Economy

Merrill Lynch has snapped up 10 financial advisors from rival wirehouse firms who managed a total of $1.07 billion in assets and had $7.7 million in fees and commissions.

“What we ... know is that there are a lot of advisors who think their entire value is wrapped around they’re delivering advice to clients and telling them how it’s going to work out,," Joe Duran, the CEO of United Capital said. "But the reality is that we don’t believe that’s the future."

An industry veteran with over three decades of experience, John Dorsey will open a new branch office in W.V.

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman called on the investment bank’s employees to pressure U.S. lawmakers into reaching an agreement that averts the so-called fiscal cliff.

Long-time advisors Bill Duncan and Ziv Ohel joined Ameriprise in Deerfield, Ill.

Bank of America Corp. directors’ $20 million settlement of investor lawsuits over the purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. is inadequate given the billions of dollars of harm the deal caused, objectors to the accord said.

More than seven in 10 advisors believe a deal will be reached that includes both higher marginal tax rates for wealthy Americans as well as curbs on deductions.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein is among the business leaders invited to the White House Wednesday as President Barack Obama seeks their support for his approach to addressing the fiscal cliff, according to two people familiar with the matter.

To help its advisors grow their businesses, Cetera Financial Group is bringing on a fleet of new advisory and product sales consultants. The added manpower is intended to give each consultant and sales manager more time to provide in-person and virtual support to advisors as the firm re-engineers its advisor support regions, according to Cetera.

To streamline document processing, LPL Financial has introduced DocuSign’s eSignature solution for all of its advisors.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein is among the executives scheduled to meet with U.S. House Republican leaders on the so- called “fiscal cliff,” according to a House aide.

Morgan Keegan & Co. is going to trial before a judge whose decision to throw out regulators’ claims the retail brokerage misled thousands of investors about the risks of auction-rate securities was reversed on appeal.

UBS Wealth Management Americas has snagged a Merrill Lynch team in Cincinnati with more than $1 billion in client assets under management.

National Advisors Trust has launched an upgraded version of AdvisorDesk, the firm’s proprietary multi-custodian technology platform.

Robert W. Baird & Co. has hired veteran financial advisor Baron C. Becker from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in Portland, Maine.

Former UBS AG trader Kweku Adoboli was sentenced to seven years in jail for fraud in relation to a $2.3 billion loss, the largest from unauthorized trading in British history.

Former UBS AG trader Kweku Adoboli was found guilty of fraud in relation to a $2.3 billion loss, the largest from unauthorized trading in British history. He was cleared on four counts of false accounting.

J.W. Cole Financial, a Tampa, Fla., based independent broker-dealer, announced Monday that it plans to acquire Financial Advisers of America.

Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan said his company’s business model that serves people and corporations is a proven winner based on the firm’s market share.

“I’m more optimistic by everything I’ve read,” Moynihan said today in London during a Bloomberg Television interview. Lawmakers are taking the matter “very seriously,” he said.