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Articles published 10/2018


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John Clendening: We've got a deep bench here, we got a deep bench in HD Vest, we've got a deep bench in Blucora. It's been something that we've been working on behind the scenes.

John Clendening tells analyst who asks about Bob Oros's H.D. Vest departure: 'You can read into that whatever you want to.'

Blucora's CEO was evasive but, for sure, his firm's shares plunged near 40% in the past month after its IBD revenues ticked up only 6%; Oros may never have moved to Texas from Boston CEO

October 31, 2018 at 11:21 PM

Joel Bruckenstein: I wonder if TD hasn’t had moments where they feel like they opened Pandora’s Box.  I know that after Veo was created, it wasn’t long before the vendors were clamoring for more, and that hasn’t stopped since.

T3 takes Vegas again in the year of 'delivery,' but it's not all about software arriving at the RIA doorstep through chief delivery men and women

Joel Bruckenstein keeps rolling with the ceaseless demand for RIA software events that he leads where a 'platform mafia' is beginning to dominate

October 31, 2018 at 6:27 PM

Mike Sha: The CoPilot platform represents the importance of advisors in the financial planning lifecycle.
October 30, 2018 at 2:00 PM

Fergal McGovern: Top executives, almost without exception appreciate the issue, they just don’t understand how to effect it … [but] financial firms tend to be slightly worse than those in other industries at communicating effectively -- they are below the ideal.

Financial Advisors need to take a lesson from Humpty Dumpty; Too many fail to master the meaning of words and how to use them, costing clients, revenues, study says

RIAs and asset managers are losing out on sales, because they've forgotten how to shoot straight, according to a report published by the Dublin content analytics software firm VisibleThread; and as analysts weigh in, it's clear the problem extends throughout the financial industry.

October 30, 2018 at 5:56 AM

Michael Carvin (w/Phillip Camilleri of Javelin Ventures): We continue to leverage groundbreaking artificial intelligence technology to fulfill our goal of 300,000 profiles.

Using robo-writing help, SmartAsset is now 50,000 advisor profiles into its 300,000-profile bid to own the advisor Google search market

With a 15-person 'editorial' staff, a smart machine and Focus Financial cash to pay for it all, the NYC-based startup rushes toward its objective

October 26, 2018 at 8:36 PM

Joe Monk: Our goal is to help people live life confidently, and an important component of that is helping people grow their savings, then position those savings to last a lifetime.

Guess who's moving into the RIA neighborhood? State Farm asks thousands of insurance brokers to get financial planning credentials, sources say

The giant Bloomington, Ill. insurer signs on RBC, MoneyGuidePro, BlackRock and Vanguard and as many as 13,000 of its agents may get a Series 65 by 2020

October 25, 2018 at 8:50 PM

Lon Macdonald: Of course we’re competing with Envestnet … we see an opportunity there. The RIA marketplace hasn’t been well penetrated by anybody, us or Envestnet … [and] I don’t think the level of satisfaction around their service has been what they would want it to be.

Vestmark calls out Envestnet as it makes 'easy-button' purchase of a $3.3-billion RIA asset magnet with hopes for a spot alongside the Chicago giant -- and Orion and SS&C

The $1-trillion SMA clearinghouse gets an outsourcer to the notoriously in-house RIA market in Adhesion encouraging a new swagger against market leaders

October 23, 2018 at 9:02 PM

David Welling: PE hold periods may average 5-7 years, but their funds are often in vehicles that can stretch up to 20 years.

Mark Tibergien and Dan Seivert Listen Up! Dave Welling explains why rising private equity involvement in the RIA business is flat-out great

Though not all liquidity comes with good or smart intentions, it beats the alternative: 'Stalled investment stalls growth, stalls innovation in the client experience and caps opportunities for the second generation'

October 22, 2018 at 11:32 PM

Aaron Klein: Our competitors like to downplay our sophistication.

Aaron Klein sells against fear and risk in San Antonio -- and hits back at competitors

The Riskalyze CEO has three businesses, an expanding list of copycats, 600 close friends and a rah-rah message: Fearlessness

October 22, 2018 at 10:40 PM

Walt Bettinger: This [zero-fee product idea] is one of those things that we’re looking at very carefully,

Schwab studies zero-fee mutual funds in wake of Fidelity's zero-fee mutual fund launch, but Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger still wonders 'what's the point?'

CEO Walt Bettinger says a 'really different strategy' may be the outcome of Schwab's efforts in the 'coming months'

October 19, 2018 at 10:44 PM

Tim Buckley: Centralizing our risk management functions under a single senior leader will benefit both our clients and Vanguard.
October 19, 2018 at 7:41 PM

Marty Bicknell: We’ve made the conscious decision to exit the asset management business.

Marty Bicknell takes a machete to Montage, Mariner Holdings and FirstPoint and carves out a $25-billion RIA and near $1 billion of capital

The Mariner Wealth CEO made a massive contrarian bet in 2009 on asset managers, cashed out fully this fall -- and knows just where he's headed

October 18, 2018 at 10:44 PM

Barghavi Nuvvula, known as 'chief disrupter' throughout her career, got BNY Mellon to leave her in India and allow her to pursue her PhD in exchange for her brainpower.

BNY Mellon goes on a wild poaching bender as it sets sights on playing a very 2019 game of digital catch-up

Building on Bridget Engle's appointment last year, the New York superbank completes three-hire talent binge, with a money-no-object eye to boosting wealth management

October 18, 2018 at 7:28 PM

Tricia Haskins: As they got bigger they used technology more for efficiency and scale [of their practices.] Now it's more about client experience.

Fidelity Investments launches its API-forward 'open architecture digital store' as big RIAs demand help fine-tuning client service -- with Schwab likely on deck

The Boston giant's push is more about RIA self-help than the third-party integrations TD Ameritrade makes hay with but now Schwab Advisor Services may be pushed to respond.

October 17, 2018 at 3:24 AM

Michael Burwick: RIAs should be on notice that there is now a zero tolerance policy with regard to even minor or sporadic violations of this type [suspicious activity report and banking secrecy act violations] and the Commission’s hefty fines are an exclamation point on that zero tolerance policy.

As SEC's 'zero tolerance' era for RIAs commences post-DOL, a regulatory law firm makes anticipatory hires

Wagner Law Group jacks up overhead with three hires for what could be a bogeyman or a very major shift in the tide toward a more FINRA-like time of rule enforcement

October 16, 2018 at 8:16 PM

Abby Johnson: We expect to continue investing and experimenting, over the long-term.

After five-year stealth project, Fidelity goes big-time into crypto-asset custody with standalone company

CEO Abby Johnson founds Fidelity Digital Asset Services for enterprise-quality custody and trading, with pledge for more 'investing and experimenting'

October 15, 2018 at 6:45 PM

[Adam Birenbaum and] (r.) Alex Potts: We're not DFA. We happen to use a lot of their solution.

Unseen factors drove the BAM, Loring Ward $50B merger; 18-month warming, light Focus Financial touch, led to reverse merger in spirit and birth, CEOs reveal in exclusive interviews

Buckingham CEO Adam Birenbaum desperately needed a TAMP CEO; Loring CEO Alex Potts needed a succession system for his TAMP clients

October 12, 2018 at 6:12 PM

Lou Harvey: They're giving advice for free and everyone else will have a dickens of a time beating a zero cost offering.

How Fidelity used a robo-advice exemption to stick the landing as a fiduciary to 401(k) participants after the tumult of the DOL rule

The Boston king of DC plans had to withdraw from advising plan sponsors but followed a 12-year-old rule that permits a 'computer model' for the little guys

October 11, 2018 at 3:37 PM

Sheryl Garrett: I think it could be too much power at one entity.

FPA soldiers through CFP Board tension at its 2018 national event

It's technically a small dispute with the CFP Board but any rift is big when it's your Siamese twin

October 11, 2018 at 3:51 AM

Andres Garcia-Amaya: Too many advisors don’t know what they’re doing ... they say the nice words and have the nice suit and the nice office, most people are sold, the bar is so low. Two weeks of the Series 65 and a gym teacher is a financial advisor.

