The affluent like to get their hands dirty when it comes to their investments, according to Investment News which cites a recent Dow Jones Survey of 1,287 investors with more than $500,000 in investable assets. The survey found that 41 percent use online and discount brokerages to manage their investments; 31 percent use a full-service firm, and 28 percent use independent firms.
OF those who do hire a professional, 70 percent are extremely or very satisfied with the relationship, though top areas for improvement include more information on tax strategies, estate planning and emerging markets and alternative investments.
Other news:
Loan books at BofA, Wells Fargo, Citi and JPMorgan dropped 7 percent from a year earlier, even as deposits rose 5 percent. [Fortune]
HSBC's investment bank is showing signs of strain with high turnover a year after the Swiss institution hired 1,200 bankers. [WSJ]
Japan's top three banks will book combined losses of $1.9 billion on the Tokyo Electric Power Company. [Reuters]
Cantor Fitzgerald sold $635 million of bonds backed by commercial mortgages in its first sale of the securities. [Bloomberg]
Morgan Stanley's wealth management unit grew its assets by $11.4 billion in the 1Q, despite losing 243 advisers. [Reuters]
BlackRock's 1Q earnings leaped 58% and profit jumped 34% on a rising market. [Bloomberg]
Wells Fargo's 1Q profit climbed 48 percent as costs for soured real-estate and business loans fell; wealth management rose by 8 percent. [Businessweek]
A Battle Royal for Terminated Merrill Lynch Employees (and one wife). [Forbes (blog)]
