Author: rafferty

John Sykes’ JHS Capital Advisors challenged by annual losses, handful of Finra arbitration claims

November 6, 2013
By Bruce Kelly, Investment News

Backed with hundreds of millions of dollars from owning a call center business, John Sykes entered the independent broker-dealer industry in the perilous market of 2008 brimming with confidence, brio and optimism.

It has been a struggle ever since that heady time for Mr. Sykes, who in January 2009 compared the potential of his first broker-dealer holding company, GunnAllen Holdings Inc., with industry stalwart Raymond James Financial Inc., both of which are based in the Tampa Bay, Fla., region.

But crushed by a burden of client litigation and failed investments, GunnAllen Financial Inc., the holding company’s broker-dealer,

NEXT Financial Seen as Ripe for Schorsch’s Next Big Buy

November 5, 2013 By
Janet Levaux, ThinkAdvisor

Industry experts say there’s plenty of chatter in the independent broker-dealer space about the likelihood that NEXT Financial is next on the “to buy” list of real-estate mogul Nicholas Schorsch.

Schorsch leads RCS Capital Corp., which just gobbled up independent broker-dealer Investor’s Capital (ICH), and American Realty Capital, which recently announced plans to buy Cole Real Estate Investments.

In September, Larry Roth — formerly head of the AIG-owned Advisor Group of IBDs — became president and CEO of Realty Capital Securities (RCS), owned by Schorsch’s RCAP Holdings. This executive appointment was made on the heels of RCAP’s purchase of another IBD,

FINRA Warns BDs to Better Manage Conflicts of Interest

October 18, 2013
by Melanie Waddell, ThinkAdvisor

New report tells BDs to use fiduciary-like methods to handle conflicts or FINRA may make a new disclosure rule

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is warning broker-dealers in a new report that if they fail to implement fiduciary-like methods to better manage their conflicts of interest, a new disclosure rule may be in the offing.

FINRA developed its conflicts report after a year of gathering firms’ responses as part of the self-regulator’s conflicts initiative, which it launched last July.

The report notes conflicts of interest among BDs have improved, but points to three “critical” areas where BDs still need to make headway: firmwide frameworks, new products and compensation practices.

FINRA notes in its report that while areas of conflict have been addressed via rulemaking,