Economy

Bank of America exceeded $15.06 yesterday, the price on the day before Brian T. Moynihan became chief executive officer almost four years ago.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reached a $13 billion deal with the U.S. Justice Department that ends probes into the bank’s sale of mortgage bonds, the largest amount paid by a financial firm in a settlement with the government.

G. Moffett Cochran, co-founder and chief executive officer of Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc., a New York-based firm catering to wealthy families, which went public in June, has died. He was 63.

Advisors must jumpstart the conversation or retirement planning could suffer, say executives at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The head of the IRS’s small business unit said his division expects to move from focusing on audits of small corporations to partnerships.

Switzerland’s third-largest wealth manager said its gross margin declined as it absorbed Merrill Lynch businesses it agreed to acquire from Bank of America last year.

The firm is seeking regulatory approval to make financial advisors dual employees of its bank subsidiary in addition to the broker-dealer as it increases mortgage lending, a person briefed on the matter said

The firm alleged a former broker breached the terms of his contract when he left the firm just over two years in.

A group of former Morgan Stanley directors is hoping their new start-up will let them capitalize on the industry’s aging demographics.

Activities unfolding within 3 separate industry rulemakers -- the SEC, FINRA and the Labor Department -- suggest changes ahead for both brokers and advisors.

Despite a recent show of political opposition, the Labor Department seems poised to press ahead with a proposal to broaden the definition of fiduciary to cover advisors working in the retirement plan segment, a leading opponent of the measure warns.

The answer rests not with the firms but with advisors themselves, says James Kerr, president of Davidson Companies.

Demand is high for experienced executives across all channels. While advisor migration to independent RIAs remains the dominant trend, large wirehouse and bank players are also very much in the game for talent.

“We’re not maniacally focused on how many advisors we have affiliated with the firm,” says Scott Curtis, president of Raymond James Financial Services.

Mary Mack, Wells Fargo's new brokerage chief, plans to put more retail clients into managed accounts as the largest U.S. firms nudge advisers away from picking individual stocks.

The first U.S. exchange-traded fund tracking China’s domestic stocks will lure investors seeking exposure to a broad range of industries in the biggest emerging economy, according to Societe Generale SA’s private bank.

Advisors in the field, or those who cover multiple bank branches, will be able to electronically transport clients’ documents in an easier format.

The U.S. is in the midst of an economic revolution akin to the Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s and early 1800s, says Raymond James strategist.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s securities joint venture with Morgan Stanley will take a majority stake in the Japanese bank’s wealth-management business, deepening ties between the two firms.

With the launch of a new Institute for Sustainable Investing, the firm is looking to add $10 billion in client assets to its socially responsible investing platform.