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Author: rafferty

How to Avoid Compliance Policies That Cater To the Lowest Denominator

00:00 01 May in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

by Jonathan Henschen, CFS and featured in AdvisorBiz
May, 2010:

The past two years have been unlike anything I’ve seen since entering the financial services industry. Regulations have become increasingly labor-intensive, while broker-dealers are on the defensive; doing everything they can to shield themselves from the potential liability of their own advisors.

Regulations in our industry are seldom black and white. Plenty of room has been left, for example, for broker-dealers to decide how advisors are supervised, or how marketing materials are approved, or the complexity of business paperwork.

The ideal scenario is when advisors are with firms that do what financial services regulators require, but not much more. Problems arise, however, when broker-dealers experience certain triggers that end up making their advisors’

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PFS Reps Stand To Pick Up Stock

00:00 01 April in In the News by rafferty

by Darla Mercado and featured in Investment News
April, 2010:

Registered representatives at PFS Investments Inc. will pick up some extra pay from the firm’s public offering, according to a prospectus filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

PFS is the broker-dealer of Primerica Inc., the unit that was spun off of Citigroup Inc. in an initial public offering Thursday.

The filing, which was submitted yesterday, indicates that Primerica will distribute about 5 million shares in common stock to certain employees, including officers and sales force leaders. Of that, some 255,836 shares will be issued when the restricted stock awards held by employees and sales reps under the Citi Stock Award Program and the Citi Capital Accumulation Program for PFS reps are converted into Primerica equity awards.

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Open VA Platform at Ameriprise May Be Less Than Open

00:00 01 March in In the News by rafferty

by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News
March, 2010:

Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s plan to open its brokerage platform to outside variable annuities falls short of the open architecture favored by other independent broker-dealers.

The move, which is expected to occur by the end of the second quarter, is apparently aimed in part at boosting Ameriprise’s ability to recruit independent-contractor registered representatives and financial advisers. Such advisers are often big sellers of variable annuities and consider the in-vestment options available to them carefully before changing firms.

But Ameriprise’s shift to openness comes with strings attached, which may curb an adviser’s desire to sell variable annuities from outside providers.

For example, the roughly 9,000 Ameriprise advisers affected by the plan won’t be allowed to contact wholesalers from such VA giants as Axa Equitable Life Insurance Co.,

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