Economy

Succession planning, regulatory and technological issues will be the main focus for Raymond James Financial Services over the next year, according to Scott Curtis, the firm's president.

After a $210 million sale, Atlantic Trust appears to be headed into high gear.

Hundreds of employees of the country’s fourth-largest independent broker-dealer were directed to head to the firm’s emergency backup office outside of Boston Friday morning as law enforcement officials announced a citywide lockdown.

Piper Jaffray announced Wednesday that it will acquire Seattle-Northwest Securities, pending shareholder approval at Seattle-Northwest. The deal is expect to close in the second half of 2013.

Contango Capital Advisors is shooting for growth in AUM of up to 10 times within five to seven years, while also increasing profitability.

IronGate, the largest independent wealth advisory firms in Wilmington N.C., opened its doors in 2005, and has a team of 14 advisors managing $200 million in assets.

Morgan Stanley reported profit that beat analysts’ estimates as pretax earnings from its retail brokerage, the world’s largest, rose to a record.

Martim de Arantes Oliveira will be responsible for driving the growth of Ascent’s new office, which will open this summer.

Bank of America’s wealth management division achieved record post-merger revenue, net income and AUM inflows.

“The success of the wealth-management business is fundamental to where the stock goes over the next five years,” said Christopher Wheeler, a London-based analyst with Mediobanca SpA, who has a neutral recommendation on UBS shares. “It’s the core business, and a number of other businesses feed off it, not the least asset management.”

An enforcement action from the Securities & Exchange Commission is a timely reminder to advisors to disclose any financial benefits their firm may receive from the broker-dealer it recommends to clients.

The new AIG Advisor Group system will allow its advisors’ clients to select a trusted family member or friend to help them make smarter financial decisions, explains Larry Roth, president and CEO of AIG’s Advisor Group, one of the largest networks of independent broker-dealers in the country.

FINRA fined Merrill $1.05 million and ordered the firm to pay more than $323,000 in restitution for over 12,000 trades executed on its ML BondMarket platform.

Goldman Sachs reported earnings that topped analysts’ estimates on a 63% gain in revenue from underwriting stocks and bonds.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. set aside $4.34 billion to pay employees in the first quarter, about 1 percent less than a year earlier, as the firm employed 400 fewer people.

Small businesses are more likely to comply with the tax laws if they are in certain communities in the country and if they have more trust in their tax preparer, according to a report by the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

In the first quarter of 2013, wealth and investment services generated $7.8 million in revenue, up 7% from a year ago.

Complexity and inconsistency within the tax code continue to be a major problem for small businesses, with one out of four small businesses reporting that they need to spend 120 hours or more per year on the administration of federal taxes, or three full work weeks, according to a new survey.

Edward Jones uses “questionable telemarketing” tactics to recruit customers, according to New Hampshire regulators.

RBC Wealth Management added a branch manager with three decades of experience to its Denver Tech office.