After eight months of negotiations, LPL Financial Services Inc. last Thursday finalized the details of its acquisition of three broker-dealers owned by Pacific Life Insurance Co. of Newport Beach, Calif.
A newfangled model for helping independent investment advisory firms transition ownership to the next generation of employees has attracted two of the industry’s more established financial planning businesses.
NEW YORK — The impending private-equity buyout of Texas’ largest electricity producer may give rise to more deals in which environmental lobbyists are invited to sit at the negotiation table.
IRVINE, Calif. — In response to complaints from brokers, Smith Barney has tweaked the final version of its new pay plan.
Yet another chief executive of a Pacific Select Group LLC broker-dealer is leaving his respective firm, making for a near-complete overhaul in top management of the four broker-dealers in the Pacific Select network.
At least seven members of Congress, including the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, are planning to reintroduce legislation that would require many small businesses not offering retirement plans to enroll their employees in individual retirement accounts automatically.
Waddell & Reed Financial Inc., an asset management firm started by two World War I pilots, is winning its turnaround battle so far, but some observers say that the upshot ultimately will be to fix it or sell it.
Industry leaders are concerned that insurance companies are taking on too much risk from annuities that offer guaranteed-withdrawal benefits for the life of the client. Financial services leaders worry that if baby boomers live longer than projected or a downturn hits the market, the financial strength of insurance companies could be threatened.
The Vanguard Group Inc., which long has espoused the virtues of buy-and-hold investing, is encouraging hedge funds — which rank among the most frenetic of investors — to invest in its exchange traded funds.
Add class action litigation to the regulatory controversies, bad press and other woes plaguing insurers that sell equity index annuities.
