RIABiz

News, Vision & Voice for the Advisory Community

RIABiz

Articles published 2/2010


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Les Abromovitz: When the SEC takes a stand on social media, it is likely to reach many of the same conclusions

FINRA guidance may help RIAs avoid social media blunders

Feb 26, 2010

Even employees' LinkedIn profiles ought to be supervised


Joe Duran: Nobody thinks of Cisco as an acquiring company because they have one culture [and by following that example] that's how we end up with an arbitrage

The faces of United Capital on an idyllic spring day on the Berkeley campus

Feb 26, 2010

Photographs of United Capital partners and executives at the Haas School of Business event


Elisse Walter: We’ve been making it too hard on ourselves.

SEC's Walter looks for an easier way out on fiduciary question

Feb 25, 2010

Johnson amendment gains primacy as jockeying continues on the Hill


Joseph Vietri: Check-up calls on wire transfers will continue indefinitely and more safeguarding steps will be added to the program

Schwab won't stop at wire transfer check-up calls in its quest for airtight security of RIA client assets

Feb 25, 2010

Top service exec at big custodian says the tumult of the last 18 months led to the escalation of asset safeguards


Joe Duran: Our goal is to [help make] our partner firms into the dominant market leaders in their respective cities and to help build several $5 to $10 million offices in the next few years.

United Capital calls its partner firms to Berkeley to help execute ambitious plan

Feb 25, 2010

Haas business school professors will orient consolidator's RIAs toward new ways of looking at growth


Jay Quinn will help Barnaby Grist to make Cetera's broker-dealers better for hybrid RIAs

Jay Quinn joins Cetera subsidiary to help Barnaby Grist pave way for more hybrid RIAs

Feb 24, 2010

Two ex-Schwab executives unite in Los Angeles to upgrade old ING platform


Steve Walkenbach is heading Scottrade's RIA custody unit but the company is seeking a replacement for Doug Talir

Scottrade is ramping up marketing -- with an interim leader at the helm

Feb 24, 2010

The St. Louis-based discount broker has big momentum and a big position to fill


Robert Eisenbeis says the too-big-to-fail legislation is likely to be complex and arcane. "This is the sausage," he says.

A different take on too-big-to-fail

Feb 23, 2010

Shadow Committee posits that bankruptcy law may be better after all


Roger Hartley and Keith Mitchell: We are fairly eclectic in terms of the types of businesses we think we can be helpful with.

New M&A firm with Putnam Lovell alumni appears on the wealth management landscape

Feb 23, 2010

Mitchell Hartley straddles world of asset management and wealth management


Don Trone: Plan sponsors want advisors who can lead the way.

7 things a financial advisor needs to know to succeed in the 401(k) business

Feb 23, 2010

Needy plan sponsors are green pastures for those with the right tools


George Tamer let it be known that technology without a dedicated effort by the financial advisor won't yield great results

The T3 conference hit its stride Friday with key speeches and a hum of activity

Feb 22, 2010

An IBM big wig cleared up some issues surrounding 'cloud' computing


Steve Bartlett: If we can move the needle and get our hundred companies into the automatic transfer [system], it will change the economy of this country in a profound way in a few short years.

Giant push is on in Washington to create a nation of savers

Feb 22, 2010

Banks are taking the lead but companies like Fidelity Investments, Raymond James, and Edward Jones plan to jump aboard


Elaine Lennox of IBM was the main event

Faces of the T3 conference in San Diego

Feb 20, 2010

Top IBM-er lets crowd know that cloud computing is a nebulous subject


Matt Abar is talking up his vision of the future at the T3 conference

T3 conference sizzles under the hot San Diego sun

Feb 19, 2010

RIA event is all about making expensive business decisions


A peek at our admin system

How we have leveraged Google services to jumpstart RIABiz

Feb 19, 2010

Thinking of building a website? We might advise a closer look at the search giant


Tim Johnson: Proposing a study instead of immediate reform of fiduciary standard

Johnson amendment a stalking horse for FINRA oversight of RIAs?

Feb 18, 2010

Advisor groups say legislative language lays ground for shift or regulators; others see it is a 'prudent measure'


James Carney: There's little pushback from clients on the idea of fees on held-away assets

Nearly half of advisors now charge clients to manage held-away assets

Feb 18, 2010

Shift in billing protocol solves problems for advisors and the clients


Bernie Clark: We will be spending a great deal of money

Schwab is a big custodian with plans to step it up in 2010

Feb 17, 2010

Bernie Clark will have a juggling act of keeping service top notch and shoring up the hybrid offering


David Hou and Mark Sear  believe cold calls have a place at an RIA.

Hou-Sear team applies Goldman Sachs marketing approach in second year as RIAs

Feb 16, 2010

Luminous Capital uses intensive cold-calling and a breakaway strategy to augment giant referral flow


Matt Mathias: Every time there's a merger, clients are disrupted.

Consolidation pushes a veteran of Wachovia, U.S. Trust, National City into the RIA space

Feb 16, 2010

Trendspotters see increase in bank breakaways as wealth management divisions consolidate



Washington's attention to financial advice is a major step in its evolution

Part Two: The last advice model standing

Feb 15, 2010

Five links on the evolutionary chain toward a profession


Chet Helck: We are still attracting top-tier advisors

Raymond James wins breakaway brokers that are 'pragmatists'

Feb 13, 2010

With the get-me-out-of-here mentality mostly gone, a breakaway of a more deliberate stripe steps forward, recruiter says


Joel Bruckenstein says it was the final straw when his speech at a big industry conference got bumped into nighttime.

