Wirehouses

Wells Fargo landed in hot water for failing to act on indications that a broker traded on insider information.

"One thing we can tell you is our opposition was there before us," says FPA's director of advocacy. "We heard over and over again the argument that if a fiduciary standard were extended to broker-dealers the middle market would be hurt."

"Any effort to put broker-dealers and advisors into the same box is probably not going to work," says a former deputy director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management.

Morgan Stanley hired a team with $4.5 billion in AUM – the second multi-billion-dollar team plucked from Merrill Lynch this month.

Wells Fargo continues recruiting from UBS, hiring advisors with a combined $410 million in AUM.

An ex-Morgan Stanley advisor represented himself in a contract dispute with the firm before FINRA, and the arbitration panel assessed him over $200,000 in fees.

Wealth management firms look to grow the bottom line out West. "Everybody is trying to get bigger in the marketplace. And those who aren't present here want to enhance their presence," says Bill Willis, a Los Angeles-based recruiter.

A veteran Merrill Lynch advisor with $1.5 million in production joins RBC Wealth Management.

Supporters of a broader and more rigorously enforced fiduciary standard are rallying behind a set of best practices they would like to see advisors and brokers incorporate into their practices.

Independent Financial Partners, an LPL firm, tapped a financial services veteran to recruit advisors from the wirehouse channel.

FINRA has promoted one of its own to head the regulator's disciplinary unit, but still has no replacement for Linda Fienberg's other role as head of arbitrations.

The financial services sector as a whole is chasing short-term gains and in the process saddling investors with the costs of higher trading volumes and often not acting in their best interests, says Vanguard founder John Bogle.

A Merrill Lynch advisor managing $230 million in assets has left the wirehouse to join RBC Wealth Management.

Regulators have been clamping down on auditors of broker-dealers in recent years in response to the lack of meaningful audits of Bernard Madoff’s investment firm and other scandals uncovered during the financial crisis.

Wirehouse advisors managing more than $1.1 billion in assets have moved over to Wells Fargo.

John Taft, head of RBC wealth management in the U.S., weighs in on extending fiduciary responsibility to broker-dealers, saying any extension must account for the distinct business practices of the sector.

In a two-week period, Ameriprise has recruited five advisors managing more than $600 million.

For advisors looking to break out of wirehouses, legacy firms or banks, going independent doesn’t necessarily mean they have to go it alone.

Advocates are calling on the head of the SEC to move forward with a uniform fiduciary proposal, even if that means pushing the rules through a divided commission split along party lines.

Baird picked up a branch manager from Wells Fargo and a regional advisor managing about $150 million in assets.