Articles published 6/2022
Headline
Publish date
Fidelity--late to its own Ethereum party--hires 110 engineers to hurry up launch; it may have avoided both had it not made a 'strange strategic decision,' analyst says
The Boston company pledged to add the second digital token to its crypto custody service by year-end 2021, but 'complexity' stalled the project, even though a third-party solution was available.
June 30, 2022 at 8:40 PM
With crypto landmines to fear greater than each other, Schwab and Fidelity co-invest in a cryptocurrency mega-startup with Citadel, Virtu and VCs Sequoia and Paradigm
The discount brokerage super-rivals are investing in a market maker venture with fellow [crypto retail] come-latelies, Virtu and Citadel -- a sign that the crypto winter hasn't chilled big investment in digital assets, even if liquidity occasionally freezes up.
June 30, 2022 at 1:49 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 at 3:26 PM
BNY Mellon Pershing's subscription custody plan was scuttled by crashing COVID interest rates, but may get a second wind as rates rise, reviving its play for Schwab/TD Ameritrade RIAs
But offering higher yields to switch may not be enough to lure advisors, who typically keep minimal investments in cash, says one industry expert.
June 25, 2022 at 12:41 AM
ERISA attorney co-founds venture to take advantage of DOL's liberal new pooled 401(k) plan guidelines, a boon for RIAs looking to break into the business
The new San Diego firm will be a TAMP-like unit that gives a way for small companies to get big-plan leverage while still letting RIAs handle the investment advice, says CEO Jason Roberts.
June 23, 2022 at 6:56 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 at 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
June 21, 2022 at 1:48 AM
BNY Mellon uses Pershing INSITE 2022 to let RIAs know it has its own dog in the fight with Pershing X, which BNY owns to sell to Pershing RIAs -- or anybody else
The $474-billion bank's relationship with Pershing just got far more complex as it puts its belief in ringer, Ainslie Simmonds -- who is being given a long rope to tie up loose ends.
June 18, 2022 at 2:29 AM
LPL Financial makes 'full-service' play with a wirehouse trick and some DFA vibes by launching 'private client' offering from the University of Chicago
The San Diego broker-dealer grew to be No. 1 by backing partially served mass affluent brokers and used a symposium at the university's Booth School as a backdrop to tell its reps they can compete with Merrill Lynch.
June 17, 2022 at 12:08 AM
Oleg Tishkevich makes two familiar, key ex-TD Ameritrade hires as INVENT hits 20,000 users and shifts into high gear to serve RIAs
The INVENT CEO and founder gets Craig Uhlenkott and James Byers to hone RIA product fit for a more turnkey developer package to go with pre-existing app store.
June 16, 2022 at 2:16 AM
Vestmark sells Adhesion to AssetMark after quickly (nearly) tripling the 'RIA' unit's AUM, but AssetMark will plow cash into an upgrade
The Concord, Calif. company announced the deal for the Charlotte, N.C., UMA provider and direct-indexing vendor amid sinking markets.
June 15, 2022 at 12:40 AM
Tifin Group CEO slashes 10% of staff -- and his own pay -- to cut $10 million from annual 'burn' in the 30 days after $109-million 'D' raise
CEO Vinay Nair and eight other senior executives took a 20% pay cut, but Tifin continues to hire, and the software roll-up is open to making fresh acquisitions
June 14, 2022 at 12:06 AM
Shorts: ESG forces Vanguard, BlackRock, SSGA to choose on abortion • Schwab uses money and brand to correct white-male CFP supermajority • S&P 1500 pensions overfunded despite underwhelming 2022 returns • Vanguard closes gap on BlackRock as top institutional manager • Musk puts Orion on Twitter map
Culture war envelops ESG. 'Big-three' face crisis on abortion rights • The population is 50.8% women, 13.4% Black, 18% Latinx, but 76.6% of financial planners are white men. • Schwab funds CFP effort to rebalance • S&P 1500 pension plans are running a $55 billion surplus • Vanguard nears BlackRock institutional asset sum • Daniel Crosby lures behavioral finance interest, via Diet Coke.
June 11, 2022 at 1:05 AM
Orion speed-closes Redtail purchase in 48 days, so Eric Clarke can get right to work stacking it with four other M&A deals in two years at his Omaha mothership
Clarke now 'holds all the cards' to 'own the desktop' of hundreds of thousands of advisor firms, one consultant says, but analysts wonder whether Orion really has the 'bandwidth' to make a tech stack out of so many towering silos.
June 9, 2022 at 1:39 AM
Envestnet finally, officially, (mostly) parts ways with Stuart DePina but adds back his old Tamarac division then promotes Dana D'Auria, Farouk Ferchichi, Tony Leal and Tom Sipp in a major new restructuring
The $5-trillion Berwyn, Pa., software, investments company and Yodlee owner reveals the next generation of leaders succession and, it hopes, success for shareholders
June 8, 2022 at 12:17 AM
Stephen Greco's six-year quest to prove Creative Planning, Schwab, Fidelity and TD Ameritrade engaged in a 'conspiracy' against his RIA has even the experts baffled
In his latest move, the Spotlight Asset Group founder files a 'RICO' civil suit in federal court that one defendant calls 'ludicrous.'
June 7, 2022 at 4:27 AM
Lauren Oschman, 33, takes CEO reins at $500 million Nashville RIA, after being designated heir apparent at age 29 for her role building a practice laser-focused on doctors
The co-founder of Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors stood out day one for handholding young, debt-laden doctors and rejecting stereotypes about women being more risk averse than men.
June 3, 2022 at 11:23 PM
An unprecedented wave of 'disruptive' competitors are challenging 'The Big Four' RIA performance reporting firms by thinking past 'the cloud' and bundles
Black Diamond, Orion Tamarac and Addepar built a $10 trillion mountain of AUA by taking RIAs to the cloud, but a number of firms are emerging to challenge the status quo.
June 2, 2022 at 3:50 AM
BlackRock to curb ESG 'social justice' proposals with its voting power this proxy season and embrace big oil, claiming Ukraine war, Russian embargo demand climate goals reset
The New York City manager of $9.6 trillion races to redefine -- and resuscitate -- reeling 'ESG' after the Ukraine war exposed perils of charging a premium fee to contain free market forces.
