Articles published 3/2021
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'Several of the largest RIA firms' move assets to Ethic, enough for Fidelity Investments to join the start-up's $29 million B round
The Boston giant doubled down on the New York City firm, encouraged by internal RIA flows and after seeing Schwab, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock all make moves toward hyper-personalized indexes in 'white-hot' market.
March 31, 2021 at 2:19 AM
Three months after Larry Roth's SPAC steps in, Derek Bruton steps down as Kingswood US CEO and eyes next move in July with no Kingswood successor in sight
The former LPLer's three-year stint began with Chalice in San Diego and ended with lead role in a British roll-up later swallowed by an investment firm headed by former Cetera CEO Roth.
March 30, 2021 at 8:00 PM
Oisín's Bits: Visa ended Plaid bid to get DOJ off its back; the DOJ is still breathing down its neck • Pershing's NetX360 upgrade makes Orion software hum like at no other custodian -- for now • Addepar says its data shows pandemic made even RIAs misjudge market
DOJ scrutiny scuttled Visa's bid for Plaid. The Feds saw more under the hood • Orion and Pershing bid to make switching between software to trade and read documents outmoded with new data tie-up • RIA jitters over prospective losses may have hit clients' wallets, according to Addepar research.
March 29, 2021 at 9:01 PM
Reverence Capital will again seek to reverse fortune of deadwood wealth division after $2.1B purchase of Wells Fargo Asset Management following buys of Voya's old annuity farm and AIG's old salesforce
The New York City private equity firm keeps fearlessly buying and rebranding rusty pieces of the commission brokerage, commission-product ecosystem.
March 27, 2021 at 2:25 AM
Facet Wealth is doubling in size every six months with subscription model, on-the-job training, no central offices and a rising belief it can be the 'next Fidelity'
With Warburg Pincus spigots flowing, the Baltimore-based $502-million AUM RIA does its part by keeping overhead radically low and worker care high.
March 26, 2021 at 12:21 AM
Charges fly as $8 billion RIA tries to upend $83 billion Blucora board alleging mismanagement
Ancora CEO Fred DiSanto buys 3.4% of Blucora stock and declares war on board over 'negative returns, rash acquisitions, and chronic C-suite turnover.'
March 24, 2021 at 4:14 PM
Robinhood files for (give or take) $40-billion IPO before its 'zero' niche, its IPO window and its hipster appeal lose their buzz -- namely by March 31
The Menlo Park, Calif. discount broker's investor accounts average just $5,000, but it gets downloads of its app at unmatched levels in retail finance
March 24, 2021 at 2:22 AM
Charlie Scharf rides roughshod over genteel 'Abbot Downing' brand, ditching stagecoach era throwback, amid rampant cost-cutting to restore profits and bank's good name
Installed to be an unsentimental turaround artist, the Wells Fargo CEO is looking to finally shed the taint of an accounting scandal and shake off a punishing fed asset cap.
March 19, 2021 at 8:03 PM
What exactly makes the Kurt-and-Karl show click as CI Financial and Emigrant Partners do deals, tighten ties and co-evolve their business models
Toronto-based CI got a 100% equity interest in $4.5 billion Brightworth under CEO Kurt MacAlpine, but Emigrant CEO Karl Heckenberg got no liquidity -- and therein lies the symbiosis
March 19, 2021 at 12:07 AM
A 'late' Vanguard Group joins crowd selling ultra-short bond ETF --managed by humans -- after money markets refuse to rebound
In a zero-interest Covid-19 economy, the Malvern, Pa. giant is going out on risk curve a touch for an ETF and pocketing about 20% of the yield.
March 18, 2021 at 3:27 AM
Edelman Financial Engines shuns an IPO, but (likely) raises hundreds of millions dollars at a staggering $7.3-billion IPO valuation, despite fresh DOL 401(k) headwinds
The willingness of Warburg Pincus to re-up on the $260-billion AUM manager of RIA and 401(k) assets means Hellman Friedman can de-risk and crank up growth.
March 17, 2021 at 2:08 AM
Taking on Schwab, Robinhood and Wealthfront, VCs keep throwing cash -- now $153 million -- at M1 Finance that it doesn't need to burn
The latest $75 million in venture capital comes after an uber-spike in growth M1 says correlates with fed-up Robinhood investors after the GameStop fiasco
March 13, 2021 at 2:56 AM
Whiplashed by meteoric growth, Oleg Tishkevich seeks help to reinvent INVENT and brings Larry Roth on board to tame the flames
The Seattle firm has already quintupled the scale achieved by Tishkevich's FinanceLogix, but with IBDs replacing software patches with cloud computing, INVENT needs to grow up fast.
March 11, 2021 at 11:49 PM
Natalie Wolfsen's sudden ascent as AssetMark CEO marks a whole new 'liberated' RIA vibe and could be a catalyst to fill service void left by custodian cutbacks
Put in place by AssetMark's new high-powered chairwoman, the Charles Goldman protégé sees a way to take on Envestnet and Schwab after demoting MoneyGuidePro and closing the biggest deal in her company's history
March 11, 2021 at 2:41 AM
Why RIAs who left deferred comp on the table back at the wirehouse may yet make a claim for what might be, rightfully, their money
Clauses written by lawyers under duress of wide-ranging defections may have over-reached, creating an opportunity to challenge in court.
March 10, 2021 at 1:27 AM
Orion buys HiddenLevers after a long collaboration to get an edge over companies like Envestnet in the hotly competitive risk analysis and analytics business
CEO Eric Clarke was able to convince the Atlanta software company's fiercely independent owners that a partnership bolstered both
March 9, 2021 at 2:01 PM
Walmart gets fintech jump on Amazon but headwinds imperil pricey launch of new venture, even with Robinhood VC backer and top Goldman talent on board
The Bentonville, Ark.-based big-box retailer is likely bidding to become a bank, again. It also just trashed Goldman Sachs robo-bank, Marcus, by nabbing two top executives.
March 8, 2021 at 11:04 PM
Schwab and Fidelity join other Fortune 500-size companies, sticking with CDC guidelines and declining the Texas roll-back of COVID-19 restrictions
The two retail finance giants keep restrictions on thousands of staff in Texas even as governor nixes mask mandate and opens businesses 100% in the name of business interests.
March 6, 2021 at 5:03 AM
Oisín's Bits: Betterment now a robo roll-up with Canadian IPO as catalyst • Insurers risk regulation for COVID-19 coverage delays • Vanguard shifts Asia focus to China's vast mom-pop retail market
Betterment rolls up a robo • The CFA warns insurers over COVID-19 life polices • Vanguard names Chinese fund head to pursue $6 trillion market.
March 5, 2021 at 1:16 AM
Schwab upends traditional 'basis point fees' for RIA recruitment and pushes the headhunters to negotiate with advisors for a cut of soft-dollars
The custodian to 10,000 RIAs follows a like move by Fidelity to bring RIAs into the loop on how much recruiters are paid and who pays what amount
March 3, 2021 at 3:42 AM
Envestnet shares nosedive before regaining some ground after Bill Crager lays out bold new 'post-COVID' vision and tosses one 'curveball'
The stock lost 20% of its value Friday (Feb. 26), after the Chicago outsourcer's CEO revealed plans to be a digital supermarket to financial supermarkets but at the expense of some 2021 earnings growth
March 2, 2021 at 2:47 AM
After SS&C lawsuit sets him back eight months, Reed Colley reloads to launch Summit Wealth Systems and compete with the plaintiff's Black Diamond
Black Diamond's owner alleged its founder and former top SS&C sales executive Bob Conchiglia engaged in a significant 'theft' of data but the parties settled
