Schorsch gobbles up another midsize IBD

Posted on August 14, 2014 by admin

BrokerDealer.com blog update courtesy of extracts from InvestmentNews.com and Bruce Kelly

Nicholas Schorsch continues to add midsized independent broker-dealers to the Cetera Financial Group Network, and on Wednesday night Cetera parent RCS Capital Corp. said it intends to buy Girard Securities Inc.

The San Diego-based firm has more than $10 billion of assets under administration and 250 producing financial advisers with an average annual production of approximately $210,000 per adviser.

It is the second such announced deal in as many weeks for RCS Capital Corp., which is known by its ticker symbol, RCAP. Last week, RCAP said it had agreed to purchase VSR Financial, with 264 registered reps and advisers. Continue reading →

Nigerian Stock Market offers Remote Trading

Posted on August 13, 2014 by admin

BrokerDealer.com blog update courtesy of extracts from ThisDayLive.com

Often referred to as alternative trading system, electronic communication network has revolutionised trading on stock exchanges around the world. Despite initial apathy, dealing member firms of the Nigerian Stock Exchange are now embracing remote trading in a bid to woo retail investors writes, Eromosele Abiodun.

Following the introduction of technology, stock markets around the world have grown in leaps and bounds. The Nigerian stock market is a special example of the extent institutions can go if the right steps are taken in the right direction.

The impact of technology on the Nigeria stock market has been phenomenal, indicating the extent institutions can go when the right tools are employed. Technology indeed has taken control of the guts of business and made it possible for tiny, agile companies and stockbroking firms to become contenders. Continue reading →

Study Says: BrokerDealers Still In Need of Brand Burnishing

Posted on August 11, 2014 by admin

BrokerDealer.com blog update courtesy of extract from 10 July NY Post, reporter Gregory Bresiger.

Wall Street’s reputation, despite a 5-year bull market, still stinks.

Indeed, the bankers’ “chronic risk image” remains a huge problem, say many of the mid-level pros who work for its largest firms.

The Street’s regulatory and image problems continue to spook many traders and bankers, who say the risks and dangers of the industry are about the same as before the stock market meltdown of 2008, according to the results of the Makovsky Wall Street Reputation Study.

“The 2014 study findings question how far financial services brands have advanced since the financial crisis,” according to Scott Tangney, executive vice president at Makovsky.

“The industry,” he adds, “is walking on a tightrope, with the combination of negative perception, regulator actions and greater risk sapping reputation and financial performance.”

Financial services continue to be “pummeled by negative perception and regulatory overhaul and action,” according to poll respondents.

The biggest perception problems for the industry, the poll found, were “negative public perception” (64 percent) and “regulatory actions” (55 percent). The latter includes investigations, lawsuits and fines.

Other highlights of the Makovsky study include: (to continue reading, please click here to the NY Post article)

BofA Breathes Some Life Into Bank ETFs

Posted on August 7, 2014August 7, 2014 by admin

BrokerDealer.com blog post courtesy of extracts from ETF Trends.com, written by Todd Shriber.

Moribund financial services exchange traded funds got some much-needed good news Wednesday when Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced the Federal Reserve granted it permission to raise its dividend to common stockholders for the first time in seven years.

BofA said it will pay a quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share up from the paltry penny a share it had been paying since early 2009. Today’s news removes some of the embarrassment suffered by the bank in April when it said it would be forced to suspend its planned $4 billion share repurchase plan and its previously announced dividend increase due to a calculation error related to the company’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch during the financial crisis.

The BofA dividend news sent shares of the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF), the largest U.S. sector ETF, up 0.6% while the iShares U.S. Financials ETF (NYSEArca: IYF) added 0.55%. XLF and IYF have BofA weights of 5.76% and 4.41%, respectively. Continue reading →

Biggest Swiss Bank/BrokerDealer UBS Busted For Money Laundering: Must Post $1bil Bond

Posted on July 23, 2014 by admin

Below BrokerDealer.com blog post courtesy of extract from flash news story published 07.23 at NYT Deal Book

PARIS – UBS, the largest Swiss bank, was placed under formal investigation by the French authorities on Wednesday and ordered to post bail of more than $1 billion in the kind of tax-evasion case that ensnared it in the United States several years ago.

The bank, based in Zurich, faces charges of money laundering and tax fraud for helping French clients hide funds from the national tax administration from 2004 to 2012, an official in the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The official cannot be identified, in keeping with the rules of the office.

UBS has also been ordered to post bail of 1.1 billion euros (about $1.5 billion), the official said. The bank did not respond to requests for comment.

The news, first reported Wednesday by Agence France-Presse, was not entirely unexpected. A whistle-blower’s tip had led the authorities to the Swiss bank, and UBS was last year placed under formal investigation on suspicion that it illegally sold banking services to French citizens to enable them to move money offshore. It was ordered to pay a 10 million euro fine in that case over lax internal controls.

UBS has been entangled in tax cases with major governments for several years. Most notably, in 2009 it reached an agreement with the United States Justice Department to disclose client names and pay $780 million to avoid criminal prosecution. The bank acknowledged having defrauded the Internal Revenue Service by helping wealthy Americans evade taxes.

Credit Suisse, UBS’s cross-town rival, announced on Wednesday a second-quarter loss of $779 million after agreeing in May to plead guilty to conspiring to help Americans evade taxes and paying $2.6 billion in penalties.

UBS bankers in France used the same approach to tap wealthy investors that they used in the United States, according to French news reports, attending prestigious cultural and sporting events and seeking to mingle with high net-worth individuals through their social networks.