Swiss and U.S. Tension Rising Over UBS Tax Evasion CaseJul 13, 2009,John Churchill Tension seems to be increasing between U.S. and Swiss officials who are trying to hammer out a settlement between the U.S. government and Swiss firm, UBS, regarding the names of 52,000 American clients of the firm. ... Smith Barney Loses Top Executive, CFO Program To Be RebrandedJul 9, 2009,By John Churchill and Kristen French After just 7 months on the job, Chris di Bonaventura, head of the Citi Family Office group, handed in his resignation, Smith Barney confirmed. The departing exec is joining Fidelity’s Family Office Service Business. ... CIMA Adds Post-Modern Portfolio Theory To CurriculumJul 8, 2009,John Churchill The Investment Management Consultants Association announced that it has changed the requirements for attaining the designation of Certified Investment Management Analyst, or CIMA. ... Is UBS’ Marten Hoekstra On the Way Out?Jul 8, 2009,John Churchill A story in the Financial Times teasingly suggests UBS US Wealth Management is in for a big change at the top. Marten Hoekstra, CEO of the US unit, may be ousted or get a wingman, it says. ... Outright Greed? Or Mere Miscommunication?Jul 6, 2009,David A. Geracioti, VonAldo.com Back in the Great Buying Panic of the late 1990s, I once asked a financial advisor what his biggest problem was. His response: “Managing client expectations.” This question was posed in the summer of 1999, the year the Nasdaq Composite soared by 85.6 percent—on top of double-digits gains in the preceding four years. The advisor told me: “My clients think it’s always like this.” For more, please go to Von.Aldo.com, the blog of RR editor-in-chief David A. Geracioti. ... Schwab Cuts Some Fees for 2009Jun 29, 2009,By Halah Touryalai Beginning in July, Schwab will waive commissions on electronic equity trades and reimburse account transfer fees for its RIAs’ clients. The offer is good through the end of 2009. And for the more than 2,200 investment advisors who use Schwab’s portfolio management software, the firm says it will waive related maintenance fees next year. ... Regulation, Not Growth, Is Top Concern for RIAsJun 25, 2009,By Halah Touryalai RIAs have a lot on their plates. They’ve seen their assets drop significantly over the last year, their clients are demanding more of their time, revenues are taking a hit and on top of it all, there’s potential for major regulatory changes in their industry.... Go Figure, HNW Clients Lost Trust and Money in 08: Wealth ReportJun 25, 2009,By Christina Mucciolo Not surprisingly, last year’s market took its toll on the wealthy, reducing assets, slimming their ranks and undercutting their trust in institutions associated with the market, according to the 14th annual Global Wealth Report, released this morning by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini. The report contains the results of a survey of clients, FAs and executives at 31 banks. ... SEC Says Time To Tighten Rules On Money Market FundsJun 24, 2009,By John Churchill More than nine months after one of the oldest and largest money market funds suffered such severe redemptions that the net asset value of its shares fell below $1, the SEC is proposing structural and regulatory changes for money markets so it doesn’t happen again. ... Can’t Beat The Market? Beat Your AdvisorJun 24, 2009,By Christina Mucciolo Lose a client’s money, what’s the worst that could happen? According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, last week in Germany, elderly pensioners allegedly beat their financial advisor with Zimmer Frames (metal walkers) and then kidnapped him and tortured him for four days. He had lost them $2 million pounds (U.S. $3.3 million). The financial advisor, James Amburn, 56, says he was ambushed outside his home in Speyer, western Germany, bound with masking tape and bundled into the trunk of his client’s Audi 8.... Madoff Had Help Running His Fraud, Says SECJun 22, 2009,By David A. Geracioti The SEC today indicted four individuals for helping Bernie Madoff in his colossal Ponzi scheme. One of the individuals was a registered rep and a second was an investment advisor. If the allegations are true, the men and one woman are quite wicked—or kept themselves willfully (“recklessly,” says the SEC) ignorant. ... Sir Allen Stanford IndictedJun 22, 2009,By John Churchill Allen Stanford, the flamboyant 59-year-old billionaire CEO of the Stanford Group Companies was indicted Friday on charges of conspiracy to commit securities, mail and wire fraud. Six other individuals were also indicted, including the chief banking regulator of Antigua. ... Target Date Funds Under Congressional Microscope; Sortino’s ThoughtsJun 18, 2009,By John Churchill The Department of Labor and the SEC are holding a joint hearing today in Washington to explore “issues” related to target date/lifecycle funds. Many of these funds actually underperformed the S&P 500 last year. You can watch the hearing live until 5:30pm.... The Fiduciary Battle Continues, Now Under Federal MicroscopeJun 17, 2009,By Christina Mucciolo Among other measures, the Obama administration proposed today that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) require that broker-dealers offering investment advice be held to the fiduciary standard rather than the suitability standard. The SEC would