The HighTower Advisors 'for-sale' rumors grow to include a named suitor

The irresolvable question of b/ds and RIAs is how can a b/d whose brokers do not render advice (has a compliance protocol that does not acknowledge or support advice as a means to avoid fiduciary liability) reconcile with the fact that RIAs must assure the advice they render is in the client's best interest as required of all who render advice. This is the original sin of our regulatory infrastructure. .Yet the brokerage/insurance transactions culture seeks to establish equivalency between transactions with no ongoing responsibility for recommendations to advisory services with significant ongoing fiduciary responsibilities required by statute. The truth is transactions and advisory services are polar opposites. There is no natural commonality of interest between conventional brokerage and advisory services, thus, HighTower either becomes a means to reorder brokerage around advisory services or is best swerved as being the alternative to brokerage. SCW

Woke up this morning to find that Santa didn't come. Still a believer

I would be shocked if this deal happened. One has a great brand name, and the other one Had a great brand name, 20 years ago. This is a marketing business. Brand matters. Perception matters. The price would have to be really high , and Bud doesn't like to pay retail, so, I'm betting it won't happen. But it does coincide with the swirling chatter that HT has an active book out on itself. I would expect a MUCH more Tiffany's type of brand would be the only acceptable suitor for the HT folks to say YES to.