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Articles published 2/2025


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Joseph Vietri: Ex-Schwab Advisor Services exec now in the hot seat to meld 'conservative' Schwab with brave-new-world crypto.

Charles Schwab Corp. names 'head of digital assets' with no cryptocurrency chops but entrusted by inner circle to make big, critical decisions, fast

Joseph Vietri needs to in-source critical 'human capital,' then determine whether to private-label 'Coinbase' or 'go big' with in-house custody, and other picks and shovels of direct bitcoin ownership and performance reporting.

February 20, 2025 at 2:37 AM

Stephanie Lerdall: Morningstar will receive a minority share of the contract revenue.

Morningstar is shuttering 'Office' in 2026 and steering its orphaned RIAs to Black Diamond to get revenue cut in deal -- but Advyzon and Orion aren't planning to get cut out

The Chicago company finally got its RIA software into the cloud in 2018 but got out-invested by cloud-based rivals -- and now it's 'open season' on soon-to-be orphaned RIAs.

February 19, 2025 at 4:18 AM

Deborah Fuhr: ETFs managed by the Top 3 providers ... have only decreased slightly over the past 10 years.

ETF assets hit record $10.73 trillion after $90 billion net-new inflow last month; Vanguard accounts for 40% of total, clobbering iShares and bruising State Street -- with RIAs a clear catalyst

Active ETFs attracted net inflows of $44 billion, 110% better than January 2024, but giants with razor-thin margins still dominate a commodity market.

February 15, 2025 at 5:03 AM

James 'Jim' Iannazzo: I got into a pattern of nobody having an issue with this, so I continued to do it.

ex-Merrill Lynch 'Smoothie' broker loses big in FINRA arbitration; his attorney calls reasoning 'tortured,' but pattern of 'bad behavior' may have tipped scales, other lawyers say

James 'Jim' Iannazzo faces fines, two-year ban on securities sales -- potentially a career killer -- but the case could ultimately hinge on an appeal... and politics.

February 14, 2025 at 1:46 AM

Ryan Neal: It is not a news outlet

'RIA Reflections' went live today under ex-IN reporter Ryan Neal, who oversees the 'story-sharing platform' for Robinhood's RIA custody acquiree TradePMR

The new website will shun 'news' in favor of first-person essays from advisors to build a community through shared experiences.

February 13, 2025 at 3:04 AM

Bob Oros: Larry is an exceptional leader who brings deep familiarity with the wealth management landscape.

Bob Oros is out at Hightower -- for real this time -- with poached Ayco CEO, a Goldman Sachs partner, replacing him

Larry Restieri will become the Chicago rollup's next CEO after decades in Goldman Sachs' world and after Oros did 50 M&A deals.

February 11, 2025 at 9:36 PM

Raymond Chun: We are very pleased with the strong return we are generating on the Schwab shares we acquired in 2020

TD Bank is selling $15 billion of Schwab shares high, buying its own TD shares low, but killing the old (TD) Waterhouse goose that laid gold eggs

Toronto-Dominion bought Waterhouse Securities for about $525 million in 1996 and will cash out of a rolled-over position worth $15 billion at a near three-year Schwab high of $82 -- then buy its own struggling shares at about $60.

February 11, 2025 at 2:41 AM

Lucas Moskowitz: We're disappointed by this outcome … the CFTC [knew] about our intent and plans.

Robinhood pushes back, with force, after CFTC's 'shocking and stunning' rejection of its 'contract' betting bid, after gleaning affirmation in review process

The feisty Menlo Park discount brokerage is expressing 'disappointment' in the 'outcome,' particularly because of regular affirming contact with the CFTC that proved illusory

February 8, 2025 at 3:54 AM

Vlad Tenev is holding off on applying AI to robo-advising, for now.

Robinhood is launching plain-vanilla robo-advisor, an RIA that allocates with algorithms, but walks back intent to use AI and will rely on human teams to pick investments

The Menlo Park, Calif. online broker filed an SEC ADV to launch an RIA 30 days after announcing deal to buy RIA custodian, TradePMR.

February 7, 2025 at 4:02 AM

Scott Smith: 'Investors would rather "do the right thing" – but they are reluctant to bring it up with their FAs if not prompted.

RIAs fear broaching ESG topics with clients amid blowback, but 'do-the-right-thing' investments are still big business, Cerulli shows

A preference for ESG sees slight erosion among investors, from 48% to to 46%, but 49% don't want to own products that buy 'objectionable' companies.

February 6, 2025 at 2:33 AM

Salim Ramji: Savings compound over time.

Vanguard's new CEO breaks record by zapping $350 million fund-expense, but 'raises the tension' managing brokerage, analyst says

Salim Ramji went big with micro-cuts on 87 fund fees but the average cut is just one basis point, the process is opaque, brokerage fees are rising and service and technology issues remain the real pain point, says Jeff De Maso.

February 5, 2025 at 3:49 AM

Ryan Borer and Leibel Sternbach: The CRM space is commoditized, which is why we're giving it away for free.
February 4, 2025 at 3:03 AM

Joe Lonsdale: Addepar continues to crush it, [and] I'm a proud founder and chairman!

The long, long Addepar incubation is giving way to profits, a $3.25-billion valuation and a 'G' round of $250 million that co-founder Joe Lonsdale is helping to fund

The Mountain View, Calif., software maker, a cash burner since 2009 founding, will earn 'hundreds of millions' in 2025, which has investors piling in at the new valuation – a 62.5% increase in four years.

February 1, 2025 at 4:23 AM

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