Practice management

At a time when recruiting is down across the independent broker-dealer space, Cetera Financial Group has added 247 net new advisors nationwide between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2013.

Seeking to end probes of a trading debacle that damaged its reputation for risk-management, JPMorgan agreed to pay about $920 million for failing to implement adequate controls and providing incomplete information to regulators and its board.

When interviewing, hiring, and onboarding recent college graduates, financial planning firm leaders should plan to ask tough and innovative questions, listen extensively, and spend much more time and energy offering the new employees honest compliments rather than just criticizing them.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told employees to prepare for more legal woes while the bank undertakes an “unprecedented effort” to comply with regulations.

As desktop publishing has become less and less expensive and more advisors are building brochures to advertise their practices, marketing organizations are encouraging teams to articulate their value proposition to the marketplace. Here are two glaring errors that advisors must avoid.

Exclusive: Confusion over compensation disclosure again cited; board insists process is 'consistent, fair, credible.'

The American College of Financial Services has launched Analyst Success.com, an Internet-based preparatory program for the CFA exam that includes self-guided and instructor-led packages.

New York, California and Texas will be ground zero for Fiera Capital, the $71 billion Canadian investment manager that is hoping to crack the top tier of the U.S. private wealth market.

Although average Gen Xers say they want life insurance policies worth more than $700,000, they purchase only $260,000 in coverage.

With the transfer of wealth from baby boomers to the younger generations already underway, financial advisors need to adjust or risk getting left behind.

The RIA channel is set to be a source of headcount growth, while the wirehouses and broker-dealer channels are expected to be the biggest losers, according to Cerulli Associates’ most recent study -- but there’s a silver lining for RIAs.

Members of Generations X and Y - people between 23 and 48 years old - who have $1 million or more in investable asset are more active in the markets, engaged in planning and philanthropy, informed, optimistic and collaborative than their baby boomer counterparts, according to a new survey by Fidelity Investments.

Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit must face a lawsuit filed by two trusts that hold and administer mortgages on behalf of investors who own more than $1 billion worth of securities collateralized by the loans.

Former CFP Board Chairman Alan Goldfarb was the first CFP holder ever to be publicly sanctioned for a compensation disclosure violation, the board has confirmed – despite its assertion that he was not treated differently than other CFP holders.

In 2012, they generated an average of $262,972 in revenue, beating advisors in similar-sized banks that partner with third-party broker-dealers.

A lawsuit brought by husband-and-wife planners in Florida against the CFP Board has brought the federal court system into the debate over “fee-only” labeling and consequences – a topic that the industry has been struggling to define.

In a crowded market like financial services, the truly successful professionals are those advisors who can cultivate a fiercely loyal, devoted client base, says advisor marketing guru Maribeth Kuzmeski.

Financial advisors are three times as likely to respond to a sales pitch from an asset manager, broker-dealer, custodian or insurance company when the approach is made in person, according to a new study.

There are few marketing issues in the advisor sector that in recent years have inspired more interest -- and uncertainty -- than the use of social media in the practice.

The Department of Labor is pushing back its timeframe for releasing a highly anticipated proposal for expanding fiduciary responsibilities for advisors who work with retirement plans.