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RIABiz

Articles published 4/2021


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Matthew Audette: We remain focused... This focus led to our highest quarter of organic growth in our history.

LPL Financial steamrolled results in the first quarter, 2021, with largest-ever 'organic' growth and a surging share price to match

The Fort Mill, N.C., brokerage grew AUA 43% to near $1 trillion, and shares hit all-time high of $156 after hours today

April 30, 2021 at 4:47 AM

Gregory Garrabrants: The addition... significantly accelerates our time-to-scale in this business..

Axos Financial gets E*Trade RIA custody unit at $220-million discount from discount broker's 2018 price -- all but assuring it'll be accretive by 2023, its maverick CEO says

The Las Vegas banking company is paying just $55 million cash for $23 billion in RIA/TAMP assets and 200 relationships from the old Trust Company of America unit with ex-McKinsey Greg Garrabants leading the unlikely charge

April 27, 2021 at 11:04 PM

Joe Martinetto says Schwab's best-case closing date for its final integration with TD Ameritrade had to be pushed out 12 months.

Broadsided by good fortune, Charles Schwab Corp. pivots to fill service capacity deficit, rethink TD Ameritrade integration timetable and unleash 'mystery shoppers' to scout rivals

The third-party sleuths informed Schwab its service betters most peers. An unassuaged CEO Walt Bettinger still moved to shift resources that will push back final unification with Omaha-based TDA.

April 27, 2021 at 6:03 AM

Walt Bettinger: We recognize well what's going on.

Charles Schwab & Co. is a budding cryptocurrency convert and will enter the market in a big, 'disruptive' way, says its CEO--but not before the SEC says it barks or quacks

The $7-trillion Westlake, Texas brokerage previously said its RIAs were indifferent to digital assets ; now Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger admits clients are excited. .

April 24, 2021 at 3:04 AM

Chris Walters keeps getting suggestions about how to do his job.

As soon as Blucora slams the door on activist investors, a San Francisco-based private equity firm emerges and may put the company in play, according to a report

Despite losing out on its bid to take four board seats, Ancora will keep its shares and may now have heavyweight takeover ally in Golden Gate Capital

April 23, 2021 at 1:38 AM

Sarah Levy has changed distribution at Betterment and ramped up the 401(k) program

Betterment's net new clients jump 116%, in step with Sarah Levy's first few months at the helm, as burgeoning stock prices and Robinhood spillover lift the company Q1 results

Novice investors leave play money at the Silicon Valley broker but learn to value IRAs, portfolio management and tax help.

April 22, 2021 at 2:56 AM

Mark Barlow: The pandemic this past year has had clients reaching out to us more and more.

Fidelity Investments is set to make 4,000 new hires at the same time senior staff may accept buyouts, an arbitrage to match talent with digital needs

The Boston giant is now advertising approximately 2,500 'client-facing' roles, in addition to the 5,150 it filled last year. It will also bump its technology headcount by 10% and hire 1,000 new financial planners.

April 20, 2021 at 9:06 PM

Vinay Nair: 'We are grateful for the belief of [J.P. Morgan, Morningstar and Broadridge] and support in the future we envision.'

Fresh off buying Totum and selling 55ip, TIFIN loads up on capital -- and brand credibility -- with three new big-name investors

JP Morgan, Morningstar and Broadridge all invested for the first time and lent star power to the rollup of unknown fintech firms.

April 20, 2021 at 2:19 PM

Steve Sanders: When the merger was announced ... you had all this hype ... but when push came to shove ... it quieted down.

Defying merger doubters, Schwab adds staggering $1.1 trillion RIA assets. Today's trickle of RIA defections may yet build to tsunami size over next three years, rivals say

When Charles Schwab Corp. publicized its deal for TD Ameritrade 17 months ago, it had $1.5 trillion and TDA had $600 billion. Frictional merger RIA spinouts did not materialize and now the combined units boast $3.2 trillion

April 16, 2021 at 9:57 PM

Eric Clarke: The next frontier of our industry is to close the behavior gap.

Eric Clarke moves lightning fast to close HiddenLevers deal -- saying its hidden virtues in taming the 'investor problem' make it an ASAP matter

The Orion CEO made the deal in early March and closed today, then laid out a precise 12-month roadmap of integration to close the 'behavor gap.'

April 16, 2021 at 1:28 AM

Damon Deru: This isn’t just a third-party integration with a retail digital asset vendor such as Coinbase - that’d be a fairly easy to pull off.

