Will Breakaway Broker Trend Continue in 2012?

[Ron Edde]

If Mr. Roame is right that the wirehouses that do not currently have an independent option attempt to create one, they are likely to find out that even that move involves much more in the way of expense and logistical challenges than they may think. It is not an accident that Wells Fargo Advisors and Ameriprise are the only two big players that currently offer those options and actually can still make money doing it.

And if, as Mr. Roame suggests, that the wirehouses attempt to respond to a growing movement to independence by creating some sort of "halfway house", they had better make sure that their improvised solutions don't instead turn out to be "half-assed" or the advisors will sniff that out quickly.