Economy

Wells Fargo has heated up its recruitment this summer by ushering in a spate of new financial advisor hires with almost $1.4 billion in assets.

A new survey of broker-dealers highlights the extent to which their firms rely on back-office technology to manage and improve advisor relationships, while at the same time revealing broad dissatisfaction with the solutions that firms have currently deployed.

Birmingham, Ala.-based advisor group Bridgeworth Financial, with nearly $1 billion in AUM, has left Lincoln Financial to join the country's largest independent B-D, LPL Financial, in a move that demonstrates the benefits of scale.

Veteran advisors Vann Wilder and Van Martin are taking their $300 million team from Morgan Stanley to Raymond James Coral Gables, Fla. office.

Julius BaerGroup Ltd., the Swiss money manager established in 1890, agreed to pay about 860 million Swiss francs ($880 million) for Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch wealth management business outside the U.S.

As Morgan Stanley Smith Barney reportedly faces changes ahead for its brokerage unit, including slashing support staff jobs, combining offices and raising production requirements, all eyes turn to how any decisions may affect its advisor force.

FINRA levied almost $40 million in fines in the first half of the year and will likely doll out as much or more through the end of the year.

Neil Hattem has joined Stifel Nicolaus as a senior vice president in Los Angeles.

Proving that advisory competition is still strong, Merrill Lynch has hired a Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisor duo with $377.8 million in client assets, and lost two other teams to other wirehouse firms.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney has shuffled two of its top executives as it aims to bolster ties its Consulting Group business has with the firm's wealth advisory services and the clients its advisory force serves.

Looking to build out its wealth management division, SEI expects Doug Pugliese will draw clients at companies' top brass.

Insights gained at humble jobs long ago have helped these planners shape their messages to clients.

A former UBS AG municipal-bond executive told an ex-colleague to forget about a transaction as they discussed how to handle an expanding government probe of bond big rigging, the second man testified at trial.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Advisor Ted Murphy does not usually tell his clients that he is an Olympic silver medalist, but says that his rowing career has prepared him for the discipline that he applies to his career today.

Stifel CEO Ron Kruszewski explains why Knight Capital's survival was important following last week's costly software malfunction.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has grown its new financial benefit plan assets to a record $20 billion this year as it leverages stronger ties between its bank and brokerage forces.

Creative Management Group will apply its ProjectDouble program in effort to help advisors double their AUM.

Citigroup Inc., the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, started an investment banking joint venture in China that will give it access to the world's second-biggest market for share sales.

An arbitration panel has struck down an investor's $1 million plus claim against Morgan Keegan's troubled bond funds, citing the standard industry warning "Past performance is not guarantee of future results."

LPL Financial has announced an affiliation with Advantage Financial Group that will bring client assets of about $2 billion to LPL.