RIABiz

News, Vision & Voice for the Advisory Community

RIABiz

Articles published 4/2018


Headline

Publish date


Ric Edelman: It's all additive.

Ric Edelman's RIA empire to merge with legacy The Mutual Fund Stores in $3-billion deal that takes Financial Engines private

Apr 30, 2018

Hellman & Friedman stake the eye-popping sum in cash to outright own an RIA with nearly $195 billion of AUM including robo-advised 401(k) assets


David Musto: It's completely realistic to think there could be a dozen or more acquisitions in any twelve month period.

Vanguard's 401(k) recordkeeper, Ascensus, gets set to roll up a world of third party administrators to create a small plan superpower

Apr 27, 2018

With recent Great-West poach and David Musto running the show the Dresher, Pa.-based TPA adds 14 firms in 16 months and sets sights on dozens more, as roll-up strategy takes flight


Craig Pearson: [Clients] said: If you come back, we're here.

A higher bidder ripped WealthTouch from Craig Pearson's grasp but his startup could rip the clients, free of charge, right back -- and leave Addepar gasping

Apr 25, 2018

After his noncompete expired, the founder and CEO of Private Wealth Systems is welcoming old UHNW managers whose language he speaks


Andy Rachleff says his firm's price drop is an act of conscience reflecting the good example of Vanguard Group. Some find the explanation hard to stomach.

In robo-CEO vs. Twitter gadfly battle, it was no contest as Wealthfront's Andy Rachleff does 'ultimate flip-flop' without tweeting a reply

Apr 25, 2018

The $10-billion robo-advisor may weather 'PR nightmare' but not thanks to Rachleff's 'Vanguard' explanation, critics say





Paul Gamble is selling what academics do as he did at Financial Engines -- and that worked out.

After losing Lee Kranefuss and raising $10M, 55ip gets RIAs to buy Ph.D. smarts, though a critic calls it gussied-up market timing

Apr 19, 2018

Guided by an ex-Financial Engines ringer, Paul Gamble, the New York startup is now portfolio modeler for $100 million


Yvette Butler signaled from the start there was 'work to do.'

Capital One flunks 'RIA' bid with stunning rapidity but gets an A for 'failing fast'

Apr 18, 2018

The McClean, Va.-based credit card company bought advisory firms, put a head-hunted Wells Fargo big shot in charge, hit the $10-billion mark -- then got the hell out



Elliot Weissbluth: I'm used to Seal Team Six. It's quite lovely getting to know people and walking through the front door.

HighTower Advisors lands $4.5-billion RIA with help from bigger, better checkbook

Apr 17, 2018

The Chicago RIA roll-up adds 45-employee Salient with T.H. Lee omnipresent in shepherding the UHNW deal


Sara Grillo: Do it creatively or don’t do it at all.

Five fully pregnant email subject lines and how they make investors open your RIA newsletter

Apr 16, 2018

A standout attn: line is a must to get clicks and reads yet often gets treated as optional


Hussain Zaidi: What they need is what Morgan Stanley and Ameriprise have … whole programs in place to help advisors drive financial planning and advice.

Advizr CEO reveals just how the lift-out of four Morgan Stanley breakaway engineers leapfrogs his plans ahead

Apr 13, 2018

Hussain Zaidi sees greenfields opportunities at small IBDs and Fortune 500 firms where planning software alone doesn't make the grade


Bill Morrissey launched a 'disruption campaign' with a ferocity that startled some observers.

LPL Financial wages 'war' on Cetera, Securities America and Kestra after they pounced on NPH advisors in wake of sale

Apr 12, 2018

Unheard-of packages, tight targeting and unusual timing rock recruiters who marvel at the competitive behavior that has Bill Morrissey escalating an epic battle



Eric Clarke: You learn more from the deals you don't win.

Orion buys $10-billion TAMP to take on Envestnet and AssetMark head-on for mega-accounts

Apr 11, 2018

Omaha, Neb.-based NorthStar division is buying FTJ Fundchoice to launch Orion Enterprise after painful losses in bidding for business with large RIAs and IBDs


Jeff Maurer: We still have our mojo going.

Jeff Maurer poached his RIA from zero to $7.5 billion in nine years but now comes M&A

Apr 10, 2018

The ex-US Trust CEO has seen Evercore Wealth growth rates taper since a lightning start; now the hard work is done he sees deals on the horizon





Tom Bradley: I have the opportunity to share in the growth of Max and that's what I'm interested in.

What Tom Bradley's first post-TD Ameritrade gig says about him is interesting and his specific MaxMyInterest robo mission, more so

Apr 9, 2018

The non-competed New Jersey exec gets a piece of the action and much boils down to signing a wirehouse, an RIA custodian or an LPL


Howard Present was a celebrity on Fox Business in June 2012 before things really began to unravel for him and F-Squared.

Judge shows Howard Present no mercy then verbally shreds him after the F-Squared founder 'fails to understand the wrongfulness of having misrepresented the strategy'

Apr 5, 2018

U.S. District Judge Sorokin wants the public record to show -- in no uncertain terms -- that ex-CEO is a high risk to commit further violations




Devin Vigil: [If] you dangle some money in front of Abar in his 20s, it's a different story than dangling some now .… He wants redemption.

Matt Abar hopes three's a charm with FinFolio cloud launch and robo play

Apr 5, 2018

FinFolio finally goes 2.0 and gets $20-billion assets bump, but there's a lot of ground to make up


David Poole: We’ve got clients who engage with us across Merrill Lynch and in Merrill Edge self-directed accounts. That’s one of our fastest growing segments where clients are using both.

Merrill Edge eases Bank of America's transition to a post-wirehouse world

Apr 3, 2018

The Charlotte super bank's plan to add 600 branches builds on success but recruiters say lingering tension between Merrill and Merrill Edge advisors is more of a factor than the bank admits


Rupal Poltack is 'very familiar with what it feels like on the other side of the [family office] table,' says Andrew Fay.

Returning to Fidelity after eight-year hiatus, Rupal Poltack joins $134B Fido family office division to make it UHNW kid-friendly

Apr 3, 2018

The senior vice president will help newly promoted Andrew Fay make the unit more paperless, more digital and more a more-likely spot for rich earners and their millennial offspring to chat about money


Bill Willis: The code of conduct at Morgan Stanley is embedded in compliance manual. I’m sure it could find a page, a paragraph, a sentence that would justify his termination.

Morgan Stanley mega-producer's fate in Oregon may become #MeToo movement litmus test on Wall Street after New York Times report

Apr 2, 2018

The charges against Douglas Greenberg of egregious and unlawful behavior aren't compliance- or even MS-employee related, making them 'gray area' infractions, says a source


RIABiz Archives

RIABiz Directory

The Industry Sourcebook for RIAs

   |    LISTING


RIABiz Directory
sponsored by

Directory Sponsor Logo