The T3 conference has a rebellious air and the makings of success

Feb 12, 2010

Bruckenstein and Drucker channeled their frustration about industry conferences into creating a tech mecca for RIAs


Fortigent LLC posted this photo for clients as a nod to the snow

Beltway-area advisors are rocked by the snowstorms of the century

Feb 12, 2010

Financial advisors are out shoveling like crazy but web connections minimize setbacks


Jessica Bibliowicz: We acted quickly in a difficult environment. We are now a stronger and more seasoned company.

Bibliowicz's turnaround plan for National Financial Partners includes rolling up RIAs

Feb 11, 2010

Publicly traded consolidator sees RIAs deals as a promising avenue of growth and stable earnings


Charles Goldman: Because this industry is filled with so many wonderful people, I truly believe that the best is yet to come.

Postscript to the story of Charles Goldman parting ways with Fidelity Investments

Feb 11, 2010

Many people are still coming to grips with the quick split of the attractive couple


Frederick Van Den Abbeel has made CNBC his ally in recruiting RIAs to his Florida-based custodian

Trade-PMR is elbowing its way into the RIA custody market with cheap software and expensive advertising slots

Feb 10, 2010

Florida custodian is opening its doors to career-changers and smaller IBD reps who want to become RIAs


Jessica Bibliowicz is taking big steps to keep her company out of the red

NFP found profitability but shed firms and office space last quarter

Feb 10, 2010

Big roll-up is using drastic measures to make ends meet


One predator willing to feast on wirehouse talent that has yet to sign the broker protocol

Broker protocol list grows again and RIABiz is keeping a running count

Feb 10, 2010

Firms poise themselves legally to pounce on wirehouse talent



Gerri Leder: Where do you find help with social networking? Check the college intern boards.

How to execute a social media strategy: Take a college kid to lunch

Feb 9, 2010

All the social media seminars in the world may be no substitute for the kid at Starbucks with the blue hair



Ed Clark told Fred Tomczyk to 'blow Schwab and Fidelity out of the water.'

Ed Clark: TD Ameritrade will not compete with RIAs through its branches

Feb 8, 2010

'Absolutely not' he says in response to RIA's quiz about spread of Canadian practices to US


Kenneth Kaltman bags the Clinton, Bush chairs in lunchtime auction

Distant snows and lunchtime auction keep TD Ameritrade conference buzzing today

Feb 5, 2010

Some East Coast attendees rearrange schedules to avoid spending unplanned weekend in Orlando



Barnaby Grist helped develop sales and business development strategies for Schwab

Barnaby Grist is leaving Schwab and Jon Beatty is stepping up

Feb 5, 2010

The prominent Schwab executive goes for a new opportunity in Los Angeles


Tom Bradley: Says TD Ameritrade's conference, long second to Schwab's, now is the industry's  best-attended

Tom Bradley and Fred Tomczyk team up to give forward-looking state-of-the-TD Ameritrade speech

Feb 4, 2010

The Omaha-based parent of the RIA custodian is launching a four-year push on technology


Patrick Burns: You want your full book protected -- not half your book

An ex-wirehouse broker and a regulatory lawyer divulge breakaway insights at TD Ameritrade conference

Feb 4, 2010

Burns recommends to TD breakaway prospects that they resist discussing with clients the reasons they broke away


Bernie Clark: Advisors just appreciate us understanding them and this [move] supports that understanding

Why RIAs see Bernie Clark's appointment at Schwab as a positive event

Feb 3, 2010

The new head of the RIA unit needs no introduction for most Schwab advisors


Tom Bradley: We were very, very pleased with how we did across our advisory service business, and we’re set up well for 2010

Where TD Ameritrade has come since its 2006 merger and where it is headed in 2010

Feb 3, 2010

The Jersey City-based custodian keeps finding ways to grow, improve and land on its feet


Ron Fiske: You don't have to have that discussion with clients about what the right forum is to do business

9 things RIAs need to know about Fidelity's pricing moves on equities and ETFs

Feb 3, 2010

The trade commissions grab headlines but ETF cuts are a glimpse of the future


Jim McCool handed over some of his duties to Bernie Clark to sharpen focus

Jim McCool makes Bernie Clark the head of Schwab Advisor Services

Feb 2, 2010

Move brings Clark up a notch from sales and unifies a bifurcated structure


Derek Bruton's hybrid RIA platform receives an endorsement from an unlikely source: Morgan Stanley

Top 10 findings of Morgan Stanley report include: Schwab as the best RIA custodian, LPL for highest advisor satisfaction

Feb 2, 2010

Wall Street's endorsement of the RIA model is a sign of the times in the industry, analysts note


Les Abromovitz: Regulators are very wary of advertising and marketing efforts aimed at senior investors, including the so-called free-lunch seminars.

SEC’s heightened interest in the older set means advisors should pay heed

Feb 2, 2010

Questions of diminished capacity, appropriate investing strategy apply


Stephen Finn is betting on  Maiorano to keep his growth streak alive

Stephen Finn taps Maiorano to take small custodian to the next level

Feb 1, 2010

Schwab RIA pioneer plans to make his custodian more mainstream


Brooke Southall: The Custody Project has grown to do justice to the scope and quality of the material it covers

Asset Custody Project rolls forward

Feb 1, 2010

The scope of the RIABiz plan for 2009 recaps and 2010 outlooks of RIA custodians took on a life of its own


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