Oisín Breen

Making the account transfers as easy as a phone number transfer [Lockshin] would certainly be transformational. Remember that there was a time that this was not possible and certainly perceived as not a good thing by the carriers. Then the FCC came along and made phone number porting law via Wireless Local Number Portability starting November 24, 2003.

I find it unimaginable that the SEC would enact such account portability but it would certainly make ACAT a reality. Back to reality and that ACAT ala Quovo / Apex is heresy :) Having proposed a common data pipeline and APIs to the industry in years past I speak from experience. However, things have changed significantly in the past five years and there is momentum for sweeping change.

One of the major differences between ACAT and other money movement platforms is that ACAT has no social aspect to it. Its not a cool thing that you can experience with or collaborate with friends. You're moving your investment account(s) from one place(s) to other(s).

Outside of the undesirable removing of control from the entity holding the accounts there are the litany of systems and protocols used by each of the controlling entities. Having worked with DTCC on the Alts side I can say without hesitation that the clearing entity gets a bad rap and doesn't deserve most if any of it in context. The ACAT solution _should_ be far easier than marshalling alternative and private investment data. Chasing alt data could be a simple as a file download or calling a 4 person PE manager who still sends out statements via paper and US Mail. And then there are the backend systems ranging from - wait for it - and API sitting on FTP - oh boy, to green screen scraping and worse.

Just having ACAT provide FedEx-like tracking of the process would be a big accomplishment at this point. I believe and certainly hope that they can get beyond the hurdles that they will encounter. When I proposed that an industry standard data pipeline be brought forward for RFC I was told very directly 'we don't want account data directly accessible because then people will start moving their accounts'. It is all about control. But as I argued then and argue now, accounts don't get moved unless there is a life event, someone isn't doing their job or you don't have a competitive marketplace anymore and making someone's life miserable moving money is not good business.

To be sure the technical aspect is daunting due to many arcane systems but those are the kind of problems software engineers love to solve. The bigger issue is getting those in control of those accounts to cooperate. All it will take is two of them to get in on the program and everyone else will have to follow.

Pete

Quovo is developing an ACATS rooter process with Apex Clearing as first to sign on

Wealthfront

Betterment

Quovo

Yodlee

AdvicePeriod

Celent

Apex Clearing Corp.

Autonomous Research

William Capuzzi

Sam McIngvale

Steve Lockshin

Lowell Putnam

Will Trout

Lex Sokolin

Asset custodians are the central players in the RIA business and choosing one is the biggest decision most financial advisors will make to build their business. As the place where RIAs park their assets (the same way a captive broker would park assets at Merrill Lynch or UBS), custodians serve hundreds or thousands of these registered investment advisors and make big investments in technology and service on their clients' behalf.

This section features a series of articles under the “Asset Custody Project” label that cover these companies in a way that keeps advisors abreast of their progress – both with journalistic commentary and a common set of data so that advisors can easily compare them. The articles look at the strengths, weaknesses and niche capabilities of these companies.

&mdash; Brooke Southall

Here are links to the profiles of custodians:

 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/11942001/">Equity Advisor Solutions</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/4977738934910976/with-robo-advisors-on-the-rise-robo-custodian-apex-is-rising-them-a-diamond-mined-from-the-rubble-of-the-penson-worldwide-debacle">Apex Clearing</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/11320001">Raymond James</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/10207085">State Street</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/1812010">Ceros Financial</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/9033656">Fidelity</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/7435709">Pershing</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/1212007">Royal Bank of Canada</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/133138">Scottrade</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/8101589">Schwab</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/8788433">TD Ameritrade</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/124061">Trade-PMR</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/1161005">Trust Company of America</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/1490002">BNY Mellon</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/5385142">Folio Institutional</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/108011">Shareholders Service Group</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/5933001">National Advisors Trust</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://www.riabiz.com/a/22600260/how-us-bank-appeared-on-the-scene-as-an-ria-custodian-and-where-it-might-find-love">US Bank</a></li>
</ul>

If you want a more chronological look at news about the custodians, just scroll down.

RIA Custodians

Stripped down to its essentials, financial advice is a fairly straightforward proposition. Done well, a highly ethical individual stewards the assets and actions of an investor in a personal and professional interchange.
 
But now a vibrant new class of entrepreneurs is staking their fates and their fortunes on the premise that financial advice can be delivered in a better, cheaper, easier, more ethical, more transparent manner and, as a bonus, in a way more devoid of human annoyance on both ends of the transaction.
 
Cue the robo-advisors, arguably a callous misnomer for automated asset management. 
 
The prototypical robo-advisory entrepreneur has more brands on his or her resume than NASCAR. The bona fides of these industry upstarts often include Ivy-level colleges and MBA programs at Harvard or Stanford. They are often flush with IPO dollars realized at concerns like LinkedIn, Facebook, eBay, Amazon  and Microsoft. 
 
Robo-folk believe that technology is not an enabler of advice but rather, if engineered correctly, advice itself in digital form. 
 
And, they believe the best solutions originate in Silicon Valley or academia, not Wall Street. Robo-entrepreneurs are white-boarding the whole business model, culture and technology from scratch in the conviction that little can be learned from a legacy advice system still rooted in an investment banking culture acting under the core premise that if stockbrokers get rich some of the good effects will trickle down to clients – with the clients none the wiser. 
 
Robo-advisors are a scintillating topic for students of the advice game as they grow by hundreds of millions in assets every month, constantly evolve their business models and receive cash infusions from ever-larger swaths of venture capitals.
 
Throw in the fact that robo-advisors have yet to see a dime in profits -- and won’t in the foreseeable future -- and you have real intrigue. 
 
RIABiz has avidly covered the fast-evolving robo-advice phenomenon and will continue to do so. We present the growing body of articles here.

Robo-Advisors

The RIA business has many tech vendors working hard to serve its diverse needs, and we're seeing technology become a more crucial part of setting up and running an RIA than ever before.

The Technology section includes unbiased tech reviews, tech-related news, and coverage of tech-related conferences.

Technology

The Silicon Alley startup is using its data science as a way of attacking a clog considered not susceptible to intervention

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