Trader Talk

Rockefeller Capital Management hired its 25th team this year, a former Merrill Lynch group that oversaw $550 million in client assets. The firm, which is backed by private equity, is part of the Rockefeller family office. Since it’s expansion into wealth management, the company has been aggressively courting top wirehouse talent in a bid to

Does it matter for stocks who wins the White House? Is there anything unusual about the candidates this year that could impact the markets, regardless of who wins?  For answers, we turn to Ed Clissold, chief U.S. Strategist for Ned Davis Research, who has studied elections and the impact on markets going back to 1900.  This

International and cross-border financial planning is a common, yet not well-understood area of professional expertise in financial planning. There are more than 40 million foreign-born individuals living in the United States and 9 million Americans abroad. Serving these clients requires specialized knowledge to avoid major pitfalls. Financial planning for the average client comes with its

Wells Fargo is exploring the sale of its asset management unit, a business that could fetch more than $3 billion, according to a person briefed on the matter. The bank, which has been reviewing its strategy, began discussing a possible deal with other asset managers and private equity firms last month, according to the person,

After further postponing in-person hearings due to the coronavirus pandemic, FINRA may make video conferences a permanent option for arbitration cases. “I think Zoom is here to stay in some capacity,” Laura McNamire, regional director of FINRA Dispute Resolution Services, said Oct. 21 during a virtual panel at PIABA’s annual meeting. “It’s something that we

Wealth management giant UBS added new benefit offerings on Thursday aimed to improve employees’ personal finances, including a partnership with Morningstar and other vendors to address student loan debt, retirement and overall financial wellness. The offerings will be added to the existing UBS Workplace Wealth Solutions platform — launched in January — which received a

Six thousand UBS financial advisors are getting a new platform for market data, investment research, portfolio analytics and risk assessment. UBS Wealth Management is leaving behind the legacy Thomson One product for Refinitiv’s web-based Workspace for Financial Advisors suite. It is available now through UBS’s existing workstation, and will play a starring role on the

LPL Financial poached a growing 50-employee enterprise from Cetera Financial Group, in at least its fifth recruiting grab of the year above $1 billion in client assets. The Tagge Rutherford Financial Group displays on its website the progression of six successively larger offices over its 27-year history in Omaha, Nebraska, all the way up to

Merrill Lynch promoted one of its own to fill a key position left vacant amid recent executive changes at the wirehouse. The firm elevated Steve Alch to the post of Southeast division executive, according to an internal memo seen byFinancial Planning. He replaces Eric Schimpf who was named head of advisory development, a recently created

A former Wells Fargo manager filed a discrimination claim against the bank after losing his job while on medical leave for cancer. Reginald Robinson, 65, alleged race, age and disability discrimination in a complaint filed against the company’s clearing-services business with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last month, according to a copy of the document

Is a vaccine the real risk to the market?  Stocks are within 1% to 2% of their historic highs because of the belief that: 1) stimulus of some form is coming, 2) the election will not devolve into chaos, and 3) an effective vaccine will be available in early 2021. Five vaccines — from Moderna,

A London-based wealth manager with global ambitions aims to extend its reach into the U.S. marketplace via a special purpose acquisition company. Kingswood Acquisition’s plan is to raise $150 million through an IPO of 15 million units at $10 apiece to make acquisitions focusing on the “highly fragmented” independent wealth management industry, according to an

For some of the industry’s biggest actively managed funds, neither market volatility sparked by the coronavirus pandemic nor the upcoming presidential election have deterred outsized gains. The 20 top-performing active products with at least $1 billion in assets under management have generated an average 10-year annualized return of more than 20%, Morningstar Direct data show.

