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Registered Rep. December 1, 2005 |
Registered Rep.'s Broker Report Cards How seven of the nation's largest brokerage firms stack up against each other. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2005 Kristen French |
Merrill Lynch: Still Wirehouse Queen Merrill reps like what they see. This year, the firm kept top honors among wirehouses in the Broker Report Card surveys, and beat its own overall score from last year. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2005 Kristen French |
Morgan Stanley: Tomorrow Is Another Day In this survey, the management upheaval and culling of broker ranks shows in the grades Morgan brokers give their firm. |
Registered Rep. May 30, 2003 David A. Gaffen |
The New Smith Barney CEO Sallie Krawcheck was recruited to restore the credibility of Smith Barney and lead the business through its toughest slump in a generation. Krawcheck wants Smith Barney advisors to more than double their average annual production to $1 million. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2005 Halah Touryalai |
Smith Barney: New Focus On the Horizon While most Smith Barney advisor respondents were generally unimpressed by the acquisition of Legg advisors, it'll be interesting to see if Smith Barney's jettisoning of its asset management group -- and resulting new focus on retail distribution -- will rejuvenate the firm. |
Registered Rep. January 1, 2003 Gaffen & Geracioti |
The Future of the Industry The broker has to be a person who can handle every aspect of a client's financial life. The broker must evolve into a kind of chief financial officer for the client -- managing everything from investments to insurance to estate planning to mortgage banking. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2005 Kristen French |
Wachovia: Back on Track Wachovia is back in good graces with its brokers. The many integration headaches of the firm's merger with Prudential Securities have finally subsided. Reps polled say management has tackled a number of improvements. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2011 Kristen French |
Broker Report Card 2011: It's Getting Better All the Time Registered Rep.'s 21st annual Broker Report Cards showed advisor satisfaction ratings creeping higher this year across the board -- on everything from compensation and benefits, compliance support and sales support to products. |
Registered Rep. November 18, 2005 Kristen French |
Smith Barney Cuts Pay for Smaller Brokers The new pay scale was announced to brokers internally in October and will take effect in January. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2002 Ross Tucker |
Happy Holidays! You're Fired. The ax will fall at year's end for some 700 of 13,500 Morgan Stanley brokers. Some branches will be closed entirely. |
Registered Rep. April 1, 2003 David A. Gaffen |
Your Book or Your Life! What would you do if you lost your book? Where would you turn for new customers? Where could you be hired? Those are questions that keep many advisors up at night. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2002 David A. Gaffen |
Manning the Phones When wirehouses and other major brokerages introduced the notion of call centers a couple of years ago, brokers were suspicious. Although they understood the logic behind the move, it was a difficult adjustment. But call centers are here to stay and brokers are learning to live with them. |
Registered Rep. December 12, 2006 Halah Touryalai |
Smith Barney Pay Package: Perks Balance Cuts? This week, Smith Barney will become the first firm to make a change to its payout grid as a result of the securities industry's recent battle over broker overtime pay and so-called chargebacks. |
Registered Rep. November 1, 2005 John Churchill |
The Money Squeeze There's one thing that stands between the big retail brokerage firms and the high profit margins that the executives of these firms and their investors seek: the financial advisor. |
Registered Rep. January 1, 2006 John Churchill |
More, More, More Faced with growing competition from other advice providers and fewer inherent advantages in the way of products and platform capabilities, wirehouse brokers will feel pressure to do more fee-based business and to make wealthier clients a bigger part of their practice. |
Registered Rep. November 1, 2002 Gaffen & Weinberg |
Brokers React to Citi's Research Move Sallie Krawcheck, former head of independent research firm Sanford C. Bernstein, will head a new business unit of Citigroup that will operate under the name Smith Barney, and include the private client group. Smith Barney brokers are skeptical, though. |
Registered Rep. February 20, 2004 |
