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Despite ongoing regulatory woes for its parent bank and a slipping headcount of financial advisors, Wells Fargo’s wealth manager boosted its profit and client assets by double digits. The bank’s Wealth and Investment Management unit has lost more than a net 1,200 registered representatives from the ranks of Wells Fargo Advisors or its Private Bank

Ozan Kose | AFP via Getty Images Cryptocurrency enthusiasts and the exchange-traded fund industry are bracing for the first bitcoin futures ETF to begin trading Tuesday, when the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF is scheduled to debut at the New York Stock Exchange. There is, however, one catch: The ETF goes active unless the Securities and

Bank of America reported $7.7 billion in net income in the third quarter, up from $4.9 billion in the year-ago period and beating Wall Street forecasts, the bank said in its earnings reports released today. As in the last quarter, the bank’s wealth unit proved a robust growth engine as Merrill Lynch scored record investment

There’s no telling where the vast fortunes hide on tree-softened Phillips Avenue here in Sioux Falls. No billionaires in Brioni tuck into the gravy-drenched roast beef sandwich at the Diner. No dark-windowed Escalades cruise past the Child’s Play Store, where the owner sports a pin that proclaims her a “glow getter.” Yet the money is

If 60/40 portfolios had a mind of their own, they would perhaps feel like Mark Twain when he read his own premature obituary. It seems to be the flavor of the autumn: Bank of America called it “the end to 60/40;” Goldman Sachs suggests losses on such portfolios may reach 10%. You get the idea.

Changing cultural and political attitudes toward employment and the COVID-19 pandemic have turned the talent market on its head — and RIAs are no exception. In fact, the DeVoe 2021 RIA Talent Management Report found that employee turnover is rising rapidly within financial advisory practices. With voluntary departures at their highest level in a decade,

While interest in digital assets continues to explode among retail consumers and financial advisors are warming to them, there remain some significant barriers to widespread adoption. About 17% of American adults now own Bitcoin and another 63% are “crypto curious,” according to Ric Edelman, founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, who spoke

UBS CEO Ralph Hamers is creating a new bank-wide team to use more artificial intelligence and data analytics to drive the firm’s digitization. Rob Karofsky, head of UBS’s investment bank, and chief digital and information officer Mike Dargan will lead the new AI, data and analytics team, according to a memo Hamers sent to employees

In this article NKE AAPL A trader works behind plexiglass on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., July 28, 2021. Andrew Kelly | Reuters Today is the traditional start of third-quarter earnings. Here’s the good news: Business is good. Demand for most goods and services are

The Biden administration is weighing an executive order on cryptocurrencies as part of an effort to set up a government-wide approach to the popular asset class, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposed directive would charge federal agencies to study and offer recommendations on relevant areas of crypto — touching on financial regulation,

Financial advisors increasingly want to work for themselves. Over 2015-2020, according to Fidelity Investments, nearly one in five advisors ditched their employer for a competitor, often one much smaller. Among those who bailed, nearly 40% joined a registered independent advisory (RIA) firm, either a pure one or a hybrid shop with broker-dealer services. One in

We are now accepting nominations for two prestigious rankings: Top 40 Brokers Under 40 and Top Regional Brokers Under 40. Each year, we recognize the accomplishments of this elite cohort of young advisors employed by wirehouses and regional broker-dealers. The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, Dec. 1. Results will be announced in early 2022. You

After years of waiting for a U.S. Bitcoin ETF, the crypto community may finally get as many as four products in a matter of weeks. This month, the Securities and Exchange Commission once again has to approve, reject or delay a set of applications for exchