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Articles published 7/2022


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Walt Bettinger and Chuck Schwab co-hosted the virtual annual meeting last year and tweeted out this photo.

Chuck Schwab reveals Part B, doubling-down on Walt Bettinger by making him co-chair, a day after Part A -- wagering $15 billion from the Schwab corporate treasury on the CEO's future leadership

The 84 year-old founder's elevation of his 61-year-old protege may foretell bigger fireworks from Rick Wurster who recently took over many of Bettinger's CEO duties, one executive recruiter says.

July 30, 2022 at 12:41 AM

Ashley Arrington: 'I felt like I hit a ceiling, and I didn't see a path forward.'

Ashley Arrington is leaving Fidelity for one of its hottest RIA clients, but she'll have to start cold in Nashville to keep her and her boss in the giant's good graces

Boston 'big three' custodian's no-compete agreement will force her to leave behind clients, but it's a small price to pay for a new opportunity and equity in a top RIA.

July 29, 2022 at 2:28 AM

Chuck Schwab: 'We see these actions as part of an overall evolution of the Schwab story.'

After paying $22 billion of shares to buy TD Ameritrade, Chuck Schwab is preparing to spend $15 billion in hard cash to buy his own 'Schwabitrade' stock-- spiking shares in after-hours trading

The all-stock 2020 transaction for the Omaha, Neb. rival left plenty of dry powder to do a massive share buyback -- and signal bullishness about the ongoing, unseen systems integration

July 28, 2022 at 4:21 AM

Ron Ransom: 'You can't be all things to everyone.'

Envestnet just named an ESG head to meld 'wellness,' 'The Intelligent Financial Life' and 'sustainable investing' into a single nirvana -- that starts outside of the product realm

Ron Ransom earned CEO Bill Crager's trust as chief business development officer and now will define how Envestnet conducts itself as a global citizen and vendor of wellness.

July 27, 2022 at 2:27 AM

Laura Levesque says OCIOs sell fiduciary services yet still build portfolios using proprietary products.

BlackRock CEO preaches a very RIA-like future -- after three awesome wins in five months that total more than $200 billion -- where his $7 trillion manager gets every asset in exchange for unmatched 'completeness'

Larry Fink's New York City firm won 'whole portfolio advisor' OCIO accounts of AIG, British Air and General Dynamics by wholly accepting their fiduciary liability and headaches

July 26, 2022 at 2:02 AM

Marty Bicknell: This is a great solution for us long term.

Marty Bicknell suddenly has a giant LPL Financial (and mass affluent) future, just as David Canter leaves Fidelity, an executive he tried to forge a future with for mass market advice

By adding the $26-billion AUA 'hybrid' in Sacramento to his $60-billion RIA-classic, the Kansas CEO has a near $90-billion advice empire with Fidelity, Schwab and LPL vying for his patronage.

July 22, 2022 at 2:38 PM

Michael Kitces and Brian Hamburger are both weighing in on a long-postponed debate.

The FPA takes 'legal' action to purge 'planner' charlatans from the RIA business -- a plan certain to 'divide' members but align it with its chief gadfly, Michael Kitces

Despite opposition from at least 4% of its own members, the Financial Planning Association is seeking to quash quackery by making it illegal for a product salesman to get labeled as a planner -- a fight that Nerd's Eye View took up last year.

July 22, 2022 at 1:30 AM

Cathie Wood has proven impervious to monumental setbacks.

Cathie Wood's 'transparency' ETF goes 'poof' under murky circumstances after a star-crossed launch

The ARK ETF bought index data from a South Carolina start up with a largely hypothetical track record created from back-testing

July 20, 2022 at 6:38 PM

TD Ameritrade remains a company with an autonomous brand and management information systems .

Boom, boom, boom, Charles Schwab Corp. just spent $220 million to shuck three lawsuits--a likely 'deck clearing' before the TD Ameritrade merger closes, say multiple analysts

A 2017 Scottrade class action suit inherited from TD Ameritrade, a robo-advice disclosure settlement, and TDA merger class action have all gone poof.

July 18, 2022 at 9:15 PM

Naureen Hassan is back on the 'digital' Wall Street brokerage track after a year as a bank executive.

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

Stuart Silverman: 'We've got a great relationship with Fidelity... I wouldn't say anything is malicious or intentional.'

The 48-hour mystery of David Canter's Fidelity departure gets solved when RIA custody client steps forward with claim to his future but the headhunter lost his job to the headhunted

Now we know that Bluespring sprang Canter from the Boston giant and that the rollup's co-founder, Stuart Silverman, was the protagonist in the high stakes hire, and the guy who needs to make room for Canter as day-to-day chief.

