Financial institutions

The owners of the world’s largest brokerages say the days of paying big bonuses to lure each other’s brokers and keep their own in place may be ending.

Morgan Stanley picked up two former UBS advisors with a combined $3 million in production.

From a relationship standpoint, social media and the financial advisory business are a perfect complement to one another. But social media presents serious compliance issues for firms and advisors.

Raoul Weil, the fugitive former head of UBS AG’s global wealth management business, was arrested in Bologna after checking into a hotel under his own name and triggering an alert to Italy’s authorities.

The brokerage added five advisors from Wells Fargo and opened three offices.

The firm netted a $668 million profit as executives said it is beginning to see the benefits from its purchase of the final stake in Smith Barney from Citigroup.

The owner of the world’s biggest brokerage set aside a smaller share of revenue to pay employees at its investment-banking and trading division in the first nine months of the year.

The firm has added a Florida-based team with over $1 billion in client assets to its independent channel.

Bank of America posted strong revenue growth in the same quarter its big rivals showed weakness on bread-and-butter banking. But concerns about its higher litigation expenses overshadowed the good news.

Stockbrokers routinely succeeded in erasing settlements of customer complaints from their regulatory records in the wake of 2008’s market turmoil, making it harder for investors to research the money managers, a group of plaintiffs lawyers said.

The firm told clients its money-market funds aren’t holding Treasuries that mature in the next month as Congress debates whether to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

Revenue at the Global Wealth and Investment Management division, including Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust, was off from 2Q records.

Banks are looking to the relative safety and profitability of their wealth management divisions to boost earnings. But with that strategy comes increased regulatory and ethical scrutiny of this business line.

A reserve release boosted profits at the wealth division although transaction revenue and commissions declined.

The board voted Thursday to adopt two attestation standards pertaining to audits of brokers and dealers, along with an auditing standard for broker-dealer audits.

Wells Fargo said third-quarter profit climbed 13% to a record as fewer loan defaults and lower expenses helped overcome weakness in mortgage lending.

Educators say they expect full explanation and transparency.

The firm picked up five advisors with almost $450 million in assets under management.

Almost half (46%) of advisors believe their clients donate to charity to reduce their taxes, when in fact only 10% do.

Umpqua Bank’s plan to grow the private banking business may shift into high gear if its parent company’s planned acquisition of Sterling Financial Corp. is approved.