Wirehouses

Two wealth management giants, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, kicked off the second quarter with record earnings despite market and interest rate volatility.

The Boston company said it is realigning to better serve advisors in the independent, bank, broker-dealer and family office channels.

UBS AG, the Swiss lender shrinking its investment banking business, overtook Bank of America Corp. to top a ranking of the world’s biggest wealth managers compiled by Scorpio Partnership.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management hauled in four advisors with $434 million in assets from Morgan Stanley.

FINRA has delayed consideration of a highly contentious proposed rule on recruitment compensation disclosure.

When wirehouse brokers consider shifting to independence, they need to weigh a lot of factors and ask a lot of questions. John Stuart and Mag Black-Scott of Beverly Hills Wealth Management provide 11 questions that should be top of mind before making the move.

Once lost, a reputation is hard to regain, and it’s costing financial services companies hundreds of millions in sales.

Gen Y planners foresee RIAs booming and perceive fundamental flaws within the wirehouse model. They see advisors making big mistakes with next generation clients. They have fears about the future of the industry along with some ideas on how society should change to create a more financially secure world.

Investors overreacted to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s comments that the central bank could reduce monthly bond purchases, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein said.

With a new managed accounts platform, Merrill Lynch advisors will be able to turn to one website instead of five to answer a single client question – “How am I doing?”

Benjamin Edwards has added offices in Canton, Ohio and Abilene, Kansas., growing the firm to 33 branches in 17 states.

Janney has hired Neil McCauley from Wells Fargo with $98 million in assets under management.

A final handshake on Morgan Stanley’s acquisition of Smith Barney will tie up some lingering loose ends, including a smoother clearing process for client assets, for one of the largest wealth management industry deals in the past decade.

Morgan Stanley will buy the rest of its wealth-management joint venture with Citigroup Inc. as soon as next week, capping a four-year effort to reshape the investment bank into a more stable firm reliant on the retail- brokerage business.

Financial institutions should develop distinct service offerings for young investors that speak to them at their life stage.

Raymond James announced Wednesday it hired Claire Friedrichs as first vice president of investments.

The firm snapped up two Morgan Stanley advisors and former branch manager at Ameriprise.

Less than a week after landing another Morgan Stanley advisor, Raymond James has lured a Midwestern group with over $240 million in assets under management from Morgan Stanley to its independent-broker dealer.

Wells Fargo Advisors has hired nine financial advisors from Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and RBC Capital Markets with $1.12 billion in assets under management.

John David “J.D.” Joyce and his team moved to Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network in Houston on May 23.