Trader Talk

Upon its launch in October, I analyzed what is widely being called the first Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. — and came to the conclusion that the title is a mischaracterization. In my opinion, a better, more accurate way to refer to it would be the first ETF providing Bitcoin exposure. It’s a distinction with

While some insurance providers are turning to fintech to expand agents’ ability to offer financial planning, investment management and even cryptocurrency, at least one is looking to digitize how it sells actual life insurance. Equitable, a financial services company that was previously owned by AXA Group, has partnered with fintech startup Bestow to launch an

A good website can convince financial advisors to boost their allocations to asset managers. The problem, however, is that few fund websites make it easy for those advisors to navigate and find the information they need, according to a J.D. Power Survey. Only 11% of the evaluations in the market research firm’s 2021 U.S. Advisor

On September 13, the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee released its markup of the proposed revenue raisers (tax increases) to fund President Joe Biden’s broader “Build Back Better” initiative. While much of the focus since ten has been on the proposed legislation’s impact on income taxes, the draft legislation also contains a

A blunder by a Wells Fargo team tasked with managing the firm’s last FINRA case involving the “Write Once Read Many” format led to another one five years later, according to the regulator. Wells Fargo Clearing Services, the parent firm of Wells Fargo Advisors, as well as its independent brokerage, the Wells Fargo Advisors Financial

The comprehensive Social Security reform legislation with the best chance of passing Congress faces opposition from Republicans calling for more targeted changes to the program. In the first hearing about the Social Security 2100 Act on Dec. 7 before the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security, ranking member Tom Reed of New

Linda-Eling Lee believes the core audience of people engaged in environmental, social and governance investing issues has changed drastically over the past 10 years. She said at the start of the decade, ESG investing was a topic typically reserved for specialists at investment houses with expertise in one or two specific areas serving a niche

Peter Lynch has a word for people who have gone all-in on passive investing: You’re losing out. “The move to passive is a mistake,” the former Fidelity Magellan fund manager said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio’s Baystate Business to be broadcast Tuesday. “Our active guys have beat the market for 10, 20, 30 years,

Robinhood may describe itself as a company that exists to make customers happy and challenge the status quo of the financial services industry, but the company has taken up the traditional brokerage industry’s position that it shouldn’t be required to always act in clients’ best interests. The company behind the popular commission-free trading app asked

Morgan Stanley’s settlement with a late client’s estate for hundreds of thousands of dollars led to the dismissal of a FINRA arbitration claim seeking several millions of dollars in damages. Three arbitrators granted Morgan Stanley’s motion to dismiss a case filed by Lisa Drew, the successor trustee of the Tullio and Maria DeFilippis Joint Revocable

The biggest mutual fund and ETF families are riding the crest of passive investment, especially in equities, benefitting from new investors entering the market and allowing them to keep their market share over time. This is according to a new analysis from FUSE Research, based on Morningstar fund data. The well-known names on the list

Wall Street banks compete ferociously with each other to entice star wealth managers with ultra-rich clients to jump ship and work for them. JPMorgan Chase allegedly brings that warfare in-house, pitting its own financial advisors against its own private bankers in a Hunger Games-style competition for control over lucrative clients, a new lawsuit claims. Over

Some banks, once wary of lending money to financial professionals because they lacked guaranteed income streams, have changed positions. Since Live Oak Bank’s path to dominance seven years ago, when it pioneered financing for advisor succession through Small Business Administration loans, conventional loans have joined the fray. Those changes are key amid a red hot

Correction An earlier version of this story inaccurately stated that the E-Trade incentives begin in July rather than at some point in the third quarter and that the non-advisor mortgage incentive covered only other Morgan Stanley associates on brokers’ own teams. December 03, 2021 10:03 AM EST Correction An earlier version of this story inaccurately

RIAs have seen a massive surge in M&A activity and accelerated advisor integrations since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. Indeed, according to a 2021 study from Echelon Partners, the second half of 2020 was “by far the most active period” in RIA history, with 124 deals — or 61% of all 2020 deals