Envestnet, Orion and Schwab will all launch crypto capabilities soon enough, insiders say, but Damon Deru just beat them all to market with more than a hack

AdvisorPeak launched a virtual means for RIAs to trade, rebalance and custody cryptocurrencies with Prime Trust; Fidelity will soon add Ethereum

April 15, 2021 at 6:04 PM

John Clendening:  It has become clear that Blucora--with its back against the wall--is publishing mischaracterizations, misrepresentations, and outright untruths.

Former Blucora CEO goes rogue, charges Dallas company's latest 8-K filing contains 'outright untruths,' raising the specter of legal liability to shareholders

Ex-CEO John Clendening slams his former employer for allegedly rewriting history to fend off attack from activist investors.

April 14, 2021 at 1:47 AM

Julia Unger was Citi's head of global cards and just opportunistically joined a newly ambitious Walmart, which sees a bright banking and advice future for itself.

Walmart names its robo-advisor 'Hazel' and stocks up on talent with star hire from Citi, but its financial services venture still remains an enigma

The Bentonville, Ark. super retailer makes a filing with name, logo and a kitchen sink description of its fintech advisor and banking enterprise

April 13, 2021 at 2:03 AM

David Obrand: 'I have the operator gene, it’s a very hard thing to expel.'

Surfing a $15-billion-a-week asset growth meteor, Addepar CEO Eric Poirier hires an owner as president to achieve 'escape velocity' and keep operations from flaming out

Addepar is fast nearing $3 trillion, it says, after a 50% RIA asset spike in 2020. Now an Addepar owner through Valor Equity Partners is stepping in to safeguard or supercharge his investment depending on the point of view.

April 9, 2021 at 11:03 PM

Tom Bradley messenger of choice to tell TD RIAs that Schwab doesn't have a magic repapering wand in all instances.

Tom Bradley, put on the spot by TD Ameritrade RIA at Schwab 'town hall,' gives answer to burning question: Just how much repapering pain will TD RIAs face in merger?

The Schwab senior vice president assured his former constituency that agony will be the exception but that complex authorizations have no easy button

April 8, 2021 at 11:32 PM

Brendan Powers: Six percent of [RIAs] are outsourcing to asset allocation model portfolios ... [but] another 17% are using asset allocation models as a starting point.

Morningstar plows ahead with ratings in $2.1-trillion model portfolio market --thanks, UBS and Merrill -- but not with its coveted star system

The Chicago investment tracker now rates 139 models, up from 76, on a five-tier scale from gold to negative.

April 8, 2021 at 2:11 AM

Goldman Sachs analyst added Schwab to its 'conviction list' -- more evidence Chuck's business model rocks. .

A Goldman Sachs analyst declares Charles Schwab & Co. stock a 'conviction' buy, after another year of Goldman inching its wealth model toward Schwab's

The New York City investment bank's researcher said Wall Street is failing to grasp just how valuable the discount broker's franchise will be as interest rates begin to normalize.

April 7, 2021 at 10:20 PM

Larry Shumbres: Traditional risk as a standalone is becoming increasingly challenging.

Tifin Group buys Totum Risk with fresh ideas of how to take on Aaron Klein's Riskalyze

The Boulder, Colo., group with CEO Vinay Nair and a bench of David Pottruck, Anil Arora, Catherine Woods and Tricia Rothschild among others immediately give the second-fiddle risk software company a seat at the adult's table.

April 7, 2021 at 2:05 AM

Edmond Walters: 'I’m building things that I like to build, which are things that don’t exist.'

Envestnet and Edmond Walters end odd couple 'Apprise' relationship with buyout, but leave open the door to jointly pursue RIA-to-entrepreneur dashboard... later

The MoneyGuidePro owner and eMoney founder execute clean break with Apprise IP rebranded as 'Wealth Studio.' Walters off to the races with a startup and vague promise to collaborate later.

April 6, 2021 at 12:50 AM

Charles Goldman: 'Our angle, rather, differentiation, we believe, is that we know each other well...'

Brooke's Bits: Charles Goldman's SPAC has a 'unicorn' pitch• Why Fidelity's bitcoin ETF application might have a shot • Investment bank to RIAs makes amends with staff who cranked out deals in overwrought 2020

The ex-AssetMark CEO says his new gig is anchored by a well-oiled team • Fidelity has crypto heft and bitcoin's history moved a decade in a year • Moelis pays $10,000, in installments

April 1, 2021 at 9:36 PM

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