If you talk to hardcore wirehouse stock brokers about their branch managers, you might hear some condescending talk about how the guy--they are invariably guys--is freeloading off the big producers in the office and whatnot. Some think the manager really ought to be working for them. Others might suggest he couldn't hack it as a broker so he became a branch manager and now runs around worrying about compliance matters and office rules.

This is a stereotypical view, but these sentiments do crop up. And you have to wonder what the top executives of the big wirehouses think. They might see branch managers as somewhat expendable, certainly an area where savings can be realized.

I raise this issue in light of a Reuters report that notes four Morgan Stanley Smith Barney branch managers have left in the past few days, "part of an exodus that began when Morgan Stanley gained control of Citigroup's Smith Barney brokerage arm in 2009 and began consolidating branches."

None of the managers have yet registered at other firms, which suggests a tight market. So we'll likely see more paring going on. You have to wonder if the branch model of the future includes a branch manager at all. Couldn't all the manager duties be run from a central office?

For more:
- here's the article

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