Bruce Kelly

A former middle school and high school English teacher, Bruce Kelly started at InvestmentNews in 2000 as the brokerage reporter after a two-year stint at sister publication Pensions & Investments. He writes a bi-weekly, award winning column, On Advice, and covers the independent broker-dealer industry.

Bruce Kelly
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NEWS REGULATION AND LEGISLATION AUG 13, 2009
Foundation socks Merrill with $33M suit over Madoff investment

Just months before his now-infamous Ponzi scheme collapsed, Bernie Madoff snookered a Merrill Lynch adviser who was attempting to perform due diligence on him for a foundation that serves the elderly, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Florida last week.

NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS AUG 12, 2009
The new Merrill mantra: We want brokers, brokers, brokers

As Sallie Krawcheck takes charge of Merrill Lynch's retail-brokerage firm, it is priming the pump to recruit reps of all stripes — not just the jumbo producers so coveted on Wall Street.

NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS AUG 12, 2009
LPL earnings spiked in second quarter

LPL Investment Holdings Inc. saw an 8.9% increase in its second-quarter profits, mostly on the back of cost cutting and the recent improvements in market conditions.

NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS AUG 09, 2009
AIG Advisor Group may finally have a buyer

With discussions regarding the sale of the AIG Advisor Group dragging on for months, representatives and financial advisers who are affiliated with the beleaguered broker-dealers of the firm are relieved now that two final bidders have emerged.

NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS AUG 05, 2009
Ex-Next Financial broker faces police investigation for $1.5M theft from elderly Texas couple

A broker booted from Next Financial is under investigation by the police in San Antonio for his role in an alleged theft of about $1.5 million from an elderly couple.

NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS JUL 30, 2009
Commonwealth scoops up three teams managing $1.25B

Commonwealth Financial Network of Waltham, Mass., picked up three large offices of reps and advisers who manage $1.25 billion in July, and the advisers are coming from two broker-dealer networks that are being shopped by the insurance companies that own them.

INVESTING ALTERNATIVES JUL 29, 2009
Former Paine Webber chief vies to buy AIG Advisors

Two private-equity firms with strong ties to retail broker-dealers are the final bidders for the AIG Advisor Group — the network of broker-dealers that houses about 6,000 independent registered reps and investment advisers — and a winner could be determined in the next several days, according to sources.

NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS JUL 22, 2009
Next Financial Group fined $1M for failure to supervise branch managers

Next Financial Group Inc. of Houston was fined $1 million today by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. for failures to supervise its network of some 130 branch managers, also known as OSJs in the independent-contractor-broker-dealer industry.

NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS JUL 15, 2009
LPL Financial to pull plug on Pershing clearing platform

In a major retrenchment, LPL Investment Holdings Inc. of Boston is pulling the plug on the Pershing LLC clearing platform used by about 1,700 advisers on three broker-dealers it acquired in 2007, and moving those reps onto LPL's clearing platform.

NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS JUL 13, 2009
Finra to reps and execs: Think twice before selling 529s

Senior Finra officials have started to tell broker-dealer executives and representatives that they should think twice when selling Section 529 college savings plans.