Posts belonging to Category Charles Schwab



High Risk Options Trading Is Being Pushed By Some Brokerage Firms

 

In another example of brokerage firms catering to retail investors’ worst instincts, supposedly investor-friendly firms like Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade are focusing on expanding their trading business beyond traditional investment like stocks and bonds into alternative investments like options because the commissions are so high. (“‘Easy Money’ Options Pushed by Online Brokers,” Bloomberg).

Bond Investors Want Better Pricing Information

 

A study by the Charles Schwab Corporation indicates that retail investors want more information about the bonds they invest in, specifically, the base price of bonds and the amount of the markup by brokers. Andrew Osterland’s recent InvestmentNews article entitled “Bond buyers in the dark about broker markups ? and not happy about it” discusses […]

Survey – Most Investors Don’t Really Understand ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)

 

Most investors are not well informed about exchange traded funds and 46% describe themselves as “novices,” according to a survey taken by Charles Schwab Corp. Yet the survey also found that 44% planned to increase their exchange traded funds investments. Let’s hope these investors avoid the numerous extreme and exotic funds out there, which add […]

Brokers Transition to Smaller,Independent Firms

 

Investment advisors and brokers continue to go independent, and they are taking more assets with them when they leave their firms, according to an InvestmentNews article by Lavonne Kuykendall entitled “When going indie, advisers take more assets: Fidelity,” which cites Fidelity Investments’ 2011 Broker and Advisor Sentiment Index.

Are Brokerage Firms Really the Trusted Financial Advisers that Their Advertisements Claim that They Are?

 

Expecting licensed professionals who provide investment advice to act in their clients’ best interests “should be a basic tenet of the business,” but brokerage firms and their brokers don’t want that fiduciary yoke, says Karen Blumenthal in her InvestmentNews article, “When Your Adviser Can’t Be Trusted.” Moreover, they don’t want the public to know that […]

Sophisticated Institutional Investors “Jump on the Bandwagon” – Sue to Recoup Losses in Mortgage-Backed Securities and CDOs

 

Sophisticated institutional investors are bringing claims in waves against Wall Street financial institutions for fraud in the sale of mortgage backed securities, CDOs and related exotic investments. Most recently, Charles Schwab Corp. is among a group of financial institutions suing Goldman Sachs for making material misrepresentations and omissions in connection with the offer and sale […]

Wall Street Whistleblower Program Already Paying Off

 

The new whistleblower program that pays big cash rewards for tips about investment fraud has already resulted in a large number of high quality tips to the SEC, according to a news story this week on CNBC. According to the report, the SEC expects to receive 30,000 tips this year?just one year after the program […]

Proposed Changes to New York Law Would Make Wall Street More Accountable

 

Wall Street may face a wave of lawsuits under an expanded version of the Martin Act, New York’s securities anti-fraud statute, if the newly elected Governor of New York has his way, according to a Wall Street Journal Deal Journal blog entitled, “And the Next Mortal Threat to Wall Street Is’”.

Disillusioned Brokers Seek “Greener Pastures”

 

The upheaval in the financial industry has prompted long time brokers in the full-service brokerage firms like Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and UBS Wealth Management Americas to make a break for independence. New smaller firms with strategic alliances within the industry have rewarded these brokers with more flexibility to be […]

Institutional Investors Are Suing Financial Firms Over the Mortgage Mess

 

Major institutional investors such as Charles Schwab, PIMCO, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago are suing firms like Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America to force them to buy back billions of dollars of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities that allegedly failed to conform to underwriting standards, according to Nelson D. Schwartz, “Banks […]