Articles published 5/2020
Headline
Publish date
Tired of having their screens scraped, Schwab and Fidelity launch API initiatives to curtail the practice -- rewarding some, but not all scrapers with cleaner data
Opening up their APIs gives both powerhouses the ability to share data while also making it more secure -- it also puts them back in the driver's seat in choosing who gets it.
May 29, 2020 at 4:45 AM
Thanks to a minor explosion in minority-stake deals, RIA M&A is still sizzling but it may be seller beware
For the RIA principal who wants cash, control and chips off the table, it's M&A ambrosia; but sophisticated buyers may be extracting more value than sellers realize
May 27, 2020 at 5:01 PM
With $4 million VC raise fresh in hand, SMArtX takes next step to shed Black Diamond shadow by hiring a president/COO who casts his own
.Jonathan Pincus took overseen assets at Northern Trust from $3 billion to $70 billion at his Chicago firm and learned about SMartX after in his old role
May 22, 2020 at 9:36 PM
Bill Morrissey lands as president of Park Avenue Securities signalling parent Guardian Life Insurance may roll the dice on expansion and evolution
The LPL recruiting and development legend may get a mandate to charge up the insurer's middlebrow broker-dealer
May 22, 2020 at 1:13 AM
No sooner does Lawrence Calcano raise $146 million than he buys rival Artivest -- then Wells Fargo alts service -- capping iCapital's 500%-plus run on alternatives 'platform' to $58 billion -- with almost every wolf on Wall Street chipping in
The iCapital CEO, who started 2019 at a humble $8 billion of AUA, now adds Artivest's $4 billion and its sweet technology to rolled up clientele with funding from BlackRock, Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley among others. A month later, iCapital brings in $3 billion more with purchase of Wells Fargo alts platform, and the storied bank became an iCapital investor.
May 21, 2020 at 2:20 AM
Envestnet cautions about Yodlee subscription 'headwinds' and the FTC asking more Yodlee-data questions as the company recorded a blowout revenue quarter
With the Redwood City-based analytics unit's possible sale put to bed for now, the Chicago firm reveals new worries about data privacy and competition but Envestnet proper's automated platform is the bomb in pandemic shutdown
May 19, 2020 at 2:48 AM
Drawn out of his own startup, Ed Friedman lands at Summit Financial, tasked with raising the Merchant Investment-backed RIA's national profile
The ex-Hightower, ex-Dynasty recruiter joins Stan Gregor's early-stage RIA roll-up, with mighty backing and good momentum
May 15, 2020 at 10:18 PM
Goldman Sachs buys Folio to gain an RIA-custody toehold, and gets robo-advisors in the bargain, days after Schwab buys Motif
The New York powerhouse is uncertain about taking on Schwab and Fidelity in RIA custody, but it keeps making inroads where it can in retail wealth
May 15, 2020 at 2:59 AM
JPMorgan's reported balk on Personal Capital bid is latest Covid-19 M&A infection as Yodlee, Brinker, Orion sale claims also fade from the radar
Moelis is overseeing an 'auction' of the Redwood Shores, Calif., online RIA, which manages about $12 billion, and buyers are not ready to pay the $1 billion ask -- with JPMorgan Chase pulling out entirely, three sources told Barron's
May 13, 2020 at 8:44 PM
With Brinker Capital its first big proof of concept, BlackRock moves Aladdin onto Microsoft's cloud to automate portfolios at the RIA-client level to surpass what it always did at the fund level
The Berwyn, Pa.-based $21-billion TAMP contracts for Aladdin portfolio construction help after BlackRock chooses Azure to maximize Aladdin to become a 'language'
May 11, 2020 at 10:47 PM
To leapfrog ahead in direct indexing, Schwab to buy Motif technology and hire Hardeep Walia and much of his staff
The San Francisco company gets all of the San Mateo firm's algorithms, patents and source code but not the customer assets and 'leverage' of its giant index-investing franchise.
May 7, 2020 at 10:36 PM
With cash burn high, WisdomTree offloads AdvisorEngine onto white knight, Franklin Templeton -- which could score big with forgotten Junxure
Franklin CEO Jenny Johnson is taking the San Mateo, Calif., fund firm on an M&A tear of RIAs and RIA software and asset managers, with Legg Mason already under contract.
May 7, 2020 at 2:51 AM
As Motif exits stock-bundle game, Schwab piles in with 'Slices,' fulfilling a pledge to offer free fractional shares
The San Francisco broker is reaching for Gen Z and Gen Alpha investors -- with RIAs, thus far, showing little interest, it says
May 6, 2020 at 3:27 AM
Amid 800-person hiring spree, TD Ameritrade interim CEO Steve-Boyle delivers sparkling results, underscores quick 100% work-at-home transition-- and calls Schwab merger efforts 'critical' and on-schedule
The Omaha, Neb. discount broker is luring net new assets as if the TD brand will be around forever, and no staff member will ever become redundant, even if its CEO's tenure will presumably self-expire
