Practice management

A big LPL practice with $3.7 billion in assets under management is picking up a $300 million Chicago-area firm.

Even as the SEC is contemplating an expansion of fiduciary rules to include broker-dealers who operate in the retail space, some advocates argue that the regulatory interpretation of the responsibilities under a fiduciary standard has strayed from common-law precedent and become dangerously diluted.

A new HighTower project tries to determine whether the aggregated opinions of advisors and staff can offer meaningful insight into portfolio allocations.

“When they come to us for everything, we then truly are their lead advisor,” says Mike Ott, the new head of the unit.

The convicted Ponzi schemer, now serving a 150-year prison sentence, says in an interview with MarketWatch that his defrauded clients should have probed more.

David Sirianni, Oppenheimer Holdings' head municipal bond trader, was fined $100,000 and suspended for 60 days by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for overcharging customers.

Advisors who add corporate services such as deferred compensation, executive benefit programs and defined contribution or benefit plans to their menu of services, serve business owners and executives better. They also differentiate themselves and boost revenue.

Goldman Sachs Group and Deutsche Bank AG are among five Wall Street firms in addition to JPMorgan Chase whose hiring practices in China are being probed by U.S. regulators, the New York Times reported.

One of the most challenging things advisor Dave Grant faced when setting up his RIA was deciding on a CRM system.

For Jeffrey Thomasson, founder of Oxford Financial -- the largest firm on Financial Planning's 2013 RIA Leaders list -- smooth waters means it’s time to rock the boat.

A quarter of households aged 50-59 are "advice opportunity" households, a new study by Cerulli Associates shows.

At first, using social may take a bit longer as you get comfortable, but once you master the tool it will become second nature and will likely become your most powerful marketing and client engagement tool.

Efforts to curb public-employee power in states such as Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, may embolden other municipalities, leave workers more vulnerable and prompt unions to new tactics of opposition.

The independent broker-dealer got into hot water over unsuitable fund sales, according to FINRA.

Former Bear Stearns managing director Roberto “Bobby” Ruiz was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison for his role in a massive El Paso County corruption case that led to numerous convictions of public officials.

For United Capital's newest advisor, it was the tools that closed the deal.

The largest U.S. banks are pushing back against the Fed's ambitious vision to build a ubiquitous electronic retail payments network that would move money far faster than banks do today.

Half of U.S. households remain at risk of being unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement, despite the surge in stock market and housing prices.

Sixty percent of CFOs believe the state of the U.S. economy will remain stagnant or worsen during the next six months, according to a new survey by Grant Thornton.

Deutsche Bank AG, Europe’s biggest investment bank by revenue, barred multi-party chat rooms at its fixed-income and currency trading businesses as regulators continued punishing banks for alleged rate-rigging.