NEWS & PRODUCTS, JULY 2007

Wachovia announced May 31 that it will acquire A. G. Edwards and fold it into Wachovia Securities, LLC, creating what Wachovia called the “second largest retail brokerage firm in the U.S.,” which will be headquartered in St. Louis. When the deal closes, A. G. Edwards’s current chairman and CEO, Robert Bagby, is slated to become chairman of the united broker/dealer, with Wachovia Securities’ current president and CEO, Daniel Ludeman, to become CEO and president of the new brokerage entity. The deal was estimated to be worth approximately $6.8 billion at the time of the announcement…

Prudential Financial is closing Prudential Equity Group, suspending the group’s institutional equity research coverage and discontinuing the equity group’s trading and sales arms in 13 cities, including Tokyo, London, Paris, Zurich, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Kansas City. As of March 31, Prudential Financial had about $630 billion in assets under management…

The NASD has fined Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. $3 million to settle charges relating to the “use of misleading materials” in retirement seminars and meetings for BellSouth employees in North Carolina and South Carolina. As a result of these presentations, NASD charged in its complaint, more than 400 BellSouth employees opened more than 1,100 accounts with the Citigroup brokers. NASD also ordered Citigroup to pay approximately $12.2 million in restitution to more than 200 former BellSouth employees…