NEW YORK — As some U.S. senators find fault with the arbitration system that resolves client disputes with broker-dealers, the brokerage industry’s largest trade group is defending the process.
LPL Financial Services is playing hardball. Officials at the firm reportedly made it clear to competitor National Planning Holdings Inc. that it needs to step away from recruiting registered representatives from Pacific Life Insurance Co. or it will face consequences.
Raymond James Financial Services Inc. is adding major clout to its recruiting effort, bringing on board half a dozen recruiters, including two top executives from rival independent-contractor firms, investmentnews.com reported Friday.
As part of effort to spiff up its fee business, the ING Advisors broker-dealers have cut fees that their advisers pay for two key advisory offerings.
NASD announced today that it has fined two Fidelity Investments broker-dealers $400,000 for preparing and distributing misleading sales literature promoting plans that were sold primarily to U.S. military personnel.
INVEST Financial Corp. of Tampa, Fla., this morning said it has acquired the contracts of nearly 400 bank-based registered representatives of PFIC Securities Corp. of Franklin, Tenn., a subsidiary of Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. of Memphis.
Thomas James clearly is displeased with the growth at Raymond James Financial Services Inc.
NEW YORK — Looking to de-fuse a potential time bomb for independent-contractor broker-dealers, the Financial Services Institute Inc. wants the Securities and Exchange Commission to change its privacy rule.
The end of the broker-dealer exemption rule will create a great opportunity for registered investment advisers to build out their firms, said J. Thomas Bradley, president of TD Ameritrade Institutional, speaking in Chicago today.
A high-profile financial adviser who hosts a weekly financial-advice radio show has lost a $314,000 arbitration claim that focused on his failure to deliver promised investment management.
National Planning Holdings Inc., the nation’s seventh largest independent-contractor broker-dealer network, today posted record revenues of more than $135 million during the first quarter, an increase of 13.5% from the same time last year.
Instinet Group Inc., a global agency broker, has announced the expansion of its BrokerShare commission sharing arrangement program to include non broker-dealers.
For the second consecutive year, the largest 25 independent-contractor broker-dealers saw top-line growth slow, even though it still was up by double digits.
Another top executive has walked away from the Pacific Select Group LLC, the soon-to-be-dismantled broker-dealer network of Pacific Life Insurance Co. of Newport Beach, Calif.
Brokers who left United Securities Alliance Inc. before its March 1 acquisition by Royal Alliance Associates Inc. received a letter from United’s lawyers last month that contained a surprise: They owe United $5,000.
NEW YORK — Raymond James & Associates Inc. recruited 36 registered representatives during the first quarter, compared with the 43 reps hired during the year-earlier period.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday overturned the Securities and Exchange Commission’s broker-dealer exemption rule in a 2-1 decision.
NASD will put increasing emphasis on “principles based” regulation rather than “one size fits all” rulemaking, even as it concedes that such a move could confuse many in the brokerage industry.
In an effort to connect better with customers, financial services companies of all stripes are spending more on information technology, according to one analyst.
NEW YORK — National Financial Partners Corp. will continue to pour money into acquisitions this year. At a recent conference for analysts and investors, company officials disclosed that they have earmarked $20 million to spend on acquisitions this year, a $5 million increase over 2006’s allocation.