VanEck, a passive and active investment management firm, has a delicious new ETF focused on the future of food. M&A deal volume reached a new all-time high, and that was with more than a month left to go in the year. New York University is adding a master’s degree in financial planning. And there was

BNY Mellon Pershing announced Thursday that it plans to acquire Optimal Asset Management, a step into the world of direct indexing that signals the firm’s intentions with its new technology business arm. Optimal uses software to create personalized investment portfolios using direct indexing, a formerly esoteric strategy that has recently vaulted into the mainstream. The

One of the largest bank-based brokerage firms failed to make timely financial disclosures about its registered representatives for more than five years, according to FINRA. Without admitting or denying the findings, Citigroup Global Markets agreed to a fine of $375,000 after investigators alleged the firm ran afoul of Form U4 rules requiring it to disclose

Two years ago, 2020 dawned with high expectations for the RIA universe. But no one predicted what actually happened: the pandemic, a market crash and then a rapid boom, followed by a vast reordering of priorities for both clients and advisors as many shifted to work from home. Looking into their crystal balls, RIA leaders

A Texas-based firm has become one of the first independent wealth managers to ink a name, image and likeness deal with a standout student-athlete. Intercontinental Wealth Advisors this week announced a partnership and sponsorship with Rashad Wisdom, a leader on the 11-1 University of Texas at San Antonio football team. Wisdom, a junior safety and

Wealth advisors strive to maximize investment returns for their clients by staying one step ahead of shifts in tax laws. So what happens when they charge out of the gate with pre-emptive financial moves — sell appreciated stock, offload a business, transfer assets — that later turn out not to have been necessary? There can

Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Bill Clark | Bloomberg | Getty Images Foreign public companies that are listed in the United States may be delisted if their auditors do

With retail investors and financial advisors increasingly investing in cryptocurrencies, should they be using tax-advantaged retirement accounts to buy digital assets like Bitcoin? That’s the idea behind Alto Solutions, a Nashville-based fintech that lets investors put alternative investments ranging from fine art and venture capital to startups and real estate in self-directed retirement accounts. The

A Dallas-based independent broker dealer is suing a Nashville resort over a $1.3 million bill racked up for an advisor conference that never took place. It’s the latest in Covid-related fallout for both wealth management and the events industry, which saw most major bookings cancelled over the past nearly two years. Avantax Wealth Management has

A messy arbitration case in which former Raymond James & Associates brokers sought $36 million ended in a confidential settlement and an award paying one of them $500. After a 26-session hearing, a three-member FINRA arbitration panel dismissed all but one of the allegations of defamation, unjust enrichment and other claims filed by financial advisors

The corporate sector has a leading role to play in the world’s response to climate change. The data accumulated so far makes it clear that the more greenhouse gases a company emits, the lower its stock price relative to its earnings. This effect — in a sense a climate discount — is influenced by climate

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the CARES Act Oversight at the Senate Office Building on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021 in Washington, DC. Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images The market is facing a conundrum.  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has thrown a monkey wrench

After decades of low inflation and a long period in which investors questioned the need for inflation-associated assets, the specter of a sustained bout of inflation has put protection front and center in clients’ minds. In our experience, most economic models of inflation have historically offered limited value to investors. Inflation can be incredibly hard

The total liability for a giant wealth manager found to have smeared a former broker with false and defamatory statements amounts to a filing fee of $25. In the latest example of a system that some financial advisors and attorneys describe as giving brokerages the ability to besmirch their ex-registered representatives with no opportunity for

As tax increases careen their way through Congress, a surprising takeaway has emerged for financial advisors with clients who are affluent but not Jeff Bezos-rich: Contrary to expectations, many investors don’t have much to worry about. And while a few do, it’s nowhere near as bad as they feared. Nearly 4.8 million people making between