Economy

After a $1.9 million loss in the fourth quarter, Southwest Securities' retail group reeled in a $319,000 profit for the first quarter of its fiscal year.

Industry veteran Nicolas Seigal joins RBC’s international wealth unit as branch manager in Miami.

UBS Wealth Management Americas has picked up a trio of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management advisors, as Morgan Stanley has snapped up a new advisor from Chase Investment Services.

The firm hit $19.9 billion in AUM in the third quarter of 2012, an 18% jump from $16.8 billion in the third quarter last year. Most of the increase came from new client inflows.

“Advisors have been told that it’s the name of the firm on the business card that’s important to clients,” he said, “so their clients won’t follow them if they go independent. We have found that it’s the advisor-client relationship that’s important, not necessarily the name of the firm.

Approximately 300 advisors affiliated with independent broker-dealer Symetra Investment Services, based in Bellevue, Wash., now have access to a Envestnet's online tools, including aggregated reporting capabilities.

Net income in Stifel’s wealth management division rose almost a quarter from last year as the firm announced it had purchased KBW for $575 million.

The new hires join eight of Barclays’ offices in the U.S. from firms including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, SunTrust Investment Services and UBS Financial Services.

First Republic will integrate Luminous Capital Holdings into First Republic Investment Management.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is scheduled to announce its new class of partners next week, has 407 members of that elite group, down 31 in about nine months, according to a company filing.

A win by Mitt Romney in tomorrow’s U.S. presidential election is more likely to boost Wall Street compensation than if voters re-elect President Barack Obama, according to a survey conducted by eFinancialCareers.

TD Ameritrade Institutional drew a record 441 breakaway brokers to its platform for independent registered investment advisors in fiscal 2012, a 27% increase from a year earlier.

Mid-sized banks that mostly let Wall Street and small firms speak for the industry during the debate over the Dodd-Frank Act have decided it’s time to carve out their own agenda in Washington.

Among the big deals this week: First Allied buys Legend from Waddell & Reed to form a firm with $28 billion under management.

Single-family offices are investing directly because of declining fund returns and concerns that some outside managers charge high fees and may have conflicts of interest

Pulling from Wells Fargo and Raymond James, the firm has added three advisors with over $200 million in AUM.

Wall Street turned to Bordeaux, sushi and faxes as Hurricane Sandy wreaked the most havoc in the history of the city’s transit system and closed stock markets on consecutive days for the first time for weather since 1888.

In any kind of “normal” flood, water would never reach 80 Pine St., a 39-story tower two blocks inland from the lower Manhattan waterfront, landlord William Rudin said. Last night, his Rudin Management Co. was pumping out the basement, and he was grateful the building manager and engineer weren’t seriously hurt when water poured in as they were shutting down steam lines and checking equipment.

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HighTower has gotten a big boost by working with independents. Can it keep up the momentum?