The fear of mergers-and-acquisition agreements’ going sour increasingly is being eased by insurance, according to industry experts.
Faced with intense competition for financial advisers and growing transition costs, an increasing number of independent-contractor broker-dealers over the past year have boosted the amount of money they give to representatives and advisers to switch firms.
Bracing for change, registered representatives at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. last week met the news that they are being acquired by Wachovia Corp. with a range of opinions.
NEW YORK — The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. has adopted a revised version of its standards of professional conduct, placing a greater emphasis on the importance of fiduciary responsibility.
The son of former National Enquirer owner Generoso Pope Jr. is fighting his mother in a battle that has all of the makings of a story that the elder Mr. Pope might have splashed over the cover of his lurid supermarket tabloid.
Edward C. “Ned” Johnson III has given the adviser services business at Fidelity Investments approval to loosen temporarily constraints on its profit margins in a bid to gain market share among advisers.
SAN FRANCISCO — With its planned $225 million cash purchase of Fiserv Inc.’s custody business, announced May 24, TD Ameritrade is trying to do more than solidify its hold on the No. 3 position among RIA asset custodians.
OTTAWA — A funny thing happened on the way to a “hollowed out” corporate Canada. Instead of foreigners’ taking over Canadian companies and moving top jobs and decision making offshore (InvestmentNews, March 26), Canadian companies are acquiring foreign companies in record numbers.
CHICAGO — Wall Street’s eagerness to develop and sell exotic new products to the nation’s growing ranks of retirees is worrying regulators.
NEW YORK — The needs of aging clients and their aging parents are compelling financial advisers to become more knowledgeable about elder-care issues.
What has four feet, lives in a stable and could be your next investment? With the 139th Belmont Stakes coming up this Saturday, horse money can be found not just at the betting window but also in the thoroughbreds themselves.
NEW YORK — Although institutional investors have hopped on the socially conscious investing bandwagon, individual investors may be wondering whether it really pays to allow their conscience to dictate their investment strategies.
NEW YORK — Advisers hoping to convince clients that they need a long-term financial plan should do their best to appeal to the prefrontal cortex of their clients’ brains — and steer clear of the limbic system altogether.
NEW YORK — The Financial Services Institute Inc. is gearing up for a fracas with regulators over the highly contentious issue of 12(b)-1 fees, an embedded annual charge in almost all mutual funds.
Bank of America Corp. is counting on a new advisory business to help retain ultrahigh-net-worth clients once its $3.3 billion deal to acquire U.S. Trust Corp. from San Francisco-based Charles Schwab Corp. closes next month.
Principles-based rules won’t be a panacea for financial services and, in fact, could create more regulatory risk, some industry observers say. The concept of flexible rules is being pushed hard by business interests and regulators as the way to improve and modernize regulation.
CHICAGO — Life cycle fever seems to be spreading from 401(k) plans to variable annuities. At ING Variable Annuities, for instance, assets in LifeStyle portfolios — which were introduced as ING-managed subaccounts in mid-2004 — reached $8 billion at the end of April, up from more than $4 billion at the end of 2005.
