Regional banks

As Hurricane Sandy moves in on the Northeast, firms such as Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott implement contingency plans to help advisors and clients.

Two investment teams from Merrill Lyncch have joined RBC's Leadwood, Kan., office.

Picked up in a renewed focus on recruiting, Mark Teed joins Raymond James in Massachusetts.

A three-decade industry vet, David Upin, joins as senior vice president in Minneapolis.

At Raymond James, costs from the Morgan Keegan integration caused profits to decline in the fourth quarter.

Although profits fell firm-wide, Ameriprise Financial’s Advice and Wealth Management segment posted a number of improvements across the board in the third quarter.

Morgan Keegan & Co., the brokerage firm acquired by Raymond James Financial Inc., was ordered by a federal appeals court to pay a group of 18 investors a $9.2 million arbitration award.

Almost one in two consumers (47%) say they keep the majority of their assets with banks, up from 44% in 2011. Self-directed firms and full-service brokers, in contrast, had only 28% and 15% of the market, respectively.

Orion’s accounting and performance review software provides SWS advisors with performance dashboard.

Raymond James Executive Chairman Thomas James said he is optimistic that the financial services industry can work more closely with regulators, even as evolving regulations such as a uniform fiduciary standard and the Volcker Rule have started off with the wrong approach.

With 30 years industry experience, Robert Bernardin joins Hilliard Lyons as a senior vice president in Indiana.

Janney Montgomery Scott recruited a 12-person team led by Kevin Roche and Jeff Miller to help expand its structured product offerings.

Royal Bank of Canada will probably miss its 2015 target of C$2 billion ($2 billion) in annual earnings from asset management because of low interest rates, executive George Lewis said.

The regional bank plans to substantially strengthen its western footprint with new advisors in Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada.

Janney’s 32nd hire in their private client group this year, George Keith will be complex manager in Darien, Conn.

Seven advisors have joined Baird’s wealth management group in Texas, Maryland and Nebraska in a late summer round of recruiting.

Southwest Securities has hired J.C. Graham as part of its latest recruitment campaign.

As Raymond James Financial Chief Executive Paul Reilly looks to the future, he sees more diversity in the firm’s workforce, particularly when it comes to female and younger financial advisors.

Raymond James’ acquisition of Morgan Keegan this year has injected an unprecedented number of new financial advisors into the firm’s ranks, while it continues to see interest from high profile prospective recruits from rival wealth management firms, according to Dennis Zank, chief operating officer at Raymond James.

A four-man team, the Nierling Investment Group, has joined RBC in Dallas, Texas.