Howard Stock

Consumers' evaluation of banks' reputation has fallen four points since February, to 77 points on the biannual BAI/Finacle Index of Bank Sentiment.

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards has appointed Edward Mora chairman of its Disciplinary and Ethics Commission, which polices the behavior of CFP designees.

While most wealth managers say transparency in reporting is the name of the game, most are not doing a good job of it, according to a survey by SEI Global Wealth Services.

New life insurance premiums sold through banks in the third quarter hit $512 million, up from $225 million in the third quarter of 2008, the year the market collapsed, according to Kehrer-Limra.

The average immediate annuity premium is $107,000, and 90% of policyholders purchase additional riders that either keep payments flowing to heirs, or that return the balance of the contract to heirs, if the contract holder dies unexpectedly early, according to Limra research.

Some advisers are finding that offering full financial plans casts a halo effect on their businesses, even if most clients don't get one.

Entrepreneurs are a philanthropic lot — 90% of them donate to charity every year, both personally and through their companies, according to a survey by Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund.

Stephen Wedel, an LPL adviser and founding partner of Four Seasons Wealth Management in St. Louis, is gathering a lot of assets by investing his clients' money in alternatives, including nontraded real estate investment trusts, oil-and-gas limited partnerships, managed futures and private equity.

The job market remained stagnant this year, both for advisers and wholesalers, according to Russell Reynolds Associates' wealth management recruitment and compensation trends report.

Though performance and quality of research remain dominant themes in advisers' decisions on whether to recommend a product provider, their emotional responses to certain companies play a key role, too, Cogent Research said.

David Earls, a financial adviser at Workers' Credit Union, says a series of misconceptions by other advisers about blue-collar people has helped his business to thrive.

Banks' combined sales of fixed and variable annuities in August regained ground lost in July, reaching $2.9 billion, level with June's volume.

Banks keep pumping out low-rate, short-term certificates of deposit despite the fact their customers do not seem to want them, according to a nine-month analysis of the product by Market Rates Insight in San Anselmo, Calif.

Over half of American donors, 55%, plan to maintain the same level of charitable giving in the fourth quarter, despite market uncertainty, according to a survey by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the largest donor-advised program nationally.

While most broker-dealers and their advisers remain stuck on social media's sidelines in lieu of any actionable guidance from either the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Edward Jones is quietly building a legion of "fans" on Facebook, with moderate success, according to a report by Corporate Insight.

Bank-based financial advisers just about kept their heads above water in August, with average transaction plus fee revenue of $26,786, down 7% from July's $28,868, according to the Bank Insurance and Securities Association's latest Monthly Productivity Report.

Three breakaway Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisers — Greg Erwin, King Martin and Alan Rexius — have opened Sapient Private Wealth Management, a fee-based registered investment adviser.

Banks that set goals for advisers' life insurance sales sell more life products, according to joint research by Kehrer-Limra and Limra.

Six months ago, 45% of bank executives thought the economy was on the right track, but a survey by Grant Thornton and Bank Director magazine found that only 15% of bankers think the economy will improve in the next six months.

As 13 certified financial planners found out recently, crime doesn't pay if you want to keep this prestigious designation.