RJ and Makay

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Raymond James Financial Inc. announced yesterday that it would acquire Morgan Keegan brokerage from Regions Financial Corp. for $930 million.  As part of the deal, Morgan Keegan will pay a $250 million divided to Regions, bringing the total transaction to $1.8 billion.  The acquisition will create one of the largest wealth management and investment banking firms away from Wall Street.

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.