The Region’s Top Brokerage Firms
by September 17, 2001 12:00 am 209 views
Listed by number of licensed agents in Benton and Washington counties.
Rank — Firm — Registered Reps — State — Net Worth*/As of this date — Headquarters/Local Contact — Agent Locations — Main Products Services
1. Arvest Asset Management of Rogers — 54 — 56 — 1.5 million/12-31-00 — Rogers/Mel Parks — Bentonville (15), Rogers (24), Prairie Grove (1), Siloam Springs (1), Fayetteville (8), Springdale (4), Eureka Springs (1) — Full-service broker, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, insurance and trust services, annuities, government securities, municipal bonds, discount brokerage.
2. A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. of Little Rock — 45 — 155 — $1.63 billion/2-28-01 — St. Louis/Bob Tucket, Little Rock VP — Bella Vista (5), Fayetteville (10), Rogers (16), Springdale (14) — Full-service broker, underwriter, investment banker, corporate, stocks, bonds, government, municipal bonds, mutual funds, life insurance, estate planning, annuities, commodities, financial and retirement planning.
3. Morgan Stanley of Little Rock — 36 — 96 — 15.34 billion/5-31-00 — New York/Christopher Shaw, Little Rock — Rogers (12), Fayetteville (24) — Full-service broker, underwriter, investment banker, corporate, stocks, bonds, government, mutual funds, real estate syndications, foreign stocks, commodities, participations, insurance.
4. Edward D. Jones & Co. of Bentonville — 27 — 175 — 612.8 million/12-31-00 — Maryland Heights, Mo./Dave Hayes, Bentonville — Bentonville (4), Bella Vista (3), Springdale (6), Rogers (4), Prairie Grove (1), Farmington (1), Siloam Springs (1), Gravette (1), Fayetteville (7) — Full-service broker, annuities, certificates of deposit, mutual funds, tax-free bonds, stocks, government bonds, college-cost calculations, IRA calculations, retirement plans.
5. Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith of Little Rock — 21 — 115 — 5.8 billion/12-29-00 — New York/Deborah L. Shepherd, Little Rock — Fayetteville (15), Rogers (20) — Full-service broker, underwriter, investment banker, corporate, stocks, bonds, government, municipal bonds, estate planning, mutual funds, real estate, estate planning, syndications.
6. Stephens Inc. of Little Rock — 15 — 458 — 130.5 million/12-29-00 — Little Rock/Warren Stephens, President — Fayetteville (15) — Full-service broker, underwriter, investment financial adviser, corporate, stocks, government, municipal bonds, mutual funds, insurance, joint ventures, options, futures.
7. AXA Advisors LLC of Springdale — 8 — 14 — 60 billion/12-31-00 — New York/Troy Kestner, Springdale — Springdale (8) — Fee-based financial planning, investment, estate, retirement planning, pension plans.
8. Morgan Keegan & Co. of Little Rock — 7 — 62 — 263.7 million/7-31-00 — Memphis/Bob Dudley, managing director — Rogers (7) — Full-service broker, underwriter, investment banker, financial adviser, corporate, stocks, bonds, government, municipal bonds, mutual funds, participations, financial planning.
9. American Express Financial Advisors of Little Rock — 2 — 58 — 479 million/12-31-99 — Minneapolis/John Crawford, Little Rock — Springdale (2) — Full-service financial planning, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, REITs, certificates, insurance (life, disability, health, property, and casualty), fixed and variable annuities, retirement plans, lines of credit.
9. Bank of America Investment Services Inc. of Fayetteville — 2 — 12 — 187.3 million/12-31-00 — Charlotte, N.C./Joe Locke, Fayetteville — Fayetteville (1) — Investment services.
9. Charles Schwab of Springdale — 2 — 7 — 2.3 billion/12-31-00 — San Francisco/Irving carey, vice president — Springdale (2) — Full-service broker, insurance, annuities, global investment services, online trading, discount brokerage, mutual funds, multilingual services, retirement planning, 401(K)s, stock options.
9. John R. Taylor Financial Group# of Fort Smith — 2 — 18 — 432,664/12-31-99 — Fort Smith/Tracy Winchell, Fort Smith — Rogers (1) — Full-service financial planning and investment services, money management, retirement and estate planning, insurance, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, unit investment trusts.
Source: The firms and Arkansas Securities Department.
* Net worth is stockholders’ equity or partners’ capital as taken from annual statements filed with the Arkansas Securities Department. For firms based outside Arkansas, stockholders’ equity for the entire corporation is listed. ^ Out-of-state offices and agents are included for Arkansas-based firms. #John R. Taylor Financial Group was acquired in late 2000 by Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. of Birmingham, Ala. For the purpose of this list the 2000 figures for John Taylor’s old firm have been used. Note: Several securities departments of insurance companies have enough registered agents in Arkansas to be listed. They are not included on this list because their primary focus is insurance sales and they typically do not offer as wide an array of investment products as more traditional brokerage firms.