Fidelity said it had helped a record number of brokers 185 individuals and teams--transition to some form of independence through November 2009
...Research Affiliates, whose founder and chairman is Rob Arnott, has received a patent on its Research Affiliates Fundamental Index (RAFI), for the way it creates its fundamentally-weighted indexes
...Old Mutual Global Index Trackers has launched its GlobalShares FTSE Emerging Markets Fund [GSR] ETF on the New York Stock Exchange, and for a limited period will cap the fund's operating expenses (other than brokerage or other transaction-related expenses, taxes, interest, litigation expenses and other extraordinary expenses) at 0 basis points
...Trust Company of America, which specializes in providing asset custody and technology services to fee-based RIAs, reported that its total assets under custody (AUC) has surpassed $9 billion. Trust Company of America has nearly quadrupled its AUC in the last four years
...State Street Global Advisors reported that assets in the U.S. ETF industry reached all-time, month-end high, to $739 billion as of November 30, after climbing $50.3 billion, or 7.3%, during the month
...iShares launched two new bond ETFs, the iShares 10+ Year Credit Bond Fund (CLY) and the iShares 10+ Year Government/Credit Bond Fund (GLJ)
...A study commissioned by Scottrade Advisor Services found that 49% of RIAs surveyed experienced growth in their client bases in the past year, that 41% reported an increase in their client base of greater than 10%, and that 47% thought the "economy had a positive impact on their clients' level of satisfaction with their services."
...Cabinet NG has launched a new version of its document management and workflow software application, CNG-SAFE, which works with Microsoft Windows 7/Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2.
