The Labor Department's fiduciary rule, unveiled in April, is affecting the broker recruitment efforts of many large banks. Morgan Stanley says it will immediately pull its incentive-laden back-end portions of the recruitment packages it offers to prospective brokers from rivals in order to eliminate potential conflicts under the rule. Meanwhile, competitors including Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo are considering doing the same. The changes could result in more brokers becoming independent financial advisers by launching their own registered investment advisory firms, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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