Another Entire AGE Branch Moves...this time to ML
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Just talked with someone today about this…apparently an entire branch…brokers, ops mgr, br mgr, and all staff(assts, wire operator, and reception) left on Fri and opened a brand new Merrill Office in the same town! Pretty Ballsy move I must say. I think about 15+ people in all, they left the branch with not one member to staff it…
Interesting. Let us know if you hear anything about an injunction or TRO. In every other case of an entire branch going that I have heard of, Wachwards has pursued legal action. I can’t imagine this will be different.
[quote=Gone Indy]…and I had heard that they were all leaving AGE to go to Jones…[/quote]
Can’t imagine any AGE guys going to Jones. Would be shocked if the number was greater than 10 nationwide with any production over 250k. Had 4 former jones guys in my old AGE office.
what is the difference of wachovia and merrill? they should have stayed at WB or went to a regional or went independent as an office. merrill is the same as WB and they will lose accounts on the transfer
[quote=aldo63]what is the difference of wachovia and merrill? they should have stayed at WB or went to a regional or went independent as an office. merrill is the same as WB and they will lose accounts on the transfer[/quote]
I agree I am shocked that they went to ML…howver I am sure they got a great package and they will keep nearly all the clients, because there is no one left in the AGE branch to try to keep them…clients will be scared and the choice to move will be easy.
Man if they’d made an organized plan to go indy together they would end up making a SICK amount of money.
joedabrkr
Man if they'd made an organized plan to go indy together they would end up making a SICK amount of money. You are right Joe But they cannot think on there own, I imagine they followed there leader(BM) They sit when he say's sit and jump on his/her command. They are perfect for a wirehouse sell this when ML say's sell this, buy this when ML wants to unload some crap. They may have failed on there own![quote=mikebutler222]The misinformation here about life at a place like ML is just hysterical.[/quote]
So, enlighten us misguided folks. I have a friend that just went there from SB. He seems happy. What is "life at a place like ML" like?? I have interviewed there and can't say I was either overly impressed or repressed. I am sure that has more to do w/ the BOM than anything else.[quote=shredder][quote=mikebutler222]The misinformation here about life at a place like ML is just hysterical.[/quote]
So, enlighten us misguided folks. I have a friend that just went there from SB. He seems happy. What is "life at a place like ML" like?? I have interviewed there and can't say I was either overly impressed or repressed. I am sure that has more to do w/ the BOM than anything else.[/quote]It does have more to do with the BOM than anything else, and by “like ML” I mean a first tier wirehouse. Primarily what I was referring to was the gibberish about being told what to buy and/or sell, the insinuation that the house is taking the opposite position on trades, the suggestion that there’s some sort of an unethical environment among FAs. That nonsense gets repeated often here, usually by people suffering (probably accurately) from an inferiority complex.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
For the record, I’m not surpirsed that people wanting to build their business to s premier level would consider ML, and I don’t we ML as the same as Wachovia. For the record, I’m not with ML.
For the record, I’m not surpirsed that people wanting to build their business to a premier level would consider ML, and I don’t view ML as the same as Wachovia. For the record, I’m not with ML.
I’ve got some friends at ML that are very, very good (and ethical) at what they do. I’ve seen some of their portfolios, and talked to clients of theirs (mutual friends and business acquantances). I only hear good things. I have also seen (and heard) of some very crappy brokers at ML. But the same goes for WB/AGE, EDJ, MS, SB, independants, etc. It goes back to what I have said before…for the most part, the firm is irrelevant. You’re either good and ethical, or you are not. There’s a reason that the majority of the largest practices are wirehouse teams…prestige, talent, service offerings, depth, etc. And for the record, as most of you know, I am not at a wirehouse, I am at EDJ.
I think what gives the wires like ML a bad name is partly history. Years back, it was common for them to push certain internal underwritings. It is also more common for rookies to just follow whatever they are told. But all of the vets at wirehouses that I talk to have said they pretty much do whatever they want.
[quote=mikebutler222][quote=shredder][quote=mikebutler222]The misinformation here about life at a place like ML is just hysterical.[/quote]
So, enlighten us misguided folks. I have a friend that just went there from SB. He seems happy. What is "life at a place like ML" like?? I have interviewed there and can't say I was either overly impressed or repressed. I am sure that has more to do w/ the BOM than anything else.[/quote]It does have more to do with the BOM than anything else, and by “like ML” I mean a first tier wirehouse. Primarily what I was referring to was the gibberish about being told what to buy and/or sell, the insinuation that the house is taking the opposite position on trades, the suggestion that there’s some sort of an unethical environment among FAs. That nonsense gets repeated often here, usually by people suffering (probably accurately) from an inferiority complex.
