Independent BDs

Ameriprise Financial reported 33% year-over-year growth in wealth management profits.

A pair of sessions at the FSI OneVoice conference focused on recruiting and retention challenges facing IBDs, many of which center on hybrid or dually registered RIAs who are edging toward greater independence.

But while quarterly earnings at the company's wealth management unit dropped 7% from the previous quarter, they were up 30% year-over-year.

A wealth manager with 30 years of experience left Citigroup Global Markets to join the year-old Lebenthal Wealth Advisors as a producing branch manager.

A former BNY Mellon advisor that managed $850 million in client assets has formed an RIA affiliated with Raymond James' independent RIA channel.

Changes to the RIA Leaders rankings illustrate a hard truth about the industry.

Cerulli predicts that market share gains in the RIA and dually registered channels will likely come at the expense of wirehouses and independent broker-dealers.

Three of the four formed a team with $218 million in assets under management.

The latest Schorsch bombshell "makes quality advisors super uncomfortable," says executive recruiter Mindy Diamond.

Nicholas Schorsch has resigned from RCS Capital, New York REIT and 11 other non-traded real estate investment trusts and direct investment programs sponsored by AR Capital.

A complaint that Schorsch instructed ARCP executives to shift numbers in the company’s second-quarter results to cover up errors from the first quarter is part of a defamation suit against ARCP, Schorsch and former ARCP Chief Executive David Kay, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Regulators penalized both the independent and employee channels of Wells Fargo for failing to properly screen over 200,000 customer accounts.

From the family feud that rocked Nicholas Schorsch's REIT and IBD empires to LPL's regulatory lapses and a wealth management crisis sparked by a CEO's private fund, the advisory industry had a healthy share of lowlights in 2014. Here are some of the most memorable.

"He clearly wouldn't be walking way [from American Realty Capital] if things were business as usual,” says Aite Group analyst Alois Pirker. “The optics are just not very good."

From the breakthrough performance of 'robo advisors' to Schorsch's big grab, the advisory industry has seen major changes in 2014. Here's a look at the most important events and trends pushing the industry forward this year.

RCS Executive Chairman Nicholas Schorsch and two other top executives resigned from American Realty Capital Properties.

The three founders of Concord Equity Group Advisors, a firm LPL bought in 2011 after the RIA allegedly hid commissions from its institutional clients, settled with the SEC.

The firm beefs up its Salt Lake City presence toward the end of a year that's seen a doubling of both advisors and assets.

The industry regulator closes the comment period for its controversial data-reporting initiative as brokerage trade groups warn of privacy concerns and compliance costs.

As the rate of change accelerates, advisors face big shifts in automated tools, portfolio management and rebalancing. Our annual report shows where the action is.