Extinct?: February's Cover Story Conferences were held to instruct reps in working as portfolio managers, and, in general, the improved technology made managing portfolios---and thus serving clients---a lot easier. |
Registered Rep. November 1, 2002 David A. Gaffen |
Requiem for the $250K Broker Until recently, brokers were immune to the industry's downsizing, which has included a decimation of the ranks of investment bankers and the elimination of thousands of support positions. Brokers, it was assumed, covered their own costs by generating commissions and fees. Not anymore. |
Registered Rep. February 23, 2007 Kevin Burke |
Disgruntled Smith Barney Brokers Are Voting with Their Feet Sixty-nine brokers left Smith Barney, just ahead of a three-day weekend. Fridays before a long weekend are historically prime times for unhappy brokers to make a clean break, but the large number of brokers taking off on a single day is alarming. |
Registered Rep. March 1, 2007 John Churchill |
Sallie's Back At first glance, this second coming of Sallie Krawcheck probably looks like a cakewalk compared to her first adventure in 2002. But, make no mistake: Smith Barney is not the awesome brokerage it appears to be on paper. |
Registered Rep. November 1, 2003 David A. Gaffen |
Is Wall Street Abandoning Main Street? Are the major brokerage firms losing interest in the everyday investor who has been the very foundation of many of its successes? |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2004 David A. Gaffen |
Sallie Krawcheck Has Left the Building In a move that presages future Citigroup plans, Smith Barney CEO Sallie Krawcheck and Citigroup's CFO Todd Thomson have switched offices. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2005 John Churchill |
UBS: You Against Us? According to rank-and-file reps surveyed, UBS brass did a lot of things right this year and can take a bow -- and then quickly straighten up and fix the rest of what reps say is still ailing the firm. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2004 David A. Gaffen |
Meet the New Boss, Different From the Old Boss November's news that Bob Mulholland was leaving Merrill Lynch wasn't entirely a surprise. He had been co-head of the 14,000-strong retail brokerage unit, but Merrill insiders figured all along that only one boss would prevail. |
Registered Rep. September 27, 2002 David A. Gaffen |
Bear Market Crushing Transaction Brokers Top advisors have been making the transition to the fee-based, "wealth management" style of advisory. But surveys have shown that many brokers remained resistant to the fee-based concept. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2005 Kevin Burke |
A.G. Edwards: Quietly, the Leader of the Pack Building on its strong performance from a year ago, A.G. Edwards lit up the scoreboard this year. Advisors say the St. Louis-based firm has a high-quality work environment, commitment to clients and freedom from pushing certain products. |
Registered Rep. September 10, 2003 David A. Gaffen |
Existing Clients Want More Advice The good news for reps is that the world doesn't hate you. The bad news is that acquiring clients -- particularly affluent ones -- is getting a lot more tough. |
Registered Rep. October 1, 2002 Rick Weinberg |
Brokers Fear Arbitration... With arbitration cases on the rise, many brokers are worried about the prospect of being dragged through a legal process that, because of the current environment, some believe is heavily slanted toward the client. |
Registered Rep. November 1, 2005 Kevin Burke |
Reshuffling the Decks There is an unusual amount of reorganization afoot, with Merrill, Wachovia, UBS, Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney all shaking up their retail brokerage operations. Some of the moves have direct implications for retail advisors. |
Registered Rep. February 1, 2006 Kevin Burke |
Hired and Fired Up The biggest brokerage businesses are showing that even in a modest market upswing they now have in place a strategy for delivering stronger and steadier sales and earnings growth. |
Registered Rep. May 1, 2004 David A. Gaffen |
Mother Merrill's Extreme Makeover A 12-year veteran of Merrill Lynch has noticed a pronounced improvement over the years in the way clients perceive him and his colleagues. |
Registered Rep. August 10, 2004 David A. Gaffen |
Fleeing Brokers Can Take Some Client Info Three of the nation's largest brokerage firms have agreed to make it easier for registered reps to take clients with them when they change firms, eliminating a lot of the cloak-and-dagger antics that brokers often suffer when making a move. |
Registered Rep. February 1, 2003 David A. Gaffen |
An Employer's Market It's a hirer's market out there, but brokerage firms have not stopped recruiting. In fact, although it is quieter than usual, many firms are still willing to pony up big bucks in hopes of attracting top-shelf talent. |
