Articles published 6/2023
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Lawrence Calcano's new push to address RIAs' gripe about shopping alts on his software means getting providers to sell alts more like commodities, less like rare paintings
The CEO of iCapital knows RIAs and alts managers would benefit from selling more like Amazon or Kayak -- a tough sell to alts managers when snob appeal itself is a selling point.
June 30, 2023 at 2:45 AM
Zero-tolerance-for-conflict NAPFA rewrites rules to lift membership ban on commission revenues; advocates say principles upheld, but critics say door opened to 'corruption'
The 4,600-member association in Franklin Park, Ill. will enlarge its addressable market but some existing members say they may drop out becuase the pure fiduciary standard was the lure.
June 29, 2023 at 1:15 AM
InvestmentNews slashes up to 21 full- and part-time staff ahead of Key Media takeover of struggling publication -- leaving employees to scramble with no notice or severance
The London-based owner of the U.S.B2B publication informed staff at 9 a.m. today, with top editor Paul Curcio part of the exodus.
June 27, 2023 at 10:19 PM
RIAs seeking to poach Wall Street firms may get boost as New York Governor looks to strip non-compete protections -- with one caveat
The state General Assembly and Senate passed legislation to make non-competes illegal in New York, and its now awaiting the governor's signature ahead of the FTC's more sweeping rule change.
June 26, 2023 at 1:32 AM
BlackRock believes that 33 is the charm as it applies to sell a spot Bitcoin ETF, after 32 prior attempts met failure at the SEC -- part of a new gold rush of applications
The $9-trillion asset management giant is betting its Bitcoin application -- the 33rd lodged with the SEC -- will finally clear all hurdles.
June 23, 2023 at 10:38 PM
Belated Fidelity and Schwab co-op crypto venture suddenly looks timely, even predatory -- with crypto whiz kids 'belly up' and Bitcoin rising
The two RIA custody mega-rivals -- with Citadel and Virtu providing much trade muscle -- launch SEC-sensitive 'EDX' 12 years after Coinbase founding and after many 'digital asset' pioneers blew up
June 22, 2023 at 8:28 PM
Fidelity Investments may finally throttle down its 'crazy,' two-year-plus hiring binge in August after it added a 'Schwabitrade' worth of staff and grew to 42 million plan participants -- more than Canada's population!
CEO Abby Johnson acting upon the fire of 'demand' and 401(k) 'leadgen funnel' combined to fuel her Boston firm's 32,000-strong staffing spree, widening its gap over 'Schwabitrade' from 10,000 to more like 37,000 staff.
June 21, 2023 at 1:55 AM
F2 Strategy's urgent purchase of much larger Oakbrook Solutions has an RIA twist --it adds reach to equip big RIAs with the chops to compete against trust banks for trust fund kids
The wildly hiring Santa Cruz OCTO still needed capacity, people to implement its ideas and weaponry to help RIAs manufacture trust fund kids
June 19, 2023 at 8:56 PM
California judge is siding with $210-billion Kansas RIA over $16 billion California RIA in poaching case, despite seeming hard evidence and damning admissions -- but new twists are possible
Jill Pivato hopped to Creative Planning, took documents and emailed herself client lists but won a legal Mulligan and no restraining order by offering a plausible explanation -- she 'burned' docs and returned lists to Allworth.
June 16, 2023 at 10:15 PM
Citing concern for its 'uniquely rich culture,' Charles Schwab Corp. is curbing remote work, according to an internal memo, causing some to grouse about returning to the office, despite COVID's official end
The Westlake, Texas firm is part of 'RTO creep' where financial corporations and as TD Ameritrade staff begin acclimating to 'Schwab culture.'
June 16, 2023 at 1:51 AM
Cetera acquisition of $1.4 billion RIA clarifies urgent hire of Mike Durbin, both acquired to address 'trail revenue stream poison pill' that otherwise discourages advisors from dumping FINRA, exec says
With FINRA writing on wall, aging reps and a zero commissions trend, the Los Angeles IBD just joined Advisor Group and LPL, shifting its affiliation axis toward "corporate RIA," as economics look better than old IBD hub.
June 14, 2023 at 1:18 AM
Vestwell extends micro-plan 401(k) sponsor dominance after JPMorgan white-labels its platform, yet -- conditioned by history -- analysts still question if 401(k) king Fidelity walks away with plans and rollovers as accounts mature
The New York City startup cleans up on the low end by having cheap, automated software and legacy providers content to let them dominate -- for now.
June 13, 2023 at 1:55 AM
RightCapital confirms secret SoFi deal that involves both B2C and 25 CFPs, landing it with MoneyGuidePro and eMoney as one of the Big Three financial planners, industry survey says
The eight year-old Shelton, Conn. start-ups cited its NDA in declining comment on the freemium SoFi deal but confirmed Fortune article and keeps plugging with RIA application day job
June 9, 2023 at 12:53 AM
McKinsey & Co. weighs in on the future of RIAs -- where it has 'zero business' -- and comes up with the same boilerplate prediction about the demise of mom-and-pop shops
The $10-billion revenue colossus pooh-poos $7 trillion of 'mom-and-pop' RIA assets after they take in 22% of all investable assets last year, from 16% base, according to McKinsey's own numbers.
June 7, 2023 at 1:36 AM
After 13 years in the Shirl shadow, Ed Swenson gets a mandate to grow a $20-billion corporate RIA as old AIG IBD unit, Advisor Group, reorganizes and seeks new brand identity
The Dynasty veteran is key man in Jamie Price effort to take Advsior Group and finally streamline and up-RIA it for a new era.
June 6, 2023 at 1:46 AM
Vanguard raises fees on two funds after full-fee, third-party humans replace ineffective, indentured, in-house Vanguard robot
The Malvern, Pa. manager of $7.2 trillion gave 'careful consideration' before humble act of self-demotion and adding to fees.
June 3, 2023 at 2:32 AM
Envestnet recalls buggy MoneyGuidePro upgrade after RIA backlash, and all advisors are -- for now -- back on the legacy version
The Berwyn, Pa., firm concedes its roll-out 'disrupted' advisors businesses, but advisors remain as miffed about the 'zero' communication and slowness to take action as they are about haywire systems.
June 2, 2023 at 2:32 AM
How fooling around with ESG put Vanguard and BlackRock on countdown for still selling many ETFs as 'passive' indexing portfolios
The duopoly has near $10 trillion of passive indexes but not for long if red state AGs have their way
