In the News

FINRA to Restructure BrokerCheck, Giving Investors More Power

April 2012
By Melanie Waddell and featured in Investment Advisor

Brokers and advisors take note: the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) plans to revamp BrokerCheck to not only make it easier for investors to track down information about their broker—including “unifying” the search capabilities for BrokerCheck and the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database—but to also expand the types of information investors can get about their broker.

Until recently, FINRA noted that BrokerCheck was the only regulator that provided a comprehensive, online tool that enabled investors to check the backgrounds of financial service industry professionals. In 2010, the SEC expanded the IAPD database—which had previously only included information on investment advisor firms—to include information on investment advisor representatives.

1,600 Woodbury reps await fate after Hartford purge

March 25, 2012
by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News

A battle is in store for the 1,600 affiliated representatives and financial advisers at Woodbury Financial Services Inc., the independent broker-dealer that is one of the businesses that The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. last week said it plans to sell as part of a wholesale restructuring of the company.

On one side, The Hartford and Woodbury’s management will be imploring its reps to stay put and thus preserve its asking price. On the other, rival broker-dealer firms in dire need of growth will be trying to lure them away.

The Hartford’s announcement that it is selling the broker-dealer is “unfortunate for those [advisers] who just want to do business,” said Ernest Sampson,

Amid Hartford Split, Woodbury’s 1,600 Reps Face Tough Choice

The decision to put the b/d on the block took many by surprise. So will Woodbury’s reps stick around to find out who the new owner will be?

By Diana Britton as published in Registered Rep, March 23, 2012

Insurance giant The Hartford announced plans Wednesday to sell its life insurance and retirement businesses, as well as Woodbury Financial Services, the firm’s independent broker/dealer. The news leaves Woodbury’s 1,600 reps faced with the tough choice: Find another broker/dealer or stick around and see who the new owners will be.

Putting Woodbury on the block took many by surprise. The firm had been aggressively recruiting, and had hired Gary Bender in May 2011 as new vice president of acquistion and retention. But it has been widely reported that hedge fund manager John Paulson,