Wealth management

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney hired Jeff Hack from JPMorgan Chase & Co. as its chief operating officer, one of several organizational changes announced by the firm's new president, Gregory Fleming.

KeyBanc Capital Markets doubled its personnel last month by hiring four professionals from Chapdelaine Credit Partners, a bond broker that closed in January.

Morgan Stanley's James Gorman received a $14 million compensation package for his first year as chief executive, less than the $15 million he was awarded for 2009, as the company missed profit goals.

Certified financial planners are uniquely qualified to help Americans keep their finances in good stead, the CFP Board of Standards said. The group has just rolled out a glossy $36 million advertising campaign to make them aware of that.

Charles Schwab Corp. announced Friday its net income and revenue soared in the first quarter, as the economy improved and investors moved off the sidelines.

March was the third month in a row that retail investors were net buyers of individual municipal bonds, and it also was the fifth consecutive month that mom-and-pop investors sold more shares of muni mutual funds than they purchased, according to the March transparency report published by BondDesk Group LLC.

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Integra Bank Corp. of Evansville, Ind., said Tuesday that it has agreed to sell its wealth management arm to Old National Bancorp.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is scheduled to complete its rulemaking on midsize advisers and advisers under the private adviser exemption by July 21, but investment advisers' deadlines may be extended until 2012.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined UBS Financial Services $2.5 million and ordered it to pay $8.25 million in restitution for conduct related to the sale of Lehman Brothers Holdings principal protection notes.

The stunning decline in property values across most of the country, a prolonged recession and plain-old negligence and shortsightedness on the part of American workers have combined to make retirement more a fantasy than a reality for tens of millions of baby boomers.

As the economy begins to pick up and as the Federal Reserve hints at a possible interest rate rise, investors are following their historical pattern and losing interest in classic certificates of deposit.

Dynasty Financial Partners last week detailed an ambitious plan to expand its adviser network to between 100 and 150 top-tier registered investment advisers with total assets under management of around $50 billion during the next five years.

In the wake of the economic downturn that pummeled markets and investor accounts, one would think financial advisers would have learned that forging and maintaining extensive contact with their clients is critical to keeping and finding new business.

Americans appear hesitant to tie up their money, even though inflation is easily outstripping the paltry interest rates paid by their liquid accounts.

NEW YORK — UBS Wealth Management Americas plans to increase its U.S. financial adviser headcount by about 150 this year after accounting for attrition, the company confirmed late Friday.

UBS Wealth Management Americas has continued its hiring streak with new appointments in Ohio and California.

Advisers in general are back in the pink, making more money, gathering more assets under management and generally feeling upbeat about their prospects.

Financial advisers have known for some time that Americans have lost confidence in their ability to afford a comfortable retirement, but for confidence to plunge just as economic indicators were perking up?

Brokers and financial advisers looking to make more money and have more control over the type of clients they serve and the investments they recommend continued to flood the independent channel at a swift pace in 2010, according to a broker and adviser sentiment index survey conducted on behalf of Fidelity Investments.