Articles published 12/2020
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Wealthfront's unlikely tapping of Sheila Bair and Tom Curry signals likely push to gain a bank charter, analysts say
December 31, 2020 at 4:37 AMThe Redwood City robo-advisor's addition of two renowned former chief banking regulators brings legitimacy and guidance that could lead to a margin-fattening bank charter and help solve the robo-advisor's problem of high client acquisition costs.
The Trump SEC massively failed investors in 2020 under guise of 'streamlining' and 'harmonization,' according to SEC's own scathing report published today
December 30, 2020 at 2:07 AMThe federal regulator did Wall Street's bidding and lost its compass, according to a damning Securities and Exchange Commission document.
Schwab Advisor Services seeks to curtail the RIA bad behavior of speaking apples to oranges by opening its corporate mind and its system's API
December 29, 2020 at 10:57 PMThe San Francisco custodian granted RIAs access to DNA Behavior on its platform -- for a fee -- to add psychometrics of personality to Big Data to create a Big Picture of the client
The RIA and insurance worlds draw closer again as MassMutual buys Flourish, a digital bank with 350 RIA banking clients
December 24, 2020 at 6:46 PMThe Springfield, Mass. life insurer, founded in 1851, gets the 2017-founded seller of FDIC-insured cash through RIAs in an atmosphere where RIA vendors and big insurers see more and more good in each other.
Focus Financial launches house-brand RIA and its shares spike past $45 on scale play, but will the 70 partner firms accept the change?
December 23, 2020 at 3:38 AMThe New York roll-up introduces 'Connectus' as an 'evolution,' but industry observers see a real pivot, hence a gamble that imperils existing bets on autonomy's animal force
Fidelity Investments leaps back to the future in an experiment to restore active management to its lofty perch, using technology that is still more science fiction than fact
December 21, 2020 at 11:45 PMThe Boston giant is renting a special corner of Amazon's cloud to remake Monte Carlo and do hyper-quant investing like an AI Peter Lynch, with no experience as a golf caddy.
Kingswood raises $115 million of SPAC cash and its Wall Street profile by cutting in Larry Roth; but can they buy RIAs at the right price in a feverish market?
December 19, 2020 at 2:02 AMWith the RIA rollup game go-big-or-go-home, making a royal alliance between British founders and Roth boosted the blank-check venture
Vestwell is in and Ascensus is out in Oregon as mushrooming 'force-function' state retirement plans spark heated bids to recordkeep; RIAs are angling for a cut, too
December 17, 2020 at 9:34 PMStates may force millions of small employers to sponsor pensions, buoying VC-backed digital recordkeepers. But RIAs like Fisher Investments are trying to convince small businesses to set up their own 401(k) plans to meet new mandates.
Looking past Covid-19 pandemic, Louisiana RIA buys $1-million building after hitting $1 billion in AUM and hiring the town's mayor
December 17, 2020 at 3:02 AMSummit Financial Wealth Advisors was sold to Focus Financial in 2014, growing its assets by $400 million since then but keeping staffing about the same
One woman's confession: How I became 'weird' about money and pocketed the cab fare home
December 15, 2020 at 3:31 AMTo me everything costs too much because love and money got tangled early in life; it made more sense after I became a parent.
Schwab-TD Ameritrade merger layoffs leave many ex-staffers shackled with non-compete agreements, hindering job search amid COVID-19 pandemic
December 11, 2020 at 4:00 AMThe Charles Schwab Corp. has let go 1,000 mostly former TDA people -- many with generous severance pay -- but some low-level staff claim to have been subjected to vetos of new jobs under non-compete agreements tied to cashing in restricted shares
Jamie Dimon is late out of the gate, but vows to run twice as hard toward the RIA market, purchasing 55ip and advertising his hunger to buy more
December 9, 2020 at 11:15 PMThe famed JPMorgan CEO scooped up a Boston-based model portfolio startup that has a very RIA book of business.
Jon Stein ousts himself as Betterment CEO and taps Sarah Levy, who joins an exclusive club of top women executives, with a mission -- an IPO
December 8, 2020 at 5:27 PMThe co-founder of the New York robo-advisor headhunted the ex-Viacom brass through Harvard professors on the down low to ostensibly scale operations.
Karin Risi, who built $170-billion Vanguard Personal Advisor Services, takes new role and Matt Benchener is taking her spot as head of US retail for the $6.3 trillion manager
December 4, 2020 at 2:56 AMRisi now heads planning and still directly reports to CEO Tim Buckley and her 34 year-old understudy, Benchener gets her job at year's end.
Fidelity's Mike Durbin unleashes FMAX as 'Schwabitrade' takes life, but if they build it, will leery advisors buy into it?
December 3, 2020 at 4:59 AMThe Fidelity Institutional head is betting RIAs will go for the 'killer app,' a one-vendor, one-fee bundle that will free time and mindspace by having the eMoney plan implement itself as a collection of products.
Victory Capital admits to 'leaking' AUM after Schwab acquires USAA wealth managers, whose sales efforts let air out of Victory's USAA funds purchase
December 1, 2020 at 2:52 AMThe mutual fund rollup shed $14.8 billion in fund assets in six months thanks largely to Schwab, but Victory CEO maintains the leak is being patched.
