Articles written by Brooke Southall
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Tuning its 'machine' business model, Hightower Advisors just hired an ex-Carlyle due-diligence maven for alts investing to offer an alternative to the CAIS and iCapital standard inventory
The $141-billion AUA Chicago aggregator sees a big future of $50-million-and-up UHNW clients, and it want to maximize RIA access to premier alts managers.
August 2, 2022 – 2:24 AM
After paying $22 billion of shares to buy TD Ameritrade, Chuck Schwab is preparing to spend $15 billion in hard cash to buy his own 'Schwabitrade' stock-- spiking shares in after-hours trading
The all-stock 2020 transaction for the Omaha, Neb. rival left plenty of dry powder to do a massive share buyback -- and signal bullishness about the ongoing, unseen systems integration
July 28, 2022 – 4:21 AM
Envestnet just named an ESG head to meld 'wellness,' 'The Intelligent Financial Life' and 'sustainable investing' into a single nirvana -- that starts outside of the product realm
Ron Ransom earned CEO Bill Crager's trust as chief business development officer and now will define how Envestnet conducts itself as a global citizen and vendor of wellness.
July 27, 2022 – 2:27 AM
BlackRock CEO preaches a very RIA-like future -- after three awesome wins in five months that total more than $200 billion -- where his $7 trillion manager gets every asset in exchange for unmatched 'completeness'
Larry Fink's New York City firm won 'whole portfolio advisor' OCIO accounts of AIG, British Air and General Dynamics by wholly accepting their fiduciary liability and headaches
July 26, 2022 – 2:02 AM
The FPA takes 'legal' action to purge 'planner' charlatans from the RIA business -- a plan certain to 'divide' members but align it with its chief gadfly, Michael Kitces
Despite opposition from at least 4% of its own members, the Financial Planning Association is seeking to quash quackery by making it illegal for a product salesman to get labeled as a planner -- a fight that Nerd's Eye View took up last year.
July 22, 2022 – 1:30 AM
Cathie Wood's 'transparency' ETF goes 'poof' under murky circumstances after a star-crossed launch
The ARK ETF bought index data from a South Carolina start up with a largely hypothetical track record created from back-testing
July 20, 2022 – 6:38 PM
Eric Clarke is now in the OCIO business -- shortly after 3,400 advisors attended a Redtail CRM webinar -- which 'unlock(s) incredible cross-selling opportunities,' and all but bakes in 'no summer slump'
Orion closed its Town Square deal to sell outsourced chief investment officer services, but Orion is still madly hiring more staff and won't get to kick back for a summer lull.
July 13, 2022 – 6:05 PM
LPL Financial buys its second full-service broker after the first one 'exceeded expectations' following a three-year pilot
The San Diego broker-dealer is buying Boenning & Scattergood and its $5 billion of AUA -- and it's eyeing more regional, W-2 staff advisory shops for acquisition.
July 8, 2022 – 7:30 PM
First Trust buys Veriti to seize direct indexing void after big players made early purchases of similar startups, then never did much marketing to follow through
First Trust Capital Partners quietly rose to become the No. 6 ETF provider with a DFA-like approach of high-touch RIA field sales and factor investing; sees a similar opportunity with direct investing.
July 6, 2022 – 4:18 PM
Merrill Lynch's owner finally invests in iCapital but at the non-early bird special share price
Bank of America paid at a $6 billion valuation after Andy Sieg and Lawrence Calcano had a 'great conversation' over lunch.
July 5, 2022 – 9:13 PM
Grayscale Investments is suing the SEC to get its ETF approved but bitcoin's swoon means 'public sympathy' may swing in favor of the regulator, a rules lawyer says
The 'hard-pressed' Stamford, Conn., crypto fund manager calls the SEC's rebuff 'capricous' but with cryptocurrencies in freefall, the SEC can say I told you so -- even if its logic is inconsistent and questionable.
July 1, 2022 – 7:06 PM
SMArtX rakes in $12 billion of AUM, nets $8.8 billion in six months--thanks to a Morningstar mega-boost-- by selling the novel concept that TAMP assets can be quickly converted to cash on demand
The West Palm Beach, Fla., UMA provider grew about 40% in the six months ended July 29, thanks to a prior deal with the Chicago TAMP and by giving RIAs a power that other TAMPs can't provide.
July 1, 2022 – 12:47 AM
Charles Schwab Corp. is jacking down ETF prices again (like a Jack Bogle) after Vanguard, again, raises a series of fund prices -- albeit with a net fee reduction
The Westlake, Texas, super-broker is making clients 'beneficiaries' while the $7-trillion Malvern, Pa., behemoth is raising prices as both firms make strategic calculations about the future.
June 27, 2022 – 3:26 PM
Two ex-J. P. Morgan top wealth management overlords debut Bento Engine by raising $1 million from RIA power influencers who see a micro-investment solving a macro RIA problem
Marty Bicknell, Andy Putterman, Kelly Waltrich and Shannon Eusey lead a list of RIA biz angels taking a shot at 'Life Numbers' -- a Vestorly-like model with its own 'secret sauce' and love from the CRM super-friends
June 22, 2022 – 8:19 PM
After Fisher Investments leapt from $65 billion to $200 billion of AUM with him as a lead brand manager, Jim Mocci jumps ship to $15 billion RIA with a playbook to reach $50 billion
The Salt Lake City executive helped feed the creative engine that powered gargantuan organic growth at Fisher Investments, with data derived from the investors themselves
