Baker Watts

Paul "Skip" Geidel, the chief financial officer of the brokerage firm Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday evening in his Fairfax County, Va., home, police said.Geidel, 51, was fatally wounded in his upper body, said Warren Carmichael, director of public information for the Fairfax County Police Department. Carmichael would not confirm whether a suicide note was found.Geidel apparently was found about 7 p.m. Thursday by his wife, Fran, who had last seen him that morning.

A former Hagerstown-based stockbroker for Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. was sentenced yesterday to a 21-month term for embezzling more than $780,000 from his clients, including his stepmother.Before his sentencing on one count of mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, the broker, William S. Hatcher, 40, apologized to Chief Judge J. Frederick Motz in an emotional speech."I want you to know how terribly sorry I am for what I did and for the terrible consequences that have been suffered by many," said Hatcher, who pleaded guilty to the single count in September.

Another year. Another rush of banks, brokers and insurers merging into "financial supermarkets."And another round of questions about T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., Legg Mason Inc. and Ferris, Baker Watts Inc.: How long can Baltimore's financial boutiques stay independent in a superstore world?The companies continue their Greta Garbo impressions: "I want to be alone," or words to that effect.But the trend toward "one-stop" financial shopping and global economies of scale is so powerful that investors continue to bet on buyouts of both regional and national financial firms.

Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. said yesterday that it has realigned top management and named Louis J. Akers chief executive officer.Akers, who has been with the firm since 1989, succeeds Paul J. "Skip" Geidel, who was chief executive for the past 1 1/2 years and has decided to devote full time to being chief financial officer."

Call it the calm after the storm.Activity on the trading room floor at the Baltimore office of brokerage Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. was orderly and relatively sedate yesterday, one day after the Dow Jones industrials shed 512.61 points in its second-worst point drop ever.Even during Monday's precipitous plunge, Ferris, Baker Watts traders say composure was the order of the day in their ninth-floor sanctum in the Legg Mason building downtown: a place where the players have pet nicknames for stocks and each other, try to fake out their counterparts at other local firms, and occasionally bark out orders for stocks -- but only "occasionally," since computers now execute most of the orders once processed by hand.

Alex. Brown Inc. may have swung open the door for Baltimore financial services firms to pair up with national suitors, but don't look for the city's other major, locally based investment houses to merge anytime soon.Legg Mason Inc., T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. and Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. staunchly maintain they have no plans for corporate marriages, and feel no pressure to follow Alex. Brown's lead."We've spent 30 years getting Legg Mason to the point it is today, and it is not our objective now to be acquired by somebody," said Raymond A. "Chip" Mason, chairman and chief executive.

THE AMAZING Ray Charles was everything the Maryland School for the Blind hoped for and more. From the moment he sang "Georgia on My Mind" to the spectacular "What I Say" to end the show, he had all the folks at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on their feet begging for more.Charles was the star attraction at the school's fund-raiser concert, which raised more than $102,000. Among those in the audience were Mayor Kurt Schmoke and former O's pitcher Tippy Martinez. Mary Beth Marsden of WMAR-TV was the evening's emcee and local performer Deanna Bogart was the opening act.I'm told that the concert was the first in what will be an annual series to raise money for the school, a private, nonprofit institution that has served Maryland children for 144 years.

Fueled by rapidly growing loans and deposits, First Mariner Bancorp. earned $64,000 in the second quarter, marking its second profitable quarter since going public in December, it said yesterday.The fledgling banking company earned 2 cents a share in the quarter ended June 30. It lost $572,499 in the second quarter ended June 20, 1996."Things are going really well," said Michael Coiro, director of retail research with Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. "These guys are growing branches; they are growing deposits.

New positionsDallas veteran named manager, director at WMAR-TVWMAR-TV has chosen Drew Berry for the position of station manager/news director. A 20-year veteran of broadcast news, he was the assistant news director at WFAA-TV in Dallas prior to coming to the local ABC network affiliate. The Emmy award-winning newscaster is a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin.Kelly-Springfield names VP for tire technologyKelly-Springfield Tire Co., the Cumberland-headquartered subsidiary of Goodyear, named John Bauer as vice president of tire technology.

The stock market's opening bell was 20 minutes away, and broker Mark V. Dyer sat forward in his desk chair, elbows on knees, head down.He concentrated on a voice crackling over the squawk box on his desk. It was Rob Brown, Ferris, Baker Watts' market analyst, who was setting the stage for stock trading the day after oone of the market's worst plunges."The rising tide lifting all ships is over," Brown's voice hissed through the speaker, sounding far away and hollow like a World War II announcer.

