Wealthfront takes on another Facebook vet -- a clue that going dark in Palo Alto doesn't mean going away
The last-standing pure B2C robo hopes to outwit, outlast, and outplay its competitors by out-hiring them
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UBS bets its 'wealth' future on ex-Schwabbie Naureen Hassan, a corporate digital A-lister, who analysts give a fighting chance to transcend PaineWebber's ossified culture
Still a $2-billion cash-flow cow, the Swiss bank's 6,000-broker, US-based wirehouse is milking aging broker relationships with aging investors but needs a new kind of human presence, empathy, mindset and smarts to draw in Gen Z.
July 16, 2022 at 1:35 AM
Wealthfront cedes to four years of investors clamoring for crypto by taking on expensive third-party vendor that Betterment rules out
The Redwood City, Calif., robo-advisor turned a hard 'no' into a soft 'yes' by dealing with Grayscale and its 200 basis-point-plus fees, which its robo rival in NYC -- also without a crypto path -- finds ludicrous.
August 14, 2021 at 2:20 AM
Second Betterment exec departs as new CEO Sarah Levy orients to her first month on the job and is confronted by personnel matters
Chief operating officer Dustin Lucien is the latest to leave the New York City robo-advisor, one of at least eight positions open as it prepares a push across multiple business lines to ignite growth.
January 19, 2021 at 6:32 PM
Wealthfront's unlikely tapping of Sheila Bair and Tom Curry signals likely push to gain a bank charter, analysts say
The 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.
December 31, 2020 at 4:37 AM
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Wealthfront
Portfolio Management System
Top Executive: Andy Rachleff
Betterment, LLC
Financial Planning Software
Top Executive: Jon Stein
Stephen Winks
In the final analysis, the heavy brokerage overhead can not be sustained in a robo model geared to 25 bps or less. Heavy product distribution and OSJ overhead add little value in advisory services, be prepared for leaner cost structures and far more robust advisor value proposition with three times the earnings multiple of brokerage. Thus, a publically traded robo can easily eclipse the high cost, low added value conventional brokerage model. WealthFront may not be in this space but if it only understood how to scale expert advisory services (principally entailing advanced technology, prudent process and statutory documentation, all at single bps in cost), it could become profound in terms of value added, cost and professional standing. It is not that the B to C model is invalid, it is the B to B model has not yet been fully fleshed out to achieve professional standing.
SCW
Stephen Winks
