Articles published 10/2021
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Anil Arora resigns from Envestnet board the same day as his new company gets backing at an eye-popping valuation
October 29, 2021 at 11:57 PMThe ex-CEO of Yodlee left his executive role at the Chicago outsourcer a while back but TIFIN is on an upswing
BlackRock's no longer secretive strategy to gain ground on Vanguard and Fidelity in $10.3 trillion DC market will now be tested on 120,000 employees at five US companies where it might work -- or not
October 29, 2021 at 11:54 PMBlackRock has about $1 trillion of defined contribution assets while Fidelity and Vanguard both administer multiple trillions, so the New York giant is dangling defined benefits as a way to win the defined contributions game.
T. Rowe Price becomes major hedge fund player in a heartbeat with $4.2-billion Oak Hill purchase -- plus a $500-million co-investment -- with RIAs named as prime prospective clients
October 29, 2021 at 2:10 AMThe old line Baltimore firm adds a quick $53 billion of managed capital that garners fees of 1.5% and that's before taking a cut of the gains.
Why the SEC's green light for Bitcoin ETFs failed to convince Charles Schwab & Co. to make crypto trading available to its 32.5 million retail accounts
October 28, 2021 at 1:21 AMThe $7.6 trillion in administered assets giant sees mixed signals from regulators who are drawing lines as it goes along -- treacherous regulatory conditions for a big company not built to shift course at a whim.
RIAs may face ticking time bomb after SEC slams a $1.9-billion RIA for neglecting 'orphan' accounts while charging fees, a problem that may be industrywide
October 26, 2021 at 7:39 PMThousands of clients may be getting lost in the shuffle in the face of strong inorganic RIA growth -- an obscure problem until federal regulators gave Regal Investment Advisors the royal treatment, in part, for charging full fees and failing to disclose reduced service.
InvestmentNews brings in 'turn-around specialist,' and a 'chief revenue officer,' following pandemic battering; then top editor and two reporters jump ship
October 26, 2021 at 2:27 AMInvestmentNews is adding people on the business side and losing veterans on the editorial side after suffering staggering COVID hit to live events, and its publisher calls modus operandi changes 'permanent.'
After being 'blown away' by AdvisorPeak's engineering prowess, Addepar is buying the company to arm its clients with automated rebalancing software
October 22, 2021 at 3:03 PMThe 12-year old Mountain View, Calif., performance reporter, with $3 trillion plus of adminstered assets, is buying the 18-person, third-year startup to apply to its 600 clients.
Rival RIA custody chiefs Bernie Clark and David Canter, who oversee a combined $4.5 trillion, may lock arms to debate Michael Kitces on custody fee transparency -- for a very good reason
October 20, 2021 at 10:48 PMThe head of Schwab Advisors Services and the head of the RIA unit of Fidelity Institutional are caught in an existential debate to preserve their right to play favorites based on economics, observers say.
Future Proof bursts onto the RIA event scene by taking over four big hotels and a half-mile of beachfront without the taint of 'pay-to-play' speaker slots
October 20, 2021 at 2:24 PMWith Matt Middleton and other ex-Informa guys as masterminds and Josh Brown and Barry Ritholtz providing muscle, the confab's aspiration is to be the Envestnet of RIA events.
Small RIA custodian launches dream crypto trading and custody-- cheap, broad and on one screen-- but will supply drive profitable demand?
October 19, 2021 at 5:55 PMInteractive Brokers lets RIAs -- even Schwab and Fidelity RIAs skimming the service -- do one screen for conventional securities and Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.
With Hamilton Lane's $90 million stake and Vestmark deal in her back pocket, Russell CEO is ready to plunge the old-line, upper-crust firm into the RIA middle-market
October 19, 2021 at 2:29 AMMichelle Seitz opened the playbook to allow RIAs more autonomy, and the firm will use wholesalers based less on channel and more on geography.
Charles Schwab Corp. stock finally blasts past $80 starring the RIA custody unit's record $81 billion in net new assets
October 15, 2021 at 10:42 PMThe Westlake, Texas broker-dealer's market cap surpassed $152 billion today after disclosing year-to-date assets have grown by close to $1 trillion
After 401(k) account growth catapults ahead of curve, Vestwell CEO scrambles to make big hires and abdicates chairmanship to freed-up Lori Hardwick
October 14, 2021 at 8:58 PMEying projected 300% plan sponsor growth, Aaron Schumm has promoted one executive, added another and reshuffled Vestwell's board, putting Hardwick on top.
Big effect of DOL's proposed undoing of Trump-era 401(k) ESG investing chill is to permit ESGs TDFs as default option where BlackRock and Natixis have products
October 14, 2021 at 1:08 AMThe Labor Dept. stops short of giving fiduciaries environmental, social and governance factor carte blanche but recognizes non-pecuniary factors are legit considerations.
Fresh off buying No. 9 and No. 10 women-led firms, Dave Welling now has Mercer's AUM up 220% in four years in part by addressing a women 'problem'
October 13, 2021 at 1:10 AMBoth Genstar and Mercer female staff are singing the CEO's praises after he took a sleepy $10 billion AUM firm to $32-billion AUM, where 40% of client-facing staff and 33% of leaders are women.
After Fidelity and BlackRock target date funds attract bigger inflows, Vanguard promises to move a minor mountain next February to make its TDF prices more competitive
October 12, 2021 at 2:01 AMThe Malvern, Pa., giant maintains a towering lead in managing 401(k) assets in TDFs, but it'll take a merger and not a flick of the pen to post prices that could keep it near 37% market share.
Schwab Advisor Services informs its 13,000 RIAs -- including legacy TD Ameritrade practices -- they must buy E&O insurance, but rival Fidelity is taking a different tack--voluntary compliance
October 8, 2021 at 2:12 AMThe Westlake, Texas, custodian is cracking down at a time when states are mandating errors and ommissions policies, RIAs are getting bigger, more complex and phishing attacks are increasing in volume and sophistication.
Fidelity gives RIAs real-time fractional trading despite little evident demand, while rival Schwab demurs, yet just filed to launch $100k-minimum direct indexing in 2022
October 6, 2021 at 9:34 PMLike with digital assets, the Boston giant is dangling the nascent service with faith that RIAs will seize the opportunity but its Westlake, Texas, rival wants to see better evidence of demand before prioritizing such a big push on its institutional platform.
MassMutual upgrades Flourish to trade and hold RIA crypto AUM, compete at a Coinbase level, on strength of Orion, Black Diamond, Tamarac tracking -- but big RIA client, Buckingham, says 'no thanks' to the offer, for now
October 5, 2021 at 8:58 PMThe New York-based manager of $1 billion-plus of FDIC insured cash is banking on not getting ahead of the curve and getting crushed by Bitcoin ETFs down the road.
Ink dry on check, Vanguard Group is set to disrupt ETFs and other index funds-- using (mostly) RIAs that manage $3 trillion--to unleash its direct-indexing SMA subsidiary
October 2, 2021 at 8:51 PMJust a day after Franklin Templeton bought RIA DI software provider, Canvas, the $8.3-trillion Malvern, Pa., giant announced it closed on its purchase of Just Invest today.
Michael Kitces picks his moment to demand the SEC close two giant faux-RIA loopholes -- the hat-switching 'hybrid' advisor and the wirehouse 'financial advisor'
October 1, 2021 at 10:33 PMThe XPYN founder wants the SEC to honor its 'Merrill Lynch Rule' promise from 15 years ago, demanding the most fundamental truth in advertising.