SEC to investigate former Ferris, Baker Watts counsel The Securities and Exchange Commission Monday said it would hold a hearing into allegations that Theodore W. Urban, former general counsel of Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., had failed to properly supervise a broker who has since been convicted of securities fraud. Urban, 58, of Silver Spring had repeatedly been warned about unauthorized trades and the questionable activities of broker Stephen Glantz, yet ignored them, the SEC said. Glantz, who worked for Ferris for nearly three years, pleaded guilty in 2007 to securities fraud and lying to law enforcement officials.

Murray J. Adams, Jr., well known vintage car collector and a respected contributor/member of the Catonsville Community for the last 50 plus years, was married to Ms. Gloria Nuestro Uy in a civil ceremony in Towson, MD on 12/23/08, followed by a Dinner Reception. Murray is a graduate of St. Paul's School, Calvert Hall College, University of Baltimore, and New York Institute of Finance. Murray is a former Financial Controller of Baker Watts & Co., and CEO of his firm, American Senior Financial Services, now retired living in the High Fields section of Catonsville.

George Mallette Ferris Jr., whose career in the investment business spanned nearly six decades and who was chairman of the board of the investment firm of Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., died of a heart attack Monday at the company's Washington office. He was 81. In 1950, Mr. Ferris joined the Washington-based investment firm of Ferris & Co. that was established by his father in 1932; it became one of the nation's capital's oldest and largest investment banking firms. He spent most of his career working in the firm's Washington office at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, where he had been CEO until stepping down in 1997, family members said.

Ferris, Baker Watts' parent announced yesterday that it has replaced the Baltimore brokerage firm's chief executive and chief operating officers, three months after the firm was acquired. RBC Wealth Management, a division of Royal Bank of Canada that bought Ferris for more than $230 million, said the president of its private client group took over as president and CEO of Ferris on Monday. Jim Chapman succeeds Roger Calvert, who had been CEO since 2001 and a Ferris employee for 34 years.

The parent of regional brokerage Ferris, Baker Watts has committed up to $35 million to cover losses of clients who invested in the Reserve Primary Fund, a money-market mutual fund that was frozen last week after its net asset value dipped below $1 per share. The fund became the first widely used money-market fund in decades to "break the buck," with its value falling to 97 cents a share Sept. 16. The decline was triggered by the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy last week, which wiped out a Primary Fund investment in Lehman debt.

M&T Bank yesterday announced it has hired 15 specialists who had made up the core of the municipal bond department of regional brokerage Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. The hires, which occurred during the past month, allow Buffalo-based M&T to expand into the fixed-rate municipal bond business. All but one of the bond specialists will work in Maryland. "It's a terrific fit," said Atwood "Woody" Collins III, president of M&T Bank's Mid-Atlantic Division. "This gives us the full spectrum of municipal bond underwriting, sales and trading."

Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., the conservative regional brokerage with Baltimore roots dating to 1900, closed yesterday its sale to a division of Royal Bank of Canada in an all-stock deal valued at more than $230 million. The sale was approved by Ferris' employee shareholders in a meeting yesterday morning in Washington. The deal combines the firm's 300 brokers spread among 42 branch offices in eight states with the 4,000 brokers and financial advisers in the wealth management division of Canada's largest bank.

Ferris, Baker Watts is negotiating a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that could result in a civil fine of $1.2 million or more and lead to additional penalties against current and former employees, according to regulatory documents filed yesterday. The negotiations stem from a lengthy federal investigation of the Baltimore brokerage's supervision of a former broker and client who used Ferris accounts to engage in illegal stock trading. The documents say that an SEC and Justice Department probe of the matter helped spur the century-old firm's decision in February to sell itself to Minneapolis-based RBC Dain Rauscher, a division of Royal Bank of Canada.

When it comes to our finances, we don't like changes. A good example: Once we select a bank or brokerage, we tend to stick with it, even if we're being nickeled and dimed by fees or insulted by piddling interest rates on deposits. The reason may be less about loyalty and more about inertia. Switching banks can be a chore, especially if your account is set up for direct deposit of paychecks and automatic bill-paying. But when your financial institution is being acquired, you are forced to re-evaluate your relationship.

Skateboard row hits the Internet A Baltimore police officer is suspended after a video appeared on the Internet showing him manhandling a teen skateboarder at the Inner Harbor. Allstate can stop coastal policies Maryland regulators said there is nothing illegal about Allstate's decision to stop writing new homeowner policies in some coastal areas. Obama, McCain score in primaries Voters in Maryland, Virginia and Washington gave primary election wins to Barack Obama and John McCain.