Brokerage Firm

Lombard Securities Inc.'s business could get a boost from the growing number of initial public offerings that are being done over the Internet.The Baltimore-based brokerage firm was one of three brokerage houses in the country allowed to sell stock to investors in Ravenswood Winery Inc., which held a public auction over the Internet and begins trading today.The offering "will give us national recognition, it will certainly boost sales and increase the volume of assets under our control and help us recruit brokers," said William Socha, Lombard's chief operating officer.

TOKYO -- Yamaichi Securities Co., Japan's fourth largest brokerage firm, plans to file with regulators to cease operations in what would be Japan's biggest business failure since World War II, according to published reports.Yamaichi's debt rating was downgraded to junk by Moody's Investors Service yesterday, making it harder and more expensive for the firm to borrow. Securities firms borrow billions of dollars to finance their investments and they risk going out of business if they can't roll over those debts.

I KEEP hearing from readers -- some livid, some anguished -- who say they've been abused by the securities industry.First, they lost serious money because their stockbrokers misled them in some way. When they took their complaint to arbitration, they say, they were bullied by arbitrators who treated their losses as all their fault.I haven't been able to witness a securities arbitration. The industry keeps the press and other outsiders away. Two friends who have served as arbitrators think the cases they heard were handled fairly, impartially and with respect.

The National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. couldn't have done better when it landed Joseph R. Hardiman as president nine years ago.He was a hot shot at Alex. Brown Inc., the No. 2 man at the venerable Baltimore-based brokerage firm, a driven worker with a reputation as an excellent manager and team builder.And he did nothing to disappoint his backers after he was named president and chief executive of NASD in June 1987.At NASD, the umbrella organization that oversees the activities of more than 5,400 securities firms, 500,000 brokers and the Nasdaq stock market, Hardiman led the overhaul of the stock market's computer systems.

Q: My son told me I should put my stock certificates in a brokerage account.He said a new regulation will reduce the settlement period and could create problems for me.I'm happy keeping my stock in a bank safety-deposit box and collecting the dividends myself. What is this new law? When does it go into effect? Will it hurt me? What do you recommend I do?A: I've always been in favor of keeping stocks in a brokerage account, preferably at a discount brokerage firm that does not charge an annual fee or an "inactive" account fee.The new rule your son mentioned -- called "T-Plus-Three" in Wall Street jargon -- tightens the current five-day settlement period for trades to three days and takes effect June 7, 1995.

...*TC CB Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. has raided rival Casey & Associates to find a new head of the national brokerage firm's Baltimore office, less than two years after Casey lured the same broker away from CB Commercial.Steven H. Gassaway will take control of the 25-broker local CB Commercial operation next week, the company said yesterday. The 35-year-old Lutherville resident spent nine years with CB Commercial before joining Casey in late 1992."It was an opportunity to manage an office [and]

Helped by a strong stable of new products and aggressive cost-cutting, Black & Decker Corp. yesterday announced that third-quarter earnings jumped by 50.3 percent to $29.3 million, a record for third-quarter net income.Wall Street reacted enthusiastically to the news from the Towson-based power tool and appliance manufacturer, pushing up the stock's price by 75 cents a share to close at $23.50 on volume of 1.7 million shares."It's the first time in a while the earnings were truly from very good operations," said Richard E. Cripps, director of equity markets for Legg Mason Inc., a Baltimore brokerage firm.

People who don't think of themselves as financial experts are often reluctant to pass judgment on their broker's competence or attitude. But a question that keeps popping up in my mail is: How can I tell if I have a good broker?Discount brokers are easy to evaluate because they are basically order takers. Discount brokerage firms usually don't provide investment advice. Their main business is order execution (and most do an excellent job at it). People who don't need advice or hand-holding are often better off at a discount brokerage firm.

Washington -- IN THE give-and-take of national politics, what goes around eventually comes around.But seldom has there been such prompt exposure of the darkened contours of a pot currently busy calling a kettle black as in the case of that self-styled ethics monitor, New York Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Ama to.This is both heartening and discouraging.Those who throw stones should not be allowed to avoid the shattering consequences of living in glass houses. Even politicians ought to be held to their own professed standards of virtue.

Baltimore's Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. is one of 11 Wall Street firms charged in a lawsuit with improperly enriching themselves by not transferring investors' money speedily enough when the investors changed brokerage houses.The class-action suit, filed by three investors in Phoenix, Ariz., claims that when investors changed from one brokerage to another, some mutual funds and money market funds were not transferred as quickly as possible to the new brokerage firm.The firms unnecessarily took the maximum 10 days allowed under law before transferring funds to the new brokerage and used this time to earn interest, which the former client did not receive, the suit charges.

