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One-stop shop? Brokerage
firms make a play for your bank business, too - Personal Finance
Wall Street's biggest firms, fresh from a massive
regulatory settlement over allegations that they published tainted research
and blackmailed corporate executives during the bull market, now want
to be your banker as well as your stockbroker. Oh, and they'd like you
to pay more for the privilege, too.Merrill Lynch rolled out a new program
this year called Beyond Banking, offering customers with six-figure
accounts such extras as FDIC-insured, interest-bearing cash accounts,
direct-deposit service, debit cards, unlimited check writing, no-fee
Internet bill payment and reimbursements for ATM fees paid to other
banks.
Meanwhile, discount broker Charles Schwab has applied for a federal
bank charter and hopes to begin offering checking accounts, savings
accounts and certificates of deposit as soon as this year. Brokerage
industry sources say Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers,
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UBS Paine Webber
and others may follow.All have seen their revenues head south during
the long, cold winter of the stock market, and they're looking for ways
to reverse the migration. But they're also trying to boost revenues
by increasing fees, which sends a mixed message to existing and potential
customers.
On one hand, they want more of your business. On the other hand, they're
going to hit you with higher trading commissions, a fee for mailing
account state-ments and other niggling new charges.Not that there aren't
advantages to having a one-stop shop for banking and investing. There
is a definite convenience factor in getting a single monthly statement
and having the ability to shift money between various accounts by visiting
a single Web site. Banking with your broker also eliminates a step during
those times when you want to move money back into the stock market.
Plus, plenty of people are comfortable with their brokerage firms and
trust that they will receive top-notch money management advice
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