For the record, I’m not surpirsed that people wanting to build their business to s premier level would consider ML, and I don’t we ML as the same as Wachovia. For the record, I’m not with ML. [/quote]
Mike...for a bright guy you're pretty naive!
Explain Henry Blodgett for us, if you could, and when you're done with that, we can move on to Jack Grubman.
Once you've climbed that mountain, I'll be ready with the name of the PaineWebber broker who was fired for telling his clients at Enron to sell their shares. You see....they wre a big 401k client at the time and were quite offended.
If you really want to see the light, find a friend who works for Merrill who has some juice. Buy a plane ticket to NYC and get him to arrange a tour for you of their OTC trading floor at the World Financial Center. You'll see one of the biggest trading floors in the world....the size of a couple football fields with no internal pillars to interfere with the line of sight. On the outer ring of that trading floor, at desks elevated above the traders who execute for the firm's clients, are the so-called 'position traders'. These guys and gals are the brightest traders they can find, and they are trading the firm's capital, and have any information source they need....including whatever data is (legally) available about the order flow on the floor below them. They could very well be scooping up the shares you have for sale, or selling you the stock you're buying....as long as they are within the limits of the firm's trading policy buried in a disclosure document full of legalse.
I have no doubt that Morgan has a similar set up. Ask around about it. Most folks won't know about it. If they do, they won't appreciate the significance. If they do know, they are probably 'company men' and won't tell you what is really going on.
Don't believe me. Go see it with your own eyes, like I did. It was very illuminating. You can always deduct the cost of the trip as business researach.
If you get past that, then we'll talk about closed end fund IPO's......I'd like to hear your ratiionalization for those. They're pretty much welfare plans for investment bankers and wirehouse brokers.
[quote=joedabrkr]
Mike...for a bright guy you're pretty naive![/quote]<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Indy life seems to have made you bitter, Joe.
[quote=joedabrkr]
Explain Henry Blodgett for us, if you could, and when you're done with that, we can move on to Jack Grubman.[/quote]
Joe, seriously, you don’t want to go down the argument about ethics. For every Blodgett or Grubman I’ll raise you an Indy forging and then depositing checks from clients into their own accounts or sending off bogus statements made in the basement. Blodgett and Grubman were both banned, Wall Street was fined hundreds of millions on the global research settlement. What do you have now?
[quote=joedabrkr]
Once you've climbed that mountain, I'll be ready with the name of the PaineWebber broker who was fired for telling his clients at Enron to sell their shares. You see....they wre a big 401k client at the time and were quite offended.[/quote]
The guy’s name was CHUNG WU. He sent out a blanket email, non-compliance approved, with dubious suitability, to a large number of past and present Enron employees telling them to take money off the table or go synthetic to hedge their positions. Options advice via emails, yeah, no problems with that. Enron officials got the emails too, knew they weren’t kosher, and called P.W.. The guy tried to make himself a hero, when had he simply called people and not sent a blanket email, he’d have been OK. The NASD upheld his dismissal. The fact is your compliance department would have a fit if you did that tomorrow, even if your research department had a sell on the stock, and you know it.
[quote=joedabrkr]
If you really want to see the light, find a friend who works for Merrill who has some juice. Buy a plane ticket to NYC and get him to arrange a tour for you of their OTC trading floor at the World Financial Center. You'll see one of the biggest trading floors in the world....the size of a couple football fields with no internal pillars to interfere with the line of sight. On the outer ring of that trading floor, at desks elevated above the traders who execute for the firm's clients, are the so-called 'position traders'. These guys and gals are the brightest traders they can find, and they are trading the firm's capital, and have any information source they need....including whatever data is (legally) available about the order flow on the floor below them. They could very well be scooping up the shares you have for sale, or selling you the stock you're buying....as long as they are within the limits of the firm's trading policy buried in a disclosure document full of legalse.[/quote]
I’ve been on the floor, joe. You’re beginging to sound like a conspiracty theorist here.
They could be buying the stock I’m selling (so long as they gave the client the street price) and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. BTW, you know the difference betweeb agency and principal trading, right?
What’s not happening, and it’s what was suggested in an earlier post, it the firm’s not putting out a “sell” to clients so that the firm can accumulate a position in that stock at a lower price for which they have a secret in-house “buy”.
Surely you know better than that.
[quote=joedabrkr]
If you get past that, then we'll talk about closed end fund IPO's......I'd like to hear your ratiionalization for those. They're pretty much welfare plans for investment bankers and wirehouse brokers.<?: prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" />
[/quote]
Feel free to explain how they’e a blanket bad deal for clients. Then tell me why I’d rather have an open end fund. Start with BWC. I suppose now that you don’t have access to IPOs, they’re evil.
Sad, Joe, really sad.