July 15, 2022 at 2:05 AM

Eric Clarke: Sales activity isn’t showing signs of a summer slump.

Eric Clarke is now in the OCIO business -- shortly after 3,400 advisors attended a Redtail CRM webinar -- which 'unlock(s) incredible cross-selling opportunities,' and all but bakes in 'no summer slump'

Orion closed its Town Square deal to sell outsourced chief investment officer services, but Orion is still madly hiring more staff and won't get to kick back for a summer lull.

July 13, 2022 at 6:05 PM

David Canter was known for harmonious relations across the RIA business.

David Canter is the latest to leave Fidelity Investments amid the ongoing changing of the guard across the company, a 'huge loss,' says RIA CEO

Beloved by mega RIAs for high intelligence and low ego, the RIA custody chief and ex-Schwabie is moving on amid a wider company script of turnover, new job descriptions, ' and wild amounts of hiring

July 13, 2022 at 1:15 AM

Rick Wurster's wide domain as a new president includes Schwab's $145-billion house RIA and now its semi-antiquated brand is being  replaced.

Charles Schwab & Co. turns an RIA page by killing its 'Schwab Private Client' brand to make Schwab DIY investors, with $3 trillion of largely unadvised wealth, 'aware' of its in-house wealth management services

The $145 billion RIA is now 'Schwab Wealth Advisory' with a new president, Rick Wurster, recently taking the RIA under his oversight and software MoneyGuidePro dialed in.

July 11, 2022 at 8:58 PM

Rich Steinmeier: I would call  [the LPL foray into full service] a huge success.

LPL Financial buys its second full-service broker after the first one 'exceeded expectations' following a three-year pilot

The San Diego broker-dealer is buying Boenning & Scattergood and its $5 billion of AUA -- and it's eyeing more regional, W-2 staff advisory shops for acquisition.

July 8, 2022 at 7:30 PM

William Galvin: Vanguard’s deliberate decision [benefited] ultra-wealthy shareholders over main street investors.

Massachusetts and Vanguard Group reach interesting settlement that gives the $8-trillion manager a shot at avoiding 49 copycat suits , quick cash for the state and 65% of a loaf for hapless investors

The William Galvin-driven settlement covers the state's legal fees and sets up restitution fund and a state pay-out, but a pending Pennsylvania lawsuit is likely the first of many to follow.

July 8, 2022 at 2:22 AM

Louis Harvey: 'Schwab could elevate its robo to be a true fiduciary.'

Charles Schwab & Co. will pay $187 million settlement after SEC drops its 'pre-set for business reasons' case

Federal regulators claimed Schwab pre-set client cash allocations without making proper disclosures to Schwab Intelligent Portfolios clients.

July 7, 2022 at 12:10 AM

Ryan Issakainen: We won't put a square peg into a round hole.

First Trust buys Veriti to seize direct indexing void after big players made early purchases of similar startups, then never did much marketing to follow through

First Trust Capital Partners quietly rose to become the No. 6 ETF provider with a DFA-like approach of high-touch RIA field sales and factor investing; sees a similar opportunity with direct investing.

July 6, 2022 at 4:18 PM

Andy Sieg finally made his move with iCapital after Bank of America gave him control of product inventory in 2022.

Merrill Lynch's owner finally invests in iCapital but at the non-early bird special share price

Bank of America paid at a $6 billion valuation after Andy Sieg and Lawrence Calcano had a 'great conversation' over lunch.

July 5, 2022 at 9:13 PM

Ari Sonneberg: I think Grayscale will be hard pressed to find much sympathy, let alone support, from the general public.

Grayscale Investments is suing the SEC to get its ETF approved but bitcoin's swoon means 'public sympathy' may swing in favor of the regulator, a rules lawyer says

The 'hard-pressed' Stamford, Conn., crypto fund manager calls the SEC's rebuff 'capricous' but with cryptocurrencies in freefall, the SEC can say I told you so -- even if its logic is inconsistent and questionable.

July 1, 2022 at 7:06 PM

Evan Rapoport: It's the enterprise that gets it.

SMArtX rakes in $12 billion of AUM, nets $8.8 billion in six months--thanks to a Morningstar mega-boost-- by selling the novel concept that TAMP assets can be quickly converted to cash on demand

The West Palm Beach, Fla., UMA provider grew about 40% in the six months ended July 29, thanks to a prior deal with the Chicago TAMP and by giving RIAs a power that other TAMPs can't provide.

July 1, 2022 at 12:47 AM

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