Custodians defend their records in having RIA backs in battles for the fiduciary standard and against FINRA takeover
TD Ameritrade has publicly made some regulatory efforts for advisors and other say they mostly do it behind the scenes
Related Moves
Fidelity Investments loses Kathleen Murphy who largely caught up Fido to Schwab (near $4T) on the retail side by reversing net promoter scores
The 'no whining allowed' leader of the Boston giant's retail business, who oversaw $2 trillion in net new assets, was ready to exit but hung in through a year dominated by COVID-19 challenges
January 23, 2021 at 2:02 AM
Skip Schweiss exit from TD Ameritrade means the RIA custody business lost its most visible corporate-paid advocate -- for the moment
TD's now ex-managing director of advisor advocacy is set to become the FPA president, but most peers agree the 58-year-old is poised to 'write his ticket' with another custodian or national RIA
August 5, 2020 at 9:33 PM
Fidelity Institutional looks like a big TAMP after Mike Durbin removes last internal walls between products and advisors after 'meteoric' 2019 leap; two Fido RIA sales legends depart amid the shift
Rich Policastro and Tom Valverde are out after Fidelity Custody & Clearing assets leap to $2.6 trillion AUA, restructuring gets the credit -- and so restructuring gets extended.
March 13, 2020 at 10:36 PM
MarketCounsel | Hamburger Law Firm
Consulting Firm, Compliance Expert, Legal Services for RIAs
Top Executive: Brian Hamburger
Stephen Winks
The custody business is consciously quiet in expressing a preference for regulatory oversight because, like the brokerage business, it is not eager to provide the necessary supporting resources (process, technology, statutory documentation, work flow management, conflict of interest management, expert advisory services support) that makes advice and fiduciary standing safe, scalable and easy to execute. Both custodians and broker/dealers are fearful of fiduciary liability which can only be mitigated by proper broker/adviser resourcing. The custody is correct that in providing such resources they are being prescriptive in their support and thus incur fiduciary liability. This lack of committment to fiduciary standing is a leadership vacuum that the industry must resolve if the best interests of the consumer and the fiduciary standing of the broker/adviser is to be advanced.
The industry is shrinking from its responsibility of managing fiduciary liability and elevating the role and counsel of the adviser. Custodians are enablers as are broker/dealers. Who has the vision, the know how and courage to lead?
SCW
