In the News

AIG’s Four B-Ds Suspend ARCP REIT Sales

20:52 04 November in In the News by rafferty

NOVEMBER 4, 2014 By Dan Jamieson, Financial Advisor    The AIG Advisor Group of broker-dealers has suspended the sale of two American Realty Capital REITs. “Due to recent disclosures of accounting irregularities made by American Realty Capital Properties, AIG Advisor Group has chosen to temporarily suspend sales in two Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) effective immediately,” said Advisor Group spokeswoman Linda Malamut in an e-mail. The products involved are the American Realty Capital New York City REIT, and the Phillips Edison-ARC Grocery Center REIT II. The four Advisor Group broker-dealers are Royal Alliance Associates,  FSC Securities Corp., Sagepoint Financial and Woodbury Financial Services. In total, the firms have more than 6,000 advisors. The problems at American Realty surfaced last Wednesday when the company said it had fired its chief financial officer and chief accounting officer and would restate...

Spike in Finra, SEC regulation leaves star brokers exposed

16:59 27 October in In the News by rafferty

By Bruce  Kelly October 24, 2104, Investment News   Long treated with kid gloves, big producers now face questions about alleged violations Star financial advisers, the cocky big producers in the corner offices, have long been treated with kid gloves by management at brokerage firms. The financial advice industry, particularly the large securities houses, have an unspoken tradition of coddling their leading advisers, regardless of the ethics of some of their business practices. It's known in the financial advice industry that management typically will avert its gaze from potential indiscretions of star brokers; they produce too much in fees and commissions to risk antagonizing. Brokerage CEOs live in fear of star brokers getting annoyed after being asked too many questions by the geeks in compliance; the star could simply take his book of business out the...

Raymond James Coddles Ex-Wirehouse FAs

16:49 27 October in In the News by rafferty

October 23, 2014 By Chris Latham, Financial Advisor IQ   Wirehouse advisors looking to break away don’t always get to chat face-to-face with both the chairman and the COO of the new firm they’re thinking of joining. Yet such a conversation was what swayed Thomas Dedrick to sign on with Raymond James & Associates from Merrill Lynch last February. “When I walked out of that meeting, I knew this was the place I wanted to be,” says the Tuscaloosa, Ala., advisor, whose two-person team made the move with him. “It reminded me a lot of how Merrill was when I started with them back in 1982.” Dedrick’s path exemplifies how Raymond James woos wirehouse breakaways and makes them comfy once they set up shop. Executives at the company’s employee channel say the firm’s massive resources and personal feel — two attributes that don’t always...