Wall Street Firms – Will They Follow Wachovia's Lead

Will other major wall street firms follow Wachovia’s lead and allow their brokers to become independent financial advisors?

Wachovia’s impressive roster of new recruits from January to May include brokers from major rival firms, particularly from UBS and Smith Barney.

Will they or other major Wall Street firms such as Merrill Lynch, Citigroup or Morgan Stanley open their doors to the semi-independent or independent broker? Perhaps not.

As reported by Evelyn Juan of Dow Jones Newswires on July 9, 2008, industry experts remain skeptical given the compliance risks associated with it. Pretty hard to monitor and control compliance of independent advisors who run their own business. It would definitely pose a risk to the firm.

Also, a fear of losing their top producers to the semi-independent or independent channel could halt the movement among other major firms.

BUT…if Wachovia’s model proves successful and productive in the months to come, we think that there will be others jump on the band wagon…interesting times these are!