An arbitration panel has ordered Stifel, Nicolaus & Co to pay Wells Fargo Advisors $167,000 for improperly recruiting former AG Edwards financial advisers. The award is a fraction of the $36 million Wells sought in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration, and was granted over the objection of the three-person FINRA panel's chairman. Wells's argument that Stifel "systematically acquired, on a national scale" advisers, managers, support staff and clients of the Wachovia Securities brokerage business should be rejected, panel chairman Frank Romano wrote in the unusual dissent. Wells, he concluded, deserves no monetary award. "The fact that one arbitrator dissented, coupled with the fact that they only received $160,000 out of a $36 million claim speaks for itself," said Ronald Kruszewski, chief executive of Stifel Financial Corp (SF.N), the parent of Stifel Nicolaus.
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