Andres Garcia-Amaya taps two industry vets to guide Zoe Financial through the RIA referral market's rocky shoals, which have sunk more than one firm

Backed by a $2 million VC injection from JP Morgan and ex-BlackRock execs, the NYC startup appoints wirehouse veteran Robert Deutsch and Acorns' investment guru Chris Jones to board

October 9, 2018 at 8:55 PM

Jason Crane: We pride ourselves on our ability to attract high-end talent when the need arises.

Amid its reports it'll get flipped, Ascensus makes exec hire number seven in six months

Bloomberg writes that the Dresher, Pa.-based recordkeeper roll-up seeks a buyer; no matter, Ascensus continues to hire, bringing aboard Todd Engman as its latest regional vice president for 401(k) sales in the Northern Regions.

October 9, 2018 at 7:22 PM

Dan Seivert (r.): The private equity guys are just phoning it in and not getting to know advisors.

Dan Seivert and Mark Tibergien karate chop private equity investors for being little more than financial engineers in RIA orbit

The CEO of ECHELON and the CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions describe the investors like hedge funds that make savvy purchases of depleted oil wells

October 8, 2018 at 7:22 PM

Marie Chandoha: When it comes to actual products, we have too many out there. Simplicity is the new innovation ... We only have 22 ETFs, yet we're the fifth-largest provider in the industry.

After Marie Chandoha turns around Schwab's smarting mutual fund unit, she steps aside to make way for Jonathan de St. Paer who faces a new kind of momentous challenge

The CEO of Charles Schwab Investment Management got poached from BlackRock after the YieldPlus debacle but now an ex-McKinsey-ite will take on the more strategic race-to-zero challenge of the next decade

October 5, 2018 at 10:21 PM

Jeff Concepcion: I think we’ll surpass the $20 billion target ahead of plan, without including acquisitions. By accelerating our involvement in the acquisition space, I believe we’ll move past that target even more quickly.

His days of playing defense done, Jeff Concepcion pinches pennies then poaches a Fidelity and Schwab veteran to execute grab for next $6 billion of AUA at Stratos

Lou Camacho will pursue goal of $600 million a quarter in new assets on behalf of OSJ that wants much more inorganic growth

October 5, 2018 at 7:40 PM

Ron Carson: We realized the answer had been in our own back yard all along.

Ron Carson ends national search for chief marketing officer by doing a local M&A deal using his favorite HR broker -- Eric Clarke

When Eric Clarke decided he'd play matchmaker, the hyperactive Carson Group CEO snapped up Mineral Interactive and made a creative deal

October 5, 2018 at 6:05 PM

Michael Kitces (pausing the violin section): Our failure rates are ludicrously low.

Michael Kitces reveals 'crazy goal' of on-boarding 10,000 advisors and, yes, it may cause 'culture' problems

At his XYPN Conference, he reveals penchant for thinking big, failing almost never and reaching for the sky under Montana's Big Sky

October 3, 2018 at 6:14 PM

Gary Hirschberg: I believe in contracts.

Yet another Goldman Sachs advisor breaks away, risks its legal ire and stands wordlessly by for three months to become an RIA

Gary Hirschberg oversaw $1.4 billion and teamed up with Mindy Daimond and Shirl Penney to join a growing army of people beating a path away from the platinum-brand investment bank

October 2, 2018 at 5:40 AM

Vince Pellegrini: [If] $1 trillion in assets and 3.4 million accounts on an innovative SaaS platform [is legacy] I'm good with that label.

Oisin's Bits: DriveWealth is newest RIA custodian with VC money and an Apex mindset; Vestmark hits $1 trillion and promptly gives RIAs means to crank out push-button hedging across accounts

$33 million in VC funds goes to up-start RIA robo custodian; no sooner does Vestmark hit $1 trillion than it pushes out software to help RIAs do omnibus hedging of positions

October 1, 2018 at 9:53 PM

Danny Sarch: Has anyone pointed out how ironic it is that LPL was owned by private equity?

LPL Financial markets itself as a savior to reps at 14 IBD firms under the 'precarious' spell of private equity investors, despite its own private equity past

Recruiters pan rhetoric of the Fort Mill, S.C.-based independent broker-dealer for willfully talking past the heavy hand of private equity in their pre-IPO years -- and their own retention and service challenges

October 1, 2018 at 6:20 AM

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