Brooke Southall
Articles written by Brooke Southall
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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
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
'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 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
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
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
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
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
Charles Schwab Corp. ties brand to 'Trump,' after becoming 'custodian,' consultant and investment advisor to Trump Media discount brokerage startup
Such charged political ties were solely in the founder's domain, but Schwab custody gets $250 million in Trump Media & Technology Group cash; Schwab granddaughter lands Treasury job.
January 31, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Panic selling on DeepSeek news crunches Nasdaq, but insiders say frightenly 'excellent advancement' is being misread -- and it's hardly new news
Firms like Meta, Google and Amazon should find DeepSeek news a 'definite positive' even if the the Chinese startup could curb demand for hyper-lucrative Nvidia chips -- but even that is unclear.
January 28, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Schwab shares spike but its new CEO mostly plays defense after analysts ask why its RIA clients hit net-new asset growth norms and Schwab retail is stuck at 3.5% growth
Rick Wurster says Schwab is still building 'trust' with legacy TD Ameritrade clients disoriented by the merger and 'getting them used to' a 'completely different experience.'
January 23, 2025 at 3:21 AM
New Envestnet CEO first reached out to his financial advisor before accepting Bain Capital's offer to take over one of the advisory industry's largest service providers
The Harvard-Yale-McKinsey alum got a 'level of specificity' from chatting with his advisor firm's CIO about Envestnet's 'importance' and 'how it could be better.'
January 22, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Charles Schwab will renew branch-building in retiree spots like Florida, relocate storefronts to 'high-traffic' areas, and dedicate staff to $10-million-plus accounts, new Schwab CEO says ahead of Tuesday earnings
Rick Wurster underscores that Robinhood has just 2% of Schwab assets, and his firm will direct more personnel toward $10-million-plus brokerage accounts
January 18, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Marty Bicknell leapfrogs super-RIAs [by one measure] with $292-billion AUA deal, in push for 'full-service financial' company -- while still pursuing 2027 goal of 5,000 advisors
The Mariner CEO and founder wants all expertise in-house because 'things come up' with the 2,500 business owners and 12,500 c-suite executives his firm currently serves.
January 10, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Altruist lays off 10% of its staff, despite 300% revenue jump, to get 'best possible people' as 'aggressive' hiring continues, says CEO
The Culver City, Calif. RIA custodian let people go across spectrum of disciplines with hires focused on 'engineering, AI and go-to-market,' Jason Wenk explains
