Investments

Morgan Stanley and Co. has agreed to pay $100,000 to the New Jersey Bureau of Securities. This came after Bureau investigators found the company was in violation of state securities laws and regulations in its sale of non-traditional exchange-traded funds to investors.

Schwab is shaking up its ETF lineup. The company announced Thursday that on Aug. 15, Schwab Investment Management would be launching six new ETFs, weighted by fundamental factors instead of traditional market capitalization.

While the use of ETFs continues to surge, their low expense ratios appear to be most prized by multi-millionaires. Spectrem Group, a Chicago-based consulting and research firm, just reported that 28% of investors own ETFs, but 47% of UHNW investors hold them. Those ultra-affluent investors, according to Spectrem, are worth $5 million to $25 million, not counting their main home.

Private Advisor Group, the largest branch of LPL Financial, has hired Abby Salameh as part of the unit’s senior executive team as it expands its advisory services.

While the use of ETFs continues to surge, their low expense ratios appear to be most prized by multi-millionaires, according to a study by Spectrem Group.

The company announced Thursday that Schwab Investment Management would be introducing six new ETFs, weighted by fundamental factors instead of by traditional market capitalization.

Finding ways to reach shareholders with an appropriate message and choosing the medium to do so consumes the resources of many a fund company. Firms need to communicate bad news to shareholders in a gentle manner, trumpet the good news and economize the delivery of mandated disclosure information.

Institutional investors' allocations to dollar-denominated bonds have dropped to the lowest level since 2007 as strategists at Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. see a shift away from the debt that may fuel higher borrowing costs.

First came the big airline mergers. Now two Dallas RIAs that focus on airline pilots have combined as well.

State Street Corporation named Roger M. Stein chief analytics officer for State Street Global Exchange.

Bank of America Corp.’s traders fought off efforts by the firm in 2007 to include risky Alt-A mortgages in a securitization. That wasn’t enough to spare investors from being cheated, according to th

For the third year in a row, Financial Planning and the Foundation for Financial Planning jointly present the Pro Bono Awards to recognize both individual advisors and teams of planners who provide exceptional free planning help to those who could not afford it.

The wealth management business is receiving good grades, with a major caveat: Try harder, because things won't get easier.

Views are mixed on the impact of the recent Securities and Exchange Commission decision to lift the general solicitation ban on private securities offerings.

Research conducted by ING U.S. underscores the growing role that retirement income planning continues to play in the readiness levels of working Americans. The study, Retirement Income Redefined, highlights some potential discrepancies in retirement planning ideologies and practices, and reinforces how retirement is being fundamentally redefined.

Edward Jones’s James Weddle and Robert Keenan of St. Bernard Financial Services Inc. were elected to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Board of Governors at its annual meeting.

After a strong response to our summer reading list for advisors, we decided to expand it. Here are the 20 books that financial advisors said -- via Twitter, LinkedIn, emails and phone calls -- were crucial to their practices.

Northern Lights Distributors, announced the upcoming launch of an educational series to provide advisors with information detailing each step of the mutual fund distribution process.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is losing senior officials faster than it can replace them, raising concerns that the agency may struggle to maintain the aggressive pace set during its nearly two years of existence.

Survey results showed that more than three-quarters (77%) of high-net-worth investors expect to beat or match the market this year with approximately half (48%) feeling the stock market is appropriately valued and 17% feeling it is undervalued.