisor who managed more than $250 million in assets.

Two former Wells Fargo Advisors who managed $400 million have left to join a firm with Focus Financial Partners, the network of independent financial advisors.

HighTower has added a Merrill Lynch team with nearly $300 million in assets to its new network aimed at breakaway independents.

A former Merrill Lynch advisor team has left the wirehouse to form Quadrant Private Wealth, a new partner firm of Focus Financial Partners, according to a spokesperson.

The world’s biggest bond dealers, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley, failed to properly report trades to the industry’s price-tracking system more than 11,000 times. JPMorgan’s penalty: About three minutes of its annual profit.

Bank of America Corp. is dismantling an electronic market-making unit created last year to serve the lender’s Merrill Lynch wealth-management division, said two people with knowledge of the decision.

Allison Couch's newly created role focuses on sales and distribution strategies across one of the industry's largest broker-dealer networks.

Raymond James & Associates lured away an advisor team from Wells Fargo Advisors that generated annual revenue of about $2 million.

Every firm needs to determine the unique compensation plan that will work best for executives, staff and clients. These guidelines should help you get started.

Most of the new arrivals are employees of larger financial service companies, said president Scott Curtis, and about 25% are already independents.

FINRA CEO Richard Ketchum praised one SEC commissioner for floating a new proposal to beef up examinations of the RIA industry independently of Congress.

The firm lures three separate teams who manage a total of more than $500 million in client assets.