Lisa Shider

How Merrill Lynch 'shot to hell' the RIA fiduciary citadel by casting its $7.5 billion fiduciary 401(k) unit as smaller, purer and more future-minded on paper

Merrill Lynch

Bank of America

DALBAR

United Capital Financial Advisers

CapTrust

J Fielding Miller

Sheridan Road Advisors

Steve Ulian

John Quinn,

Louis Harvey

Jim O’Shaughnessy

Min Zhang

The days when RIAs were the outsiders at the 401(k) party are fast coming to a close. What's new is that the mass of 401(k) assets 
is getting critical at about $3 trillion; fiduciary advisors are getting appreciated; fat fees and questionable kickbacks are getting exposed and stepping out of line is getting dicier as the Department of Labor tightens the regulatory screws.

The old reasons why the 401(k) business is attractive are still in place: there are fresh assets pouring in every month and when employees leave jobs or retire, they produce rollovers that build up IRA accounts for financial advisors. The drawbacks of getting into the 401(k) business are still in place, too. Dealing with retirement assets is really a second line of business and it remains -- unless you overcharge with hidden fees -- a low margin business with high potential fiduciary liabilities.

Still, the outsourcers, infrastructure and accumulated knowledge for RIAs to capitalize on is growing daily and a the mega-shift of assets away from brokers is making the 401(k) business riskier and riskier -- to ignore.

401(k) Stories

The past two years have been some of the most momentous in the relatively short history of the RIA profession. Legislators and regulators have been gradually embracing the fiduciary standard, though whether it will fully apply to everyone calling themselves advisors remains to be seen.

The Department of Labor’s crusade to lower costs and increase transparency in retirement plans means a spate of new regulations affecting advisors and brokers in that market. Dodd-Frank Financial Reform, meanwhile, continues to unroll across the profession, with the biggest change being a shift to state oversight of RIAs with less than $100 million AUM. In this section, you’ll find continually updated RIABiz.com coverage on all these topics.

RIA Compliance

Despite FAS having fewer 401(k) assets than, for example, a single North Carolina-based RIA, CAPTRUST, the Charlotte-based Bank of America's brokerage unit has created a new competitive threat

How Merrill Lynch 'shot to hell' the RIA fiduciary citadel by casting its $7.5 billion fiduciary 401(k) unit as smaller, purer and more future-minded on paper

Related Moves

September 1, 2022 at 5:11 AM

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