The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued two alerts pointing out risks investors and advisory firms face when using social media like LinkedIn and Facebook.

LPL Financial, the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer, plans to acquire Fortigent, a Rockville, Md.-based provider of high-net-worth solutions and consulting services to RIAs, banks, and trust companies.

A national independent broker-dealer is raising fees, including its advisor affiliation fee, starting Jan. 1, 2012, after two decades of maintaining the same rates.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) study recommended that SEC extend the fiduciary standard of care to broker-dealers who provide personalized investment advice.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) wants to allow all investors filing arbitration claims the option of having an all-public panel, a move it says will greatly increase investor choice use of the FINRA arbitration program.

LPL Investment Holdings is buying National Retirement Partners, one of the nation’s largest networks of independent retirement-focused advisory firms.

Transatlantic Holdings, an international reinsurer based in New York, has appointed J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services to provide global custody for the majority of its invested assets worldwide, whose estimated value is $11 billion.

SecureVest Financial, a full-service broker-dealer with offices in three states, including two locations in New Jersey, has partnered with a fellow state software provider to launch a platform for private investment funds and family offices.

Paulson Investment Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Portland, Ore.-based Paulson Capital Corp., recently announced that it has added Acumen Investment Services as its newest national affiliate.

Watch those hiring bonuses and incentives, warned the chairwoman of the SEC, in a letter that she sent to broker-dealers. Those incentives could pressure registered representatives to engage in risky …  Read →