Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 

May 9, 2008,

By Nancy N. DiCostanzo

Despite calls by numerous shareholders to break up Citigroup and spin off poorly performing businesses, it looks like CEO Vikram Pandit will be taking his cues from Al Green today: Let’s stay together. As reported by the New York Post, today's analyst and investor meeting will not involve Pandit announcing plans to dump Citigroup's integrated bank model....

UBS Needs A Lift Ticket 

May 8, 2008,

By Nancy N. DiCostanzo

The New York Post reported today that UBS is facing serious scrutiny by the SEC and the DOJ to determine whether or not the bank aided clients in committing tax evasion from 2000 to 2007. Maybe Wesley Snipes was a client?...

LPL Financial Heats Up The RIA World 

May 5, 2008,

By Halah Touryalai

Charles Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and Pershing will soon have a new and powerful rival to worry about, while the hybrid broker/independent RIA model should get a major boost. The largest independent b/d in the U.S., LPL Financial, announced today it’s going to launch an RIA custodian later this year, which will serve both hybrid and fee-only investment advisors who operate independent RIAs. LPL currently has about 12,000 Series-7 advisors under its massive b/d umbrella....

Banc Of America Dishes Out $10 Million For Fiduciary Violations 

May 1, 2008,

By Halah Touryalai

Bank of America Corp. just got about $10 million poorer. Its broker/dealer, Banc of America Investment Services Inc., settled charges today that it failed to disclose that it favored mutual funds affiliated with the firm. ...

FINRA Fines American Funds 

Apr 30, 2008,

By David A. Geracioti

Every rep loves American Funds: The fund family—the nation’s largest, with $1 trillion in assets—offers decent performance for relatively inexpensive fees. ...

Citi Hedge Fund Blow Up Hurts Clients—And Sends Advisors Packing 

Apr 29, 2008,

By John Churchill

While Smith Barney tries its darnedest to hold on to the money of wealthy clients that were invested in two of the firms’ failing hedge funds (subscription required), it’s also having a hard time keeping some of its best brokers. With all the uncertainties and troubles facing Citi, the firm’s prized retail brokerage operation has become a favored target of recruiters, say recruiters. ...

How To Pick A Planner 

Apr 28, 2008,

By David Geracioti

In case you missed it this weekend, here is a story from the New York Times that seems pretty much right on the money. ...

BofA Earnings Tank, Retail Brokerage Steady 

Apr 21, 2008,

By Christina Mucciolo

Bank of America posted a whopping 77-percent drop in first quarter net income today, down to $1.21 billion, or 23 cents a share. The sharp drop in earnings was the result of $1.9 billion in write-downs for the quarter—$1.47 billion on collateralized-debt obligations (CDOs) and $439 million on leveraged loans—as well as an increase in capital provisions to cover future potential credit losses, which rose to $6.01 billion from a $1.23 billion a year ago, according to the firm’s earnings release. ...

Citigroup Posts Q1 Loss; Smith Barney Unit Lackluster, Too 

Apr 18, 2008,

By John Churchill

Citigroup reported a net loss of $5.1 billion or $1.02 per share, $0.07 per share worse than consensus analyst expectations, according to Thomson Financial. Unlike, say, Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney’s Global Wealth Management unit (retail brokerage), one of the centerpieces in CEO Vikram Pandit’s revival, did poorly too. (Merrill reported earnings yesterday, and despite CDO woes, its retail brokerage did pretty well.) ...

Merrill: An Able Foil To Bear? 

Apr 18, 2008,

By Christina Mucciolo

Merrill Lynch’s streak continues. The Wall Street giant posted a first quarter net loss of $1.97 billion, primarily due to net write-downs totaling $1.5 billion related to collateralized-debt obligations (CDOs). This is the third quarter in a row the firm has reported a loss....

Former GunnAllen Broker Accused Of A Ponzi 

Apr 16, 2008,

By Christina Mucciolo

It seems GunnAllen has another embarrassment on its hands: Seven investors who say they were the victims of a Ponzi scheme by Frank Bluestein, a former GunnAllen rep, have filed an arbitration claim against the Tampa firm. ...

Bear’s Q1 Earnings Bad, But Retail Did Well 

Apr 15, 2008,

By Halah Touryalai

Bear Stearns can’t seem to go down quietly. The firm is facing a number of lawsuits filed by employees, investors and possibly even civil charges courtesy of the SEC....

Brookstreet Broker Cliff Popper Suing NFS for $36 Million 

Apr 9, 2008,

By John Churchill

Cliff Popper, the flashy former Brookstreet Securities broker/trader at the center of the California firm's August collapse, is now suing his old clearing firm, National Financial Services (NFS), for $36 million in damages. ...

Former Bear Broker Gets Okay From Judge 

Apr 4, 2008,

By Halah Touryalai

A Bear Stearns broker is free to take his clients with him to his new digs at Morgan Stanley, a Massachusetts judge ruled today. ...

UBS Projecting More Huge Write-Downs, Recapitalization 

Apr 1, 2008,

By John Churchill

UBS announced today that the firm plans to write-down another $19 billion in housing-related credit securities held on its books by the end of the first quarter, bringing the firm's total sub-prime losses to $37 billion thus far. As a result, the firm says it will sustain a $12 billion quarterly loss. ...

More Trouble In Auction-Rate Securities Land 

Mar 28, 2008,

By David A. Geracioti

If you are a retail financial advisor at UBS and have client assets stuck in the auction-rate securities market, your new ad slogan might be: “UBS, You Are Pissed At Us.” That’s because the Wall Street Journal’s website is reporting that UBS is marking down the value of auction-rate securities held by individuals in their brokerage accounts. The markdowns were scheduled this afternoon, and will cut the value from between 2 percent and 20 percent of the value of the securities. The market for “resets,” as the market is sometimes known, has frozen up after the credit ratings of bond insurers were put on review. In the absence of other buyers, few banks want to put up their own capital to buy the securities, experts say. As a result, retail financial advisors have had the unpleasant task of telling their wealthy clients that they couldn’t access their own money. ...

J.P. Morgan Offers Retention Deal To Bear Reps. Will It Be Sweet Enough? 

Mar 25, 2008,

By Halah Touryalai

Now that J.P Morgan announced its retention package, Bear Stearns advisors are faced with a big question: Do I stay or do I go? ...

Will Dimon Offer Retention Package To Coveted Bear Advisors? 

Mar 24, 2008,

By Halah Touryalai

JP Morgan’s chief may have asked asked rival firms to back off from hiring Bear Stearns advisors, but that doesn’t mean competitors have stopped offering recruiting deals to anxious Bear reps. ...

Earnings, Wealth Management Still Truckin’ at Morgan Stanley 

Mar 19, 2008,

By John Churchill

Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings today, at least temporarily easing investor nerves. Still, overall revenues and earnings were well below last year’s levels: Net revenue was $8.3 billion for the quarter, a 17-percent decline from last year’s first quarter. Earnings were $1.5 billion, down 42 percent from $2.3 billion in the first quarter of last year. But the wealth-management unit was again a bright spot, reporting increases in both revenues and earnings. ...

Morgan Stanley Reorganizes Wealth-Management Unit 

Mar 17, 2008,

By Christina Mucciolo

Morgan Stanley is streamlining its Global Wealth Management unit, reducing its four U.S. divisions (Northeast, South, Central, West) to two (South/West and Northeast/Central), according to an internal memo sent last week by Andy Saperstein, head of national sales. ...

UBS Says U.S. Wealth Management Not For Sale 

Mar 17, 2008,

By John Churchill

A spokesperson for UBS denied rumors, aired by CNBC last week, that the Swiss firm is contemplating a sale of its U.S. wealth-management business in order to raise capital. UBS has written-down billions of dollars related to mortgage-securities losses. ...

Bear Sells To JP Morgan, Advisors Prepare For Flight 

Mar 17, 2008,

By Kristen French

Bear Stearns reached a deal Sunday to sell itself to J.P. Morgan—at a fire-sale price. J.P. Morgan will pay $2 a share for the teetering bank, less than one-tenth of the price that its shares were trading for on Friday. That day, Bear’s stock plunged 47 percent to close at $30. Just a year ago, Bear shares were trading at $170. Recruiters say Bear advisors are very determined to leave, but the deal at least buys them some time to look for a new home. ...

For Bear Reps, It’s Decision Time 

Mar 14, 2008,

By Halah Touryalai

By now, everyone on Wall Street knows Bear Stearns is in deep—well, you know what. But where does the firm’s state of emergency leave its 500 or so advisors? That depends on whom you ask. ...

Wall Street Romps 

Mar 12, 2008,

By Christina Mucciolo

As former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer learned this week—after being ousted for clandestine trysts with expensive call girls—prostitution is illegal. Spitzer was not the first (nor the last) high-profile person to enjoy expensive romps with ladies of the evening (clients one through eight have yet to be ferreted out)....

Advisors: No Love Lost On Spitzer 

Mar 12, 2008,

By Kristen French

Eliot Spitzer, who’s dramatic demise over the past few days has been covered backwards and forwards by every media outlet in the country, is not getting a lot of sympathy from Wall Street reps or executives. Many of them are celebrating the fact: Merrill Lynch’s board of directors is said to have cheered euphorically at the news that the crusading former attorney general—and now former governor—had become the client of a high-end prostitution ring, forcing him to resign, according to advisors at the firm. ...