LATEST ON THE IAFP/ICFP MERGER - We should know soon if the merger of the two largest financial planner associations will become a reality. The vote of the ICFP members should be complete and the results announced by the first week in June. While certainly not a "done deal," insiders feel the CFPs will approve the merger.

SPEAKING OF ASSOCIATIONS - While the financial planner community seeks to create strength in numbers, the life insurance industry associations have announced no similar plans. However, the National Association of Life Underwriters (NALU) and the primarily property and casualty Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) did announce talks about "closer cooperation." Of course, about a year ago, NALU was involved in similar discussions with the other major P&C association...the "Big I."

AGENTS IN BANKS - The 1998 Kehrer-Alliance Capital Bank Investment Services Compensation Survey of 54 bank programs, 18 of which had dedicated insurance representatives, revealed that the agents "are not producing hefty revenues for the banks or themselves." In 1998, dedicated agents generated about $5,412 in monthly revenues (and pocketed about $3,980), as compared to investment product representatives who generated about $22,751 each in monthly revenues.

ROBERT MACDONALD ACQUIRES ALLIANZ - LifeUSA CEO Robert MacDonald, who has been purchasing percentages of MGA companies in order to establish some control over his distribution system, has really "upped the ante." This time he "acquired" Allianz Life by selling LifeUSA to Allianz and then becoming CEO of both companies.

NEXT WAVE? - According to Carole King of National Underwriter, life agents should prepare for their companies to begin pushing them into "financial planning or financial advising." The last attempt to do this in the 1980s was spurred by tax-favored products, but was derailed by new tax laws. This new move should be successful, due in part to the broader array of products offered by the companies.

INADEQUATE PRICING - According to A.M. Best, health insurers accounted for most of the insurance companies experiencing financial trouble from 1995 to 1997, and "inadequate pricing has been the leading cause of impairment for both life and health insurers."

UNHAPPY BROKERS - NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso is pushing to add a night trading session running from 5 or 6 p.m. Eastern time to 9 or 10 p.m. beginning as early as July. Many brokers, however, oppose the plan to extend trading hours. Their concern: evening sessions would cost more for staffing than they could hope to gain in extra commissions.

HANCOCK LOBBYING PRECEDENT? - A John Hancock policyholder is holding some Hancock executives' "hands to the fire" regarding illegal lobbying by Hancock in the early `90s. Loretta Harhen got a reversal on a trial court dismissal of her lawsuit that would hold current and former executives and directors of the Massachusetts insurer personally responsible for the estimated $4 million dollars plus that the company paid in fines, legal costs and expenses in connection with illegal lobbying activities.

PRU MOVES - In a move that might alienate many of its current Prudential Securities sales force, the insurance/financial services giant is targeting independent advisors. The driving force behind the move is a new "diagnostic tool" called Advisor 2000, developed by the "value-based marketing" section of the Pru. As reported in Investment News, Prudential Securities has also launched the Prudential Advisor program that reduces its commission for trading stocks to $24.95, whether the trade is made online or through a broker. This makes Pru the first large full-service brokerage to announce a pricing arrangement aimed at its online competition. Pru brokers will not receive any of the trading fee, but will receive part of an advisory fee clients will be charged. The advisory fee ranges from 1.5% to 0.25%, depending on total assets in the client's portfolio.

NOT A DONE DEAL? - A bank trade group, the Independent Bankers of America (ICBA), has filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, requesting that the courts declare the Citigroup merger illegal because the Federal Reserve violated the Bank Holding Company and Glass-Steagall acts when it approved the merger. Experts give the ICBA little chance of victory.

CFP LITE - Still no word from the CFP Board of Standards about a "less demanding" designation to coexist with the CFP. Driving force is to assist the major financial services companies establish some standards for their "planners," rather than creating their own.

STAGNATION FEARS - With net mutual fund flows in the first quarter reaching less than half of those a year ago, mutual fund executives are concerned that the mutual fund "boom" in the U.S. may be ending. Some industry watchers say that investors are putting more into individual stocks, betting they can outperform mutual funds. Then there are the hoarders. There has been a surge in money market flows, prompting some to speculate that investors are hoarding their cash in anticipation of Y2K glitches producing windfall purchasing opportunities.

ET TU BRUTE, ESQ. - Accountants and CPAs have now firmly entrenched themselves in the financial planning community. The next professional group to "join" is likely to be attorneys. Probably a lot of reasons for the migration and money may be one of them.

IN HOT WATER - Is this guy dumb or what? Seems that the SEC has sued the owner of a now-defunct Wall Street brokerage firm for defrauding U.S. and Middle Eastern investors by vastly exaggerating the assets of two companies he owned and whose securities he was selling. That's bad enough, but he (allegedly) pulled another swindle on the Gambino crime family. Perhaps he's lucky though...the Gambino family only filed suit against him in New York state court.