J.P. Morgan Securities landed a former Merrill Lynch team that oversaw roughly $1.1 billion and generated production in excess of $4 million, making it the firm’s biggest hire of 2020. The Campbell Group, led by Gwen Campbell, joined J.P. Morgan Securities on Oct. 21 in San Francisco. Moving with her are fellow team members Derek

UBS reported a record pretax profit of $371 million for its Americas wealth management business, up 12% from the same period a year ago. The firm notched the growth even as headcount fell by a net 274 advisors to 6,353 for its Americas business. The figure includes advisors in Canada and Latin America, UBS reported

In the wake of much-needed attention on diversity, equity and inclusion, here’s a universal recommendation for advisors and clients alike: Don’t get ahead of yourself. As financial planners, we follow these steps with clients: exploratory conversations, data gathering, analysis, recommendations, plan delivery, implementation and monitoring. As a strategy consultant for wealth management firms, I find

William Blair expects to pursue a “hybrid” staffing model combining in-office and remote work, Chief Executive Officer John Ettelson said. The investment bank’s businesses are all functioning well with about 90% of employees at home during the pandemic, Ettelson said Monday at SIFMA’s annual meeting, held virtually this year. William Blair, with roughly 1,500 workers

Would you talk differently if you knew a machine was listening to you and grading you based on what you were saying, or based on whether you were using positive or negative words, or even if the sound of your voice was optimistic or pessimistic? Apparently, Wall Street executives are talking differently. They are trying to

The hunt for new hedges is in full gear. While much has been made about the search for yield in a world of ultra-low interest rates, valuations in the U.S. Treasury market also leave very little room for price gains to counteract losses should the high-flying stock market turn lower. It’s a dilemma that could

Charles Schwab’s $22 billion acquisition of TD Ameritrade may be closed, but there are still lingering questions around what Schwab will do with Veo, its former rival’s popular technology platform for independent advisors. While fintech startups worry that Schwab may not offer the same integration support they enjoyed with Veo, industry insiders say the deal

The IRS is giving taxpayers until the end of the year before it stops its temporary procedures for faxing in Forms 1045 and 1139 for claiming tentative tax refunds, instead of mailing them, which it has allowed as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, the IRS began allowing taxpayers to file

Wells Fargo fired more than 100 employees suspected of improperly collecting coronavirus relief funds, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The firm determined that the staffers defrauded the Small Business Administration “by making false representations in applying for coronavirus relief funds for themselves,” according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg. The

Are advisors finally catching a break? In some courthouses, it seems they are indeed. In recent rulings, courts appear to be reevaluating their thinking on departing advisors who transport client assets to new firms — and looking askance at claims by major Wall Street firms that these advisors have done them “irreparable harm.” That’s part

This piece is in response to an article that appeared in Financial Planning Sept. 24. Did sales of “expensive” variable annuities fall as a result of the now-vacated Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, as claimed by professors in a study published in July? The professors from Harvard Business School and New York University do make

RBC landed a $1.2 billion team, one of its biggest recruits of the year. The all-woman team joined the regional BD from J.P. Morgan Securities. They are the latest advisors to sign with RBC, which has been pursuing an aggressive recruiting push. RBC says it has had “ a year of unprecedented recruiting momentum.” The

Fresh off achieving a $1 billion valuation, Wealthsimple’s top executive says the firm has more work to do before pursuing an initial public offering. The online investment company, which announced a new funding round that raised $87 million, plans to use the infusion of capital to build out cash, checking, insurance and mortgage products that

A little-known rule buried deep on the IRS website presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for clients with a health savings account — the ability to make a contribution directly from an IRA. Although this one-time offer isn’t worth the effort for most clients, who’d be better off continuing to fund both accounts and collect dual tax

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management saw fee-based asset flows jump 54% year-over-year, a surge accelerated in part by the wirehouse’s stepped-up recruiting efforts, said CFO Jonathan Pruzan during the firm’s third-quarter earnings call Oct. 15. “We’re seeing Morgan Stanley become the destination of choice for financial advisors,” Pruzan said. Morgan Stanley reported fee-based asset flows of

Cetera Financial Group’s private equity backer is promising the firm’s 8,000 advisors that Genstar Capital is in it for the long haul as an investor. Cetera is “a flywheel; It just keeps getting better and better,” Tony Salewski, a Genstar managing partner and Cetera board member, said at a virtual event for advisors this week.

Fidelity Investments plans to hire 4,000 people over the next six months as the money manager benefits from this year’s turmoil while some of its rivals struggle. The Boston-based firm said Tuesday the additions will be in areas including financial advisors and customer service agents, and represent a 15% increase in associates who focus on