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Bank of America: We’re Bullish on Merrill Lynch

Even as the company sets out on a second round of cost-cutting in Project New BAC, chief executive officer Brian Moynihan said the company considers Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management one of its core businesses – and will increase efforts to build it up.

Exports, Education & Equities, Undervalued, in Goldman Sach’s Book

Unemployment among Americans without college educations is now in the mid-teens, says Goldman Sachs investment strategist Abby Joseph Cohen. But there are unrecognized strengths in exports and equities, that should be recognized in investing in a recovery.

Exchange to Provide Venture Capital to ETF Issuers

The operator of an all-electronic options exchange and licenser of financial indexes said it was beginning to fund the creation of exchange-traded funds by other parties.

Fidelity Upgrades Family Office Support Services

Fidelity Family Office Services has formed a partnership with Foundation Source to offer back-office services to the asset custodian’s 140 single-family office clients.

Lord Abbett, Wilshire Partner on Managed Income Solution

The portfolio is aimed at the independent advisory market.

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Articles

Wirehouses to Lose SMA Market Share, Cerulli Says

At Deadline

Wirehouse Advisors Reject Separate Accounts

Wirehouse advisors are increasingly shunning separate account programs in which securities are directly held in favor of other types of managed accounts that use mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, annuities or other professionally managed securities because they find the latter gives them more flexibility to control their clients' assets, according to a new report from Cerulli Associates. The consulting firm found that separate account programs have shrunk at an annualized rate of over 16% over the last 2-1/2 years. Nearly every other type of managed account program grew over the same period. The securities are traded by a professional money manager.

Unified Accounts Offer Stock Trading Option

The addition of non-managed assets to a unified managed account could be the next step in the product's evolution, but some industry providers are skeptical whether the interest in stock-picking right now is enough for this enhancement to take off. BMO Nesbitt Burns, a wealth management unit of Bank of Montreal, has expanded its partnership with unified managed account provider Placemark Investments to add a client-directed investment account to BMO Nesbitt's UMA, the BMO Nesbitt Burns Architect Account.

Managed Futures Becoming Tougher Sell

In 2007, Philip Moses, a Raymond James adviser at First Federal Bank of Florida in Lake City, had a local physician as a client who wanted to diversify his $1.5 million portfolio. Moses, long an advocate of alternative investments, suggested a hefty 20% allocation to alternatives, including structured products, a multi-strategy hedge fund and a multi-advisor managed futures fund.

Non-Traditional ETFs Worry Regulators, Advisers

As exchange-traded funds continue to grow in scope and popularity, investment experts warn that some products, such as leveraged and inverse ETFs, may be too dangerous for all but the most experienced hands. 'People get lazy and they think an ETF is an ETF,' said Paul Schatz, president and CEO of the Woodbridge, Conn.-based registered investment advisor Heritage Capital LLC. 'There are inherent problems with every product, and some products have way too much firepower for the average person to use.'

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