After incurring a 'signficant loss' in 2011, Finra plans to raise a number of user fees. How big a hit will B-Ds take? The hikes will range anywhere from 5% to 50%.
Although 2011 offered its share of challenges, independent broker-dealers were still able to rack up solid gains.
For independent broker-dealers, 2011 was a challenge. Mounting technology costs, intense scrutiny and new rules from securities regulators were compounded by record low interest rates, which decimated returns on once-lucrative activities such as margin lending and holding clients' cash.
T. Timothy Ryan, president and chief executive of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, said he wants regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Labor Department to move forward together on creating a single fiduciary standard of care for retail stockbrokers
LPL's special dividend will be payable May 25 and will be followed by a regular quarterly dividend starting at 12 cents per share.
Britain's former prime minister, Tony Blair, kicked off the Schwab Impact 2011 conference with a sober assessment of the challenges raised by the Arab Spring and expressed concern that short-term political considerations could thwart long-term solutions to problems facing the global economy.
A financial adviser has inserted himself into the tension between the Occupy Wall Street protesters and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. over sponsorship of a fundraising dinner next month for a New York-based credit union that mainly serves the poor.
Two men who engaged in an eight-year scheme that defrauded investors of $140 million are headed to prison.
Advisers say that an increasing number of timesaving iPad apps are aiding their productivity
