Articles published 4/2023
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Biz Briefs: The sorry scene at my local First Republic branch • Schwab launches new (smaller) lay-off round • Schwab hoovers pennies passing FINRA fee to clients • Gensler pleas for funds • Fidelity owner's private equity pres. retires • an Orion-Envestnet staff switcheroo • LPL dumps FutureAdvisor
April 29, 2023 at 1:36 AMRange Rovers screeched in and drivers joined a grim queue to get their cash, and cookie • The Schwab-TDA deal cull count now stands at roughly 3.5% of its staff • FMR's hockey star president has stepped down • SEC chief wants more enforcers • An Envestnet executive proves joining a rival is good business • LPL now has an in-house robot.
Betterment learns 'move fast, break things' has its price after settling SEC compliance charges for $9 million over transparency, disclosure lapses involving tax loss harvesting
April 28, 2023 at 1:52 AMThe $36-billion New York City robo-advisor has since upped its game by hiring a Merrill Lynch compliance alumnus and a CEO steeped in 'operations.'
InvestCloud CEO John Wise and management team ousted after VC investors grow impatient for long-promised deliverables that always seemed just over the rainbow
April 26, 2023 at 11:25 PMDubbed an 'Envestnet killer,' the LA company has yet to deliver disruption from its $1 billion VC investment combined with roughly $1.5 billion of other motley gems.
Sold to Goldman Sachs then spit out by the squid, three Joe Duran acolytes are taking $200 million into bargain RIA M&A minus a 'polarizing' 'pied piper' but plus chips on three shoulders
April 25, 2023 at 3:13 PMMike Capelle, Jason Gordo and Gary Roth raised $200 million, bought a $1 billion firm and are now off to the races with RIA-rollup Modern Wealth Management.
Skience, a top Salesforce customizer, just lost three top-tier execs -- boom, boom, boom -- with Salesforce overhang likely contributing in hotly competitive market
April 22, 2023 at 5:23 AMNo sooner did the Herndon, Va., reseller roll out 'bundles' to RIAs and enterprises than its president/COO and two sales/marketing talents exited as its offering faces world of new challenges.
Overshadowed by Schwab's 'unrealized' loss overhang, the company gained 500,000 TD Ameritrade clients in February, putting $500 billion in held-away TDA assets in play
April 19, 2023 at 3:28 PMThe Westlake, Texas, company seeded some good news about the windfall from its merger at yesterday's analyst call, amid the storm surrounding its balance sheet.
Walt Bettinger comes out swinging during analysts' call, and shares pop, on assurances Schwab can ride out gale force interest rate pressure on its balance sheet
April 18, 2023 at 3:01 AMThe Schwab CEO deflected blame, promised to stay 'conservative,' and left Wall Street analysts wondering why Schwab won't dump bonds and offer better rates for client sweep cash
Broker protocol door set to slam in face of remaining SVB Private advisors -- belatedly -- after Citizens Bank signs deal to purchase Silicon Valley Bank and its private wealth unit
April 17, 2023 at 11:24 PMThe 11th hour withdrawal still opens a window for undecided SVB advisors to get out under the road-tested terms of the no-fault truce
Riskalyze taps Stephen Brandes as final hire, stakes flag in Manhattan, ahead of imminent rebrand that's part of push toward a $1-billion valuation
April 15, 2023 at 1:41 AMThe Auburn, Calif., software firm is ready to shift from a 'point solution' to a 'growth platform' -- and now has a Yale/Harvard guy who just went through a similar drill at a non-financial digital firm.
Altruist's Jason Wenk wins Marty Bicknell's capital as part of $112-million 'D' raise but the bigger challenge is winning his RIA's AUM
April 13, 2023 at 11:31 PMThe founder and CEO of the Los Angeles custodian says 'mums the word' about his exact plans with $110-billion AUA RIA and OSJ, Mariner Wealth, but that all will be revealed soon enough
Karl Heckenberg ends phenomenal five-year run of reining in Mark Hurley, forming Emigrant Partners -- and selling high on long-held RIA stakes -- as bank boss hired gun
April 12, 2023 at 7:27 PMHoward Milstein bet on the then-43-year-old to buy back Fiduciary Network for Emigrant Bank, replace a team and find success; now Emigrant Partners must replace its main man at 48
After leap to $110 billion AUA, Marty Bicknell sets hard date for Mariner to hit 5,000 advisors predicted by wife and COO Cheryl
April 12, 2023 at 1:36 AMThe CEO of the Overland Park, Kan. RIA -- in keeping with her San Diego bomb drop -- is ramping up to add 4,000 mostly 1099 advisors -- putting a target on LPL Financial, OSJs and other IBDs.
The broad spectrum friendship of Brian Hamburger and Shirl Penney now includes sharing most of a $5-million bet into proving that SmartRIA lives up to its straight-A name
April 11, 2023 at 1:29 AMThe principals of MarketCounsel and Dynasty Financial go all-in on software that keeps RIAs all good with the SEC -- without being all-consumed by an unrelenting task.
The hot take on why a 100-basis-point rate rise from here simply can't be dismissed after the Silicon Valley Bank exhale and may put Charles Schwab Bank on the hot seat
April 7, 2023 at 2:18 AMFollowing the recent banking panic, rates seem to be finally experiencing 'some stickiness,' but too many unknowns and uncontrollable factors remain before economists can breathe easy.
Scott MacKillop got his flat-fee startup to $1.4 billion in eight years, negotiated its sale over nine months and largely got friends and family investors cashed out
April 5, 2023 at 8:05 PMThe First Ascent sale means the Denver-based founder's second ascent as head of a GeoWealth holding won't be beset with worry about cash burn, not least because free GeoWealth software puts it into the black -- and makes it more of a TAMP than an investment manager
RIAs must hold fire on chopping expenses in this 2021-2023 downturn, though one expense is fair game -- and it should be high on the list to trim
April 4, 2023 at 5:22 PMThe best firms make their biggest gains courtesy of recessions -- not least 2008-2011 -- but the contrarian investments must be born on the backs of RIA principals, not staff
With 15,000 Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard staffers there, Dallas metroplex notches Fisher Investments headquarters almost as a formality; Ken Fisher and 1,200 staff are already Lone Star denizens
April 1, 2023 at 3:42 AMThe $189-billion national RIA of Camas, Wash. evinced being incensed over a Washington state court ruling upholding a state capital gains tax--the final straw behind the move.
