Practice management

Former Major League Baseball player Douglas Mirabelli and his wife, Kristin Mirabelli, hit a home run in an arbitration dispute with Merrill Lynch this week when a FINRA panel ordered the firm to pay the couple more than $1.2 million.

A FINRA arbitration panel has ordered Citigroup to pay $24 million to a team of financial advisors formerly employed by the firm.

Amid record attendance and formidable growth in its membership ranks, the leaders of the Financial Services Institute insisted that ensuring the organization’s potency as lawmakers define a fiduciary standard for the industry is chief among their strategies and challenges for the coming year.

As an advisor, your ability to engage in clients’ goal-setting conversations may well prove the difference between them staying with you or going elsewhere.

Savvis has added low-latency connections to an “open access’’ exchange for interest-rate swap futures.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management has added company veteran Gregory Simpson to its growing team of advisors to ultra high-net-worth families and family offices.

Succession planning is preoccupying many independent advisor firms. But what are some concrete steps owners can take to make sure their firms continue to thrive far into the future? Financial Planning talked to Dave Grant, CFP, a financial planning analyst with Vantage Financial Partners Limited about how RIA firms can create a working environment that will attract — and keep — younger hires.

To not only survive, but thrive in 2012 and beyond, planners need to do two tricky things exceptionally well simultaneously: reduce expenses and increase their technology and mobile capabilities to engage younger, tech savvy clients.

Marketing expert Marie Swift says some advisors are realizing success using today’s interactive, real-time web to amplify their voice and position themselves not just as thought leaders but as social creatures on a mission to educate the public on all things financial.

Portware said it is introducing an online version of its flagship trade management and execution platform for large trading firms, that will allow institutions, asset managers and hedge funds of any size to work from and in the computing cloud.

The business world is getting more global. Does that mean you should be following suit with your practice? Based on conversations I’ve had with some bank advisors over the months, and especially in the past few weeks, most would probably rebuff that idea. But I’m not so sure.

If you’re heading to the Financial Services Institute’s OneVoice Broker-Dealer Conference starting Monday – and even if you’re not – it’s time to reboot because, for the first time, the seventh annual conference will feature a technology track.

The CFP Board is seeking input and guidance from planning professionals as it considers changing the way it currently investigates bankruptcies among planners.

Steve Sanduski, The Prosperous Advisor, offers up advice for fast-growing firms experiencing “big company” issues that can either derail their practices or, if handled properly, start them on a new growth curve.

When it comes to acquiring and retaining clients, social media channels are on their way to becoming as important as traditional media channels for wealth managers, according to a study from Celent.

Financial planners know all too well how difficult it can be to get their clients motivated enough to make the sacrifices and investment decisions that are necessary to ensure a comfortable retirement. But what could possibly derail the retirement plans of those clients who are already doing everything right?

More than 14 years ago, Jane Norberg worked with confidential informants in planning, organizing and conducting investigations of federal crimes. Now she's the SEC's new deputy chief of the Office of the Whistleblower.

The Financial Services Institute has gained another 225 members, as Mountain View, Calif.-based broker-dealer and RIA Foothill Securities announced it has signed up all its advisors.

FINRA has fined Citigroup Global Markets $725,000 for failing to disclose conflicts of interest in its research reports and public appearances by analysts.

David Chambers, a former head of Personal Trust Services and International Trust Services at Merrill Lynch, brings 30 years of experience in serving high net-worth clients.