A.G. Edwards, Edward D. Jones Rate Highest as Workplaces for Brokers : Most Stockbrokers in Survey Give Their Firms High Marks

Two St. Louis brokerages got the highest marks in a trade magazine’s poll of 500 stockbrokers on the best places to work.

Irvine’s Registered Representative magazine said A.G. Edwards & Sons and Edward D. Jones & Co. both scored an A for the second year in a row.

The informal poll found that, while brokers had some complaints, most gave their firms generally high marks.

The survey of the nation’s 10 biggest retail brokerages gave them an A- overall. The magazine called 50 brokers at random at each firm. The 10 firms together employ 48,000 brokers nationwide.

At the bottom of the list, each with a B+, were New York’s Merrill Lynch and Chicago’s Kemper Securities Group.

“Merrill reps continually complain” about what they say are the small percentages of their commissions they’re allowed to keep, said Dan Jamieson, editor of the magazine. “Kemper brokers are still feeling pains from the consolidation of Kemper’s regional firm network.”

The survey found that most stockbrokers believe their firms to be ethical and don’t feel pressured to sell their brokerage’s own financial products. Of 20 categories they were asked to rate, brokers were least concerned about “pressure to sell certain products.”

Surprisingly, the brokers also didn’t feel pressured to produce sales commissions. Most agreed with a description of their firm’s sales quotas as “realistic.”

But even top-scoring A.G. Edwards came in for criticism, the magazine said, as some brokers “lament the firm’s slow-moving, conservative approach.”

So, too, at Edward D. Jones, where brokers “are concerned about the firm’s rapid growth.”

Here is the consensus on the rest of the firms:

Brokers at New York’s Smith Barney, Harris, Upham & Co. like its “image as a solid, conservative firm.”

Shearson Lehman Bros. in New York got a low mark for its troubled public image but scored high on the quality of its research.

Dean Witter Reynolds in New York was this year’s most improved firm since breaking off from Sears, Roebuck. “They like being free from the Sears image,” the magazine said.

At PaineWebber Inc., based in New York, hiring brokers with problems of regulatory compliance is a “definite sore point,” although brokers still rated it above average as a place to work.

At Prudential Securities Inc., New York, “problems with old limited partnerships linger, but brokers are upbeat about management changes.”

Kidder, Peabody & Co., New York, has an “upscale image” that brokers like, but “uncertainty over the fate of the firm” hurt its rating with its brokers.

Taking Stock of Brokerages

Five hundred randomly selected stockbrokers graded the nation’s 10 largest retail brokerages in a nationwide telephone poll. Using a 10-point scale, the brokers rated the firms in 20 categories including ethics, sales support, quality of research, and quote and information systems. The rankings, in order:

Firm Grade Score Orange County offices A.G. Edwards A 9.06 Irvine, Laguna Beach E.D. Jones & Co. A 8.88 None Smith Barney A- 8.47 Newport Beach Shearson Lehman A- 8.12 Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach, Orange Dean Witter A- 8.01 Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Laguna Hills, Newport Beach, Santa Ana PaineWebber B+ 7.98 Brea, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Orange Prudential B+ 7.95 Anaheim, Newport Beach Kidder Peabody B+ 7.76 Newport Beach Kemper Securities B+ 7.61 Anaheim, Newport Beach Merrill Lynch B+ 7.34 Anaheim, Fullerton, La Mirada, Newport Beach, Orange, Santa Ana

Source: Registered Representative magazine