RJ and Makay

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After two years of stagnant or shrinking revenues, the 50 largest independent broker-dealers reported a rebound in their annual revenues last year, according to Financial Planning magazine.  A robust stock market and strong demand for mutual funds, annuities and other products saw a median increase of 13.2% in 2010 revenues. 13 of the top 50 firms posted year-to-year revenue growth of over 20%.

Raymond James Financial and Commonwealth Financial will soon begin allowing their advisors to interact with and engage in conversations with others on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs.  This will enable them to post real-time tweets, updates and comments that have not been pre-approved.  At present, advisors at the two firms are allowed only to post “static updates, pre-approved posts with no real-time commentary.

Last September, Cambridge Investment Research began using Socialware to track and archive its advisors’ posts, tweets and commentary on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  About 10% of Cambridge’s 2000 advisors are signed up for Socialware and the firm is supporting them to achieve a social media presence, according to Cambridge president Amy Webber.  That number is expected to jump once the firm starts allowing full interactivity in June.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney scored highest for best practices in every category, in a new study released by Cerulli Associates called “Managed Accounts: Asset Manager Distribution Roadmap.” The study rates specific sponsors based on certain characteristics that make them more or less attractive to managers looking for access or wanting to grow assets on their platforms.

The characteristics being rated include momentum, total asset growth and size, and growth of advisor force.  This rating of sponsors is also known as Cerulli’s “Opportunity Index” because asset managers can use it as a framework to prioritize sponsor-discretionary platforms and advisor-directed platforms. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is followed by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors and UBS.  RBC Wealth Management ranked number five on the list, primarily due to its successful recruiting of wirehouse advisors, to whom it gave managed account programs similar to the ones they had at the firms they left.