In the case of the major Wall Street firms that have in-house broker dealers, an advisor at Merrill Lynch or Goldman Sachs ( GS) is a W-2 employee for IRS purposes, and knows from day one that the client belongs to the company.

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But the speaker conceded he was waiting to see if the White House would broker a deal with Norwood.

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Online brokerages are digital real estate firms that source listings from local multiple listing services, aggregate them for users and then offer in-house agents to broker deals.

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Corporate attorneys used to be the faceless "keepers of the secrets, " says Susan Friedman, head of in-house counsel coverage at insurance broker Marsh.

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"Somebody could create a gorgeous piece of architecture, " said Anne Snee, a Corcoran broker who helped the Turners buy their house in 1977 and is now working with both families.

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The changes that will have to occur to bring the audit firms, and their clients, in line may mean not only consolidation of audit firms that can not deliver audit-only services cost effectively and per the standards, but also consolidation of broker-dealers who do not want hire competent accounting and systems professionals in-house or pay for it separately from a firm other than their auditor.

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You can have a broker sell futures contracts on your behalf in Chicago, where traders have lately been betting that the house-price index in Los Angeles will fall only 11.5% over the next two years.

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It is creating a central clearing house for foreign investors to directly access the Russian securities market without having to have a local broker.

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