On Wall Street September 1, 2009 Helen Kearney |
On Life Support a Year Ago, Merrill Pays for Top Producers Merrill, under BofA, seems to be on the hunt to add to its ranks, and it's offering a very competitive package that has almost unlimited upside for top producers. |
Registered Rep. September 1, 2003 David A. Gaffen |
Giants Among us Debbie Jorgensen's book is pushing a half billion dollars, but the true measure of her success is this: She now gets to tell her company's bosses what to do. Jorgensen, with nearly two decades of experience at Merrill Lynch, has recently been appointed head of the firm's advisory committee to management. |
Registered Rep. October 1, 2002 David A. Gaffen |
Behind Every Great Producer, A Great Assistant This survey details trends in the compensation, duties and preferences of sales assistants, essential players in the brokerage business. |
Registered Rep. March 1, 2005 John Churchill |
Earnings Forecast: Clouds Give Way to Sun The past year's earnings troubles belie the brokerage industry's sunny prospects for 2005. For advisors, the industry's recent troubles have translated into fewer jobs, but many firms are recruiting aggressively again. |
Registered Rep. December 1, 2005 Kevin Burke |
Edward Jones: Whistle While You Work According to survey results, financial advisors working at this financial firm seem to be living a charmed life. Here's why. |
On Wall Street January 1, 2009 Frances A. McMorris |
The 10th Annual Recruiters Roundtable Packages get lowered. Brokers get hired. Markets have tanked. Retention offers are shrinking. And yet, according to the experts in our 10th Annual Recruiters Roundtable, there are still opportunities in the retail brokerage arena, if you know where to look. |
Registered Rep. March 1, 2005 Steve Watkins |
Money in the Bank Bank-owned brokerage companies have awakened to the changes they need to make to attract top-shelf talent, and brokers are taking notice. |
Registered Rep. April 17, 2009 Halah Touryalai |
Smith Barney Losing Advisors, Client Assets But while Smith Barney is losing reps, it also appears to be recruiting heavily. |
Registered Rep. May 1, 2006 Kevin Burke |
Failure to Launch Last year, Merrill Lynch's deal to buy Advest was regarded as a savvy transaction. Eight months later, with about 100 reps left, the deal math looks considerably worse. But Merrill may soon have an opportunity to see if it can do better. |
Registered Rep. June 1, 2005 John Churchill |
Wall Street's Big Curtain Call How baby boomer brokers move into retirement over the next 10 to 15 years will change the face of the industry in many ways. |
BusinessWeek September 2, 2010 Moore & Mildenberg |
In the Battle of the Big Brokers, Merrill Is Winning Merrill Lynch earns higher profits with fewer advisers, thanks to a smooth integration with Bank of America and more cross-selling. |
Registered Rep. November 1, 2004 John Churchill |
Shaky Third Quarter Gives Advisors Pause The last quarter hasn't been great for retail brokerages. Low trading activity and geopolitical uncertainty kept investors on the sidelines, and advisors are feeling the pinch. |
Registered Rep. August 1, 2003 |
Ten To Watch 2003 The members of our "Ten to Watch" list are among those saddled with having to manage in this tough environment. What makes this group different is that each member has proven influential enough to play some role in creating the securities industry's environment for the year to come. |
Registered Rep. May 1, 2004 John Churchill |
Whom Do You (Trust) The mutual find fiasco and impropriety have thrown the money industry into ill repute. This year's Outstading Broker Awards are a refreshing reminder that there are still exceptional reps working in the industry. Michael Hull... Mary Ellen Garrett... etc. |
Registered Rep. July 28, 2005 Kristen French |
Morgan Confirms Trainee, Broker Cutbacks In an internal memo, co-president Zoe Cruz announced the company would reduce the number of trainees it hires to 1,000 in 2006, from 2,400 this year, while continuing to recruit experienced brokers who focus on high-net-worth clients. |
Registered Rep. April 28, 2003 Will Leitch |
Historic Settlement Doesn't Target Brokers -- But You're Hardly Home Free Now that the Wall Street global settlement is official, brokers might be inclined to heave a sigh of relief. Don't. While the settlement will have a lasting impact on the brokerage industry, brokers have been unscathed by the Spitzer investigations -- so far. |
Registered Rep. March 1, 2003 David A. Gaffen |
Wach-Pru: Rock Steady, or Not Ready? Wachovia's courtship of Prudential Securities, for months one of the worst kept secrets on the Street, has come to fruition. Is the new organization capable of competing in the elite league it has entered? |