(This article originally appeared on WealthManagerWeb.com on April 22, 2010.)
Sallie Krawcheck, president of Bank of America Global Wealth and Investment Management, has been on a "listening tour," discussing with clients what it is they want from advisors. In a speech on April 22 to Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), in New York, she noted that the brokerage industry has a "choice of two roads."
Acknowledging that, "the full service wealth management industry has lost share for the past decade to the independents, the on-line brokers, the retirement providers, and most recently, to the regionals," she suggested that the industry needs to change. She noted that the industry has "real problems in the eyes of our clients and the public."
Krawcheck also said: "as an industry, the regulators are still upset with us, the public at large is still irate with us, some numbers of the industry's clients are still angry with us, or some other number is bewildered by us."
Broker/dealers can either "stay the course," Krawcheck said, or change "our focus to our clients." She suggested that the industry re-imagine itself and, "do right by our clients by embracing our fiduciary responsibility for them."
Clients: "I have no idea what fiduciary is, but it sounds good…"