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.

The Securities Investor Protection Corp., which protects investors from losses if brokerage firms fail, is warning investors about a new identity theft scam designed to gain confidential information and cash from unsuspecting individuals. SIPC officials are investigating phony e-mail messages sent by a supposed "senior investment adviser" claiming to act for an actual SIPC member. The SIPC member and brokerage firm named in the e-mail have nothing to do with the scam, the SIPC said. The e-mail involves an "insurance investment claim" and asserts that the brokerage firm is acting on behalf of SIPC in order to return funds to the recipient of the e-mail.

Q. You often recommend that people invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds. I want to open an account with a brokerage firm but am getting confused by the many questions on the account application. Would it hurt me if I admit I don't have that much investment experience or don't make that much money? A. It could hurt you if you don't admit it. In the event of a dispute with the brokerage firm - for example, if you allege that a broker steered you into an unsuitable investment - it could weaken your case considerably if you exaggerate your investment knowledge or experience, or how much money you have.

The Charles Schwab Corp. ousted its chief executive yesterday and said that its chairman and founder, Charles R. Schwab, 66, would return as chief as it tries to regain its footing in a shifting competitive landscape. Schwab, the brokerage giant, also said its second-quarter earnings dropped 10 percent. The company's ouster of CEO David S. Pottruck, who had worked there for 20 years, comes as Schwab is still struggling to define its place on Wall Street. After expanding beyond its roots as a no-frills brokerage firm, Schwab has been losing business to full-service firms like Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. on one end and low-commission online brokers like E*Trade and Ameritrade on the other.

SAY YOU RAN a business and your big product wasn't selling. You come up with two strategies, each costing the same amount, to make the money roll in. Would you: a) Cut prices for buyers. b) Increase the commission you pay your salespeople, so they push the product harder. If you would put your product on sale, you obviously are not in mutual fund management. That's because during the most trying market time in recent memory, some load-fund firms - and one particular brokerage firm - are priming the sales pump by giving sellers an incentive while doing nothing for buyers.

Three years after opening a posh downtown Baltimore investment club with a lavish party, former stockbroker Monica L. Coleman pleaded not guilty yesterday to 15 counts of felony theft, misappropriation by a fiduciary and securities fraud. Coleman, 44, was arraigned in Baltimore Circuit Court in a proceeding that lasted several minutes. A jury trial was scheduled for Aug. 30. A Baltimore grand jury indicted Coleman on Jan. 3. The Maryland attorney general's office said Coleman, who launched the now-defunct Coleman Craten LLC in February 1998, misappropriated $2.6 million from clients and converted the money "to her own personal or business use, never investing [the funds]

Lombard Securities Inc.'s business could get a boost from the growing number of initial public offerings that are being done over the Internet.The Baltimore-based brokerage firm was one of three brokerage houses in the country allowed to sell stock to investors in Ravenswood Winery Inc., which held a public auction over the Internet and begins trading today.The offering "will give us national recognition, it will certainly boost sales and increase the volume of assets under our control and help us recruit brokers," said William Socha, Lombard's chief operating officer.

TOKYO -- Yamaichi Securities Co., Japan's fourth largest brokerage firm, plans to file with regulators to cease operations in what would be Japan's biggest business failure since World War II, according to published reports.Yamaichi's debt rating was downgraded to junk by Moody's Investors Service yesterday, making it harder and more expensive for the firm to borrow. Securities firms borrow billions of dollars to finance their investments and they risk going out of business if they can't roll over those debts.

I KEEP hearing from readers -- some livid, some anguished -- who say they've been abused by the securities industry.First, they lost serious money because their stockbrokers misled them in some way. When they took their complaint to arbitration, they say, they were bullied by arbitrators who treated their losses as all their fault.I haven't been able to witness a securities arbitration. The industry keeps the press and other outsiders away. Two friends who have served as arbitrators think the cases they heard were handled fairly, impartially and with respect.

The National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. couldn't have done better when it landed Joseph R. Hardiman as president nine years ago.He was a hot shot at Alex. Brown Inc., the No. 2 man at the venerable Baltimore-based brokerage firm, a driven worker with a reputation as an excellent manager and team builder.And he did nothing to disappoint his backers after he was named president and chief executive of NASD in June 1987.At NASD, the umbrella organization that oversees the activities of more than 5,400 securities firms, 500,000 brokers and the Nasdaq stock market, Hardiman led the overhaul of the stock market's computer systems.