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Author: rafferty

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Cambridge Investment Research bags mid-sized broker-dealer

16:47 21 August in In the News by rafferty

August 20, 2018 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News Broker Dealer Financial Services, an IBD with 150 reps and advisers, and $3.5 billion in assets, will become a Cambridge OSJ   The consolidation of the brokerage industry continues, and in the latest deal Cambridge Investment Research Inc., one of the largest independent contractor firms, said on Monday it had acquired Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp., a mid-sized firm with about 150 reps and advisers, $3.5 billion in assets and $20 million in annual revenues. Broker Dealer Financial Services, or BDFS, will become an enterprise branch, called a "super OSJ" for office of supervisory jurisdiction, of Cambridge, according to a letter sent Monday to Cambridge's 3,956 reps and advisers from the firm's senior management. Both firms are based in Iowa. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Independent brokers...

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The Tragic Decline of Music Literacy (and Quality)

17:35 20 August in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

By Jon Henschen August 16, 2018, Intellectual Takeout Throughout grade school and high school, I was fortunate to participate in quality music programs. Our high school had a top Illinois state jazz band; I also participated in symphonic band, which gave me a greater appreciation for classical music. It wasn’t enough to just read music. You would need to sight read, meaning you are given a difficult composition to play cold, without any prior practice. Sight reading would quickly reveal how fine-tuned playing “chops” really were. In college I continued in a jazz band and also took a music theory class. The experience gave me the ability to visualize music (If you play by ear only, you will never have that same depth of understanding music construct.) Both jazz and classical art forms require not...

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Number of BDs, Reps Drops for Second Straight Year, New FINRA Report Says

00:12 15 August in In the News by rafferty

August 09, 2018 By Melanie Waddell, ThinkAdvisor Small BDs "struggle with keeping up with burdensome FINRA requirements," recruiter Jon Henschen said. The number of broker-dealers and registered representatives continues to decline, with firms registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority dropping to 3,726 in 2017 from 3,835 in 2016. The number of registered reps fell last year as well, dropping to 630,132 in 2017 from 635,902 in 2016. That’s according to the broker-dealer regulator’s just-released 2018 Industry Snapshot, a first annual statistical report on the brokerage firms, registered individuals and market activity that FINRA regulates. FINRA states that it is sharing the statistical overview as part of fulfilling transparency goals under the FINRA360 initiative. Data ranges from the size and geographic distribution of the firms FINRA regulates to the number of individuals in the industry, along with...