Practice management

Wall Street's own watchdog filed a complaint against Charles Schwab Corp., accusing the online brokerage giant of requiring customers to waive their rights to pursue certain legal action against the firm, a violation of industry rules.

Authority details its top concerns in a letter directed to the industry’s compliance officers.

Keith Johnson is expected to enhance Curian’s practice management platform with new advisor-facing educational content, sales and marketing presentations, tools and resources.

NYSE Euronext said it would focus on its “standalone strategy,’’ while Deutsche Boerse declared this a ‘black day’ after the European Commission prohibited the merger of the two exchange operators.

Antitrust regulators in Europe stopped the merger of Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext on Wednesday, saying the combined group would have a stranglehold of the listed European futures market and would thwart new entrants.

With trust harder to come by, advisors should lean on personalized services and product fluency.

Understanding conversation styles by gender is critical to your success.

Five sure-fire steps to making the sale.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management has named Yolanda Plaza-Charres to a newly created position as sales director for Latin America.

FINRA has filed an enforcement complaint against David Lerner, the operator of a brokerage aimed at retail investors, claiming he misled investors when he tried to quell customer concern about an action taken against his firm for its marketing of real estate securities.

Investment Guidance Solutions introduced a software tool for mutual fund investing, that gives buy or sell signals based on whether it is better to be invested in a specific fund or in cash.

The SEC sanctioned Florida-based 1st Discount Brokerage and a former executive vice president for failing to supervise an advisor who was operating a Ponzi scheme.

The firm joins several others, including Ladenburg Thalmann, Cetera and LPL Financial, to offer subsidized FSI memberships to advisors.

Brian Saltzman, formerly with AllianceBernstein in New York City, has joined Neuberger Berman Group LLC as a wealth advisor and vice president in the firm’s Manhattan office.

Will the recent SEC risk alert chill the use of social media by asset management firms? Or simply put it on ice?

The U.S. retirement market is projected to grow to nearly $22 trillion by 2016. That represents a 38% increase from an estimated $16 trillion mark for the end of 2011, due mostly to continuing market recovery.

Custom target-date funds are beginning to proliferate at the expense of their off-the-shelf counterparts. That’s due to plan sponsors wanting to have greater control over what’s in a fund and have access to a wider array of investments to put in them.

The former UBS trader accused of unauthorized deals that cost the Swiss bank $2.3 billion pleaded not guilty to four fraud and false accounting charges in a London court.

Marketing expert Marie Swift says forward-thinking financial advisors are incorporating social media into their marketing plans. Are you doing enough online to remain competitive?

Alex Murguia, managing principal of McLean Asset Management and CEO and founder of inStream Solutions, believes advisors should be aware of major changes underway in the planning profession—and should take proactive steps to safeguard their practices. Financial Planning talked to Murguia about his views on the outlook for RIA businesses.