also be empowered to examine and ban forms of compensation that encourage intermediaries to put investors into products that are profitable to the intermediary, but are not in the investors’ best interest. In addition, the package called for “harmonizing” the regulation of investment advisors and broker-dealers. ... Hedge Funds Bruised, But New Retail Products AboundJun 15, 2009,By Kristen French Hedge funds, like so many other things, had a horrendous year in 2008. They posted their worst performance on record, a decline of 19 percent; meanwhile, several high profile funds blew up and nearly one-third of the hedge funds tracked by Morningstar closed their doors. Of course, there were few asset classes and strategies that did perform well last year. But the stereotypical hedge fund was supposed to be different: An alpha generator with the mandate to go anywhere, to claw out gains no matter the state of the capital markets. ... FINRA Board Gets New Members; LPL, Ed Jones, Deutsche Replace Merrill, Lehman, ING execsJun 11, 2009,By Kristen French Four new members were elected to the FINRA Board o Governors today: LPL Chairman and CEO, Mark Casady, took over the Independent Dealer/Insurance Affiliate seat from John Simmers, former Chairman and CEO of ING Advisors Network, who stepped down from that position on April 16. ... The Financial Industry's Image Problem (Cont.)Jun 11, 2009,By David A. Geracioti, VonAldo.com You know that your industry has a problem — a serious trust issue — when a New York Times columnist today sums up the case against financial advisor Matthew Weitzman thusly: “So most readers of this newspaper could be victims in other similar situations.” Please go to VonAldo.com, the blog of Registered Rep. Editor-in-Chief David A. Geracioti.... Fewer Advisors Switch B/Ds in MayJun 9, 2009,By Halah Touryalai The number of advisors switching firms dropped 23 percent in May versus April, according to Discovery Database. The research firm’s data show that 1,506 reps changed b/ds in May, compared with 1,961 in April. ... Top Women AdvisorsJun 8, 2009,By David A. Geracioti, VonAldo.com This weekend Barron’s published its list of top financial advisors who happen to be female. We also publish “top 100 financial advisors” lists, but we don’t sort by sex. Should we sort by sex or ethnicity? Go to VonAldo.com, the blog of RR Editor-in-Chief David A. Geracioti.... Merrill Lynch’s Dan Sontag Out? Salaried Merrill Brokers? Not so FastJun 4, 2009,By John Churchill According to a story posted yesterday on Clusterstock.com, a financial blog run by Henry Blodget and John Carney, founding editor of Dealbreaker.com, Dan Sontag, head of Merrill Lynch’s global wealth and investment management unit, is about to be pink-slipped. What’s more, the story says the rapidly shrinking thundering herd of 16,000 brokers can expect soon to be salaried employees. ... ARS Games—SEC Blames Firms, Settles with BAC, RBC and DEUTSCHEJun 3, 2009,By David Geracioti When the auction rate securities market froze up in February 2008, angry clients blamed their financial advisors; financial advisors blamed their firms. Today, the SEC announced finalized settlements with Bank of America, RBC Capital Markets and Deutsche Bank, “resolving SEC charges that the firms misled investors regarding the liquidity risks associated with auction rate securities (ARS) that they underwrote, marketed or sold,” the SEC said in a statement today.... SEC Gives Investors a Voice. Will It Be Heard?Jun 3, 2009,By Halah Touryalai Chances are the Securities and Exchange Commission announcement about its newly created Investor Advisory Committee will get plenty of eye rolls.... Can You Say, “Morgan Stanley Smith Barney?” The Joint Venture Launches TodayJun 1, 2009,By David Geracioti Welcome Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Boy, that is a mouth full. Today, the deal merging Citi’s brokerage (Smith Barney) with Morgan Stanley’s Global Wealth Management Group is closed—ahead of schedule. (It was set to close in the third quarter of this year.) To retain FAs and other employees, Morgan will issue stock equity grants. Morgan already announced it will issue retention awards. ... Former Brookstreet Brokers Hit With Fraud ChargesMay 28, 2009,By Kristen French Almost two years after their firm imploded, 16 brokers from Brookstreet Securities may have come to justice. The SEC today charged 10 brokers from the now defunct firm with fraud for marketing risky mortgage-backed derivatives as conservative investments to over 750 customers--and margined them to the hilt while claiming they were using little leverage. FINRA lodged similar charges against an additional six brokers. ... Big Brands Fall Out of Favor With WealthyMay 28, 2009,By John Churchill A survey released yesterday of the nation’s wealthiest individuals reveals that wealth management’s biggest, most powerful brands—including UBS, Wachovia, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs—have lost a lot of credibility with their target audience. ...
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Blogs & OpinionGet the latest from Registered Rep. Editor-in-Chief David A. Geracioti on his blog Von Aldo.
Get the latest from Registered Rep. Managing Editor Kristen French on her blog The Reformation.
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