Economy

Kweku Adoboli's co-workers knew he was making fictitious trades, the former UBS AG banker told an attorney who interviewed him on the night of his arrest in September 2011.

Firms come and firms go, but there has to be a bit of nostalgia for Smith Barney.

LPL Financial announced Tuesday it has expanded its Model Wealth Portfolios platform through the addition of two new portfolios from LPL Financial Research and two managed alternative investment portfolios from Fortigent.

It's the end of an era. Morgan Stanley announced its U.S. wealth management business, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, has changed its name to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Last month fewer broker-dealers closed their doors and fewer new ones opened them - a drop in overall activity that appears to be the product of three factors, according to David Alsup, director of business development for The Compliance Department, a consulting firm that regularly tallies these numbers.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has named Morgan Stanley Smith Barney executive Michael Maghini to serve as head of insurance and annuities as the firm looks to capture more of the baby boomer market.

JHS Capital Advisors opens a new office with Mark Hennings as Branch Manager and advisor

After the shock of 2008, investors had a generally sunny outlook: they were satisfied with their portfolios and their advisors and the firms that employed them. But that is no longer the case.

Morgan Stanley will pay cash bonuses to branch support employees at its Morgan Stanley Smith Barney unit who worked extra hours to remedy disruptions caused by a new computer system, a person briefed on the decision said.

The firm has poached two industry veterans from HSBC and Barclays as it looks to expand.

Fieldpoint Private, a Greenwich, Conn., based wealth advisory and private banking firm, announced that Susan Hirshman has joined the firm as a managing director and senior adviser.

"We provide all the tools a broker needs to thrive," said Russell Gebhard, president of Sovereign Investment Group in Houston."If the advisor is successful, it's more than likely the clients will be, too."

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has decided to increase its minimum equity trade fees to $75 from $50 following a year of research on how its pricing fits the market.

Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota who criticized Wall Street while running for president last year, is joining the Financial Services Roundtable as president and chief executive officer.

As PenFed moves investment program back to former third-party marketer CFS, it sets sights on previous AUM mark of $250 million.

CFO4LIFE, a Coppell, Texax, financial planning firm with more than $450 million in assets, announced Thursday it is departing from LPL Financial to become an RIA.

UBS AG had a culture that overlooked trading limits and other rules "as long as you were making money," according to Kweku Adoboli's lawyers.

In an effort to bolster its recruiting with financial institution, Securities America announced Thursday it has hired William J. Lavender as regional director of financial institutions.

FSC Securities Corp., an Atlanta-based broker-dealer, announced that Eric Burton and Ron Whittingham and their practice, Megent Financial, have joined FSC from LPL Financial.

Lloyd C. Blankfein, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said he would invest in real estate as central banks around the world focus on avoiding deflation.