Former E-Trade general counsel Russell Elmer has joined the Lending Club as the online lending platform's deputy general counsel.

The branchless bank is combining retail banking, retirement and insurance services in its online banking site.

Almost all the planners surveyed by Tiburon called the current technology offerings merely acceptable or downright unsatisfactory.

New software from Fiserv enables an independent advisor to create a detailed case to persuade a wary client.

When we began to redesign Financial-Planning.com earlier this year, we asked ourselves what do planners want most from our website? No surprise, we quickly realized, they want what we want: more vital content, enhanced functionality, better connections with the planning community and speed.

Improve your efforts to attract affluent clients through LinkedIn and Facebook (and not Twitter).

With a new head of research on board, Lipper announced a new set of initiatives for the second half of 2012 that involves building out research and analytical tools.

A new online company, FutureAdvisor, aims to break open the market for sophisticated financial advice and make that service available not only to the wealthy, but to all investors. Launched in 2010, the Seattle-based startup says it already analyzes $4 billion in assets for its users and, today, it announced $5 million in new venture capital funding. …

Raymond James is introducing software that brings clients into the planning process. "Planners usually tell me that working with clients is the best use of their time," Patrick O'Connor, senior vice president of wealth management solutions at Raymond James, said. "Instead of spending an hour-and-a-half preparing a plan and half an hour presenting it to clients, with this software an advisor might put in half an hour of prep work and take an hour-and-a-half developing the plan along with the client."

The growing complexity of investing has created challenges for investors and financial advisors alike. Saxon Sorrentino of Fiserv says the best way to enhance productivity is to improve and integrate technology.

When Irvine, Calif.-based planner Winnie Sun jumped from Smith Barney to LPL Financial about 18 months ago, a major factor driving the move was her new firm's support of social media.

How might the world have been different if, starting 10 years ago, every would-be home buyer had access to a free and independent tool that showed them - in highly personalized and granular detail - precisely what they could and could not have afforded to buy? Would there have been a real estate crash at all?

A new survey of broker-dealers highlights the extent to which their firms rely on back-office technology to manage and improve advisor relationships, while at the same time revealing broad dissatisfaction with the solutions that firms have currently deployed.

Eighty percent of financial advisors say they're dabbling in social media to drum up new business and one in five has already reeled in new clients as a result of participating.

TD Ameritrade Institutional claims its iRebal system will allow financial planners to rebalance client portfolios in "near-zero" time.

There have been more advances in technology for independent advisors in the past decade than there were in the previous 30 years. And the speed of this change is accelerating even faster today, giving advisors more tools to provide even better service to an even larger group of clients.

Members of Gen X and Y have less allegiance to their investment providers than previous generations, according to a new report.

The days of filling a conference room with prospective clients for a retirement planning seminar at the local Holiday Inn are pretty much over. If advisors really want to grow their assets under management these days, they need to get mobile and social as soon as possible.

First rule of thumb - it will cost you. The days of the service-driven model are over and banks will not be able to capture wallet share by going cheap.

Focus will be on building networks and boosting skills.