Articles published 2/2025
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Merrill Lynch 'satisfaction' rating slides 9% after app restructuring, while Fidelity -- the only firm with rising satisfaction -- drubbed rivals in new DIY investor survey
February 28, 2025 at 2:15 AMEdward Jones and E*Trade also saw ratings stumble in ACSI study. Schwab and Vanguard held steady.
Robinhood closes TradePMR deal and calls it 'accretive' and cites cash allocation to build RIA referral network
February 27, 2025 at 12:01 AMThe Menlo Park, Calif. online broker paid $300 million for custody unit that gives it immediate cash flow and market position.
iCapital expands New York City office space for fifth time by a whopping 79,000-square-feet in historic tower, after 2024 M&A spree and LPL deal
February 26, 2025 at 4:00 AMThe alts platform for Schwab, Fidelity, LPL and Envestnet and others commits to 16-year lease, takes office space to 219,000-sq-ft-plus -- and signals long-term confidence.
BlackRock rattles giant saber at Schwab and Fidelity by launching high-yield 'money market' funds that 'circumvent' shelf-space controls and pay big
February 22, 2025 at 3:02 AMThe $12-trillion firm steered clear of the retail giants' cash cows until this month, when it launched ETFs that mimic the custodians' best offerings -- albeit with caveats.
Charles Schwab Corp. names 'head of digital assets' with no cryptocurrency chops but entrusted by inner circle to make big, critical decisions, fast
February 20, 2025 at 2:37 AMJoseph Vietri needs to in-source critical 'human capital,' then determine whether to private-label 'Coinbase' or 'go big' with in-house custody, and other picks and shovels of direct bitcoin ownership and performance reporting.
Morningstar is shuttering 'Office' in 2026 and steering its orphaned RIAs to Black Diamond to get revenue cut in deal -- but Advyzon and Orion aren't planning to get cut out
February 19, 2025 at 4:18 AMThe Chicago company finally got its RIA software into the cloud in 2018 but got out-invested by cloud-based rivals -- and now it's 'open season' on soon-to-be orphaned RIAs.
ETF assets hit record $10.73 trillion after $90 billion net-new inflow last month; Vanguard accounts for 40% of total, clobbering iShares and bruising State Street -- with RIAs a clear catalyst
February 15, 2025 at 5:03 AMActive ETFs attracted net inflows of $44 billion, 110% better than January 2024, but giants with razor-thin margins still dominate a commodity market.
ex-Merrill Lynch 'Smoothie' broker loses big in FINRA arbitration; his attorney calls reasoning 'tortured,' but pattern of 'bad behavior' may have tipped scales, other lawyers say
February 14, 2025 at 1:46 AMJames 'Jim' Iannazzo faces fines, two-year ban on securities sales -- potentially a career killer -- but the case could ultimately hinge on an appeal... and politics.
'RIA Reflections' went live today under ex-IN reporter Ryan Neal, who oversees the 'story-sharing platform' for Robinhood's RIA custody acquiree TradePMR
February 13, 2025 at 3:04 AMThe new website will shun 'news' in favor of first-person essays from advisors to build a community through shared experiences.
Bob Oros is out at Hightower -- for real this time -- with poached Ayco CEO, a Goldman Sachs partner, replacing him
February 11, 2025 at 9:36 PMLarry Restieri will become the Chicago rollup's next CEO after decades in Goldman Sachs' world and after Oros did 50 M&A deals.
TD Bank is selling $15 billion of Schwab shares high, buying its own TD shares low, but killing the old (TD) Waterhouse goose that laid gold eggs
February 11, 2025 at 2:41 AMToronto-Dominion bought Waterhouse Securities for about $525 million in 1996 and will cash out of a rolled-over position worth $15 billion at a near three-year Schwab high of $82 -- then buy its own struggling shares at about $60.
Robinhood pushes back, with force, after CFTC's 'shocking and stunning' rejection of its 'contract' betting bid, after gleaning affirmation in review process
February 8, 2025 at 3:54 AMThe feisty Menlo Park discount brokerage is expressing 'disappointment' in the 'outcome,' particularly because of regular affirming contact with the CFTC that proved illusory
Robinhood is launching plain-vanilla robo-advisor, an RIA that allocates with algorithms, but walks back intent to use AI and will rely on human teams to pick investments
February 7, 2025 at 4:02 AMThe Menlo Park, Calif. online broker filed an SEC ADV to launch an RIA 30 days after announcing deal to buy RIA custodian, TradePMR.
RIAs fear broaching ESG topics with clients amid blowback, but 'do-the-right-thing' investments are still big business, Cerulli shows
February 6, 2025 at 2:33 AMA preference for ESG sees slight erosion among investors, from 48% to to 46%, but 49% don't want to own products that buy 'objectionable' companies.
Vanguard's new CEO breaks record by zapping $350 million fund-expense, but 'raises the tension' managing brokerage, analyst says
February 5, 2025 at 3:49 AMSalim Ramji went big with micro-cuts on 87 fund fees but the average cut is just one basis point, the process is opaque, brokerage fees are rising and service and technology issues remain the real pain point, says Jeff De Maso.
RIA CRM startup arrives -- it's free, AI-powered and unfettered by dubious features -- but 15 years after the Schwab 'Project C' goldrush can it make inroads against market giants Redtail, Wealthbox and Salesforce?
February 4, 2025 at 3:03 AMAdvisorCRM is serving six RIAs and brings the old Junxure promise of design-by-RIA to market; and, for now, no VCs are calling the shots.
The long, long Addepar incubation is giving way to profits, a $3.25-billion valuation and a 'G' round of $250 million that co-founder Joe Lonsdale is helping to fund
February 1, 2025 at 4:23 AMThe Mountain View, Calif., software maker, a cash burner since 2009 founding, will earn 'hundreds of millions' in 2025, which has investors piling in at the new valuation – a 62.5% increase in four years.
