The wirehouse space has always been about survival of the fittest, and the financial crisis has raised those stakes considerably for financial advisors. Given that wirehouse firms saw their profitability erode due to a crisis-related drop in total client assets paired with low trading volumes in recent quarters, leading advisory firms must focus on improving the production levels of their advisors in 2011. Merrill Lynch’s recent announcement that it has raised the minimum production requirements for its financial advisors with tenure of more than 10 years with the firm is one of the measures being taken to achieve this goal. … Continue Reading →