Wachovia Corporation agreed to acquire A.G. Edwards Corporation for $6.8 billion in stock. This will vault the company into the second-largest U.S. retail brokerage, behind only Merrill Lynch, with $1.1 trillion in client assets. This transaction is the largest of the recent takeovers of regional brokerage firms, which are having…
For decades investors have been told their accounts were protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) without being told what was covered by this insurance. Few realize this protection only provided that whatever securities and cash are in an account when a firm goes out of business would be…
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) was recently formed by a merger of The Securities Industry Association and The Bond Market Association. On its website the SIFMA claims “We are committed to enhancing the public’s trust and confidence in the markets…” and that in 2007 it will focus…
The NASD announced this week that it fined two Fidelity brokerage firms $400,000 for preparing and distributing misleading sales literature promoting Systematic Investment Plans, which were sold primarily to U.S. military personnel. Issuance and sales of new systematic investment plans after these were prohibited by Congress last fall. The NASD…
Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., the world’s second largest securities firm, will pay $7.9 million for its failure to provide best execution to certain retail orders for over-the-counter securities, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced today. Morgan Stanley embedded undisclosed mark-ups and mark-downs on certain retail OTC orders processed by…
Washington, DC – The NASD today issued an updated Investor Alert warning investors – not brokers – about the risks associated with trading on margin. Since the release of a previous Alert on this topic in 2003, the amount of debt taken on by investors to buy securities has reached…
At a time when The New York Stock Exchange is paying-off National Association of Securities Dealers members to take over its compliance responsibilities, private firms are seeking to reduce oversight evern further. For decades the securities industry has insisted its self-regulatory structure works best to protect the public. Yet, after…
Apparently unscathed by scandals at his former firms, 67 year old George Ball serves as Chairman of Sanders Morris Harris Group, Inc., a Houston based investment bank and wealth management firm. Ball served as the No. 2 executive at E.F. Hutton & Co. Inc. from 1980 to 1982. Three years…
The international financial services firm of Morgan Stanley and French luxury goods leader LVMH announced an out-of-court settlement of a lengthy legal dispute over allegations that Morgan Stanley issued financial analysis reports which were biased against LVMH. The settlement, with terms not disclosed, ends nearly five years of legal proceedings…
Banc of America Investment Services (BAI) Inc. says that it will pay $3 million in disciplinary charges for its alleged violation of anti-money laundering (AM) requirements. The NASD says that BAI failed to acquire customer information for a number of high-risk accounts. It is also accusing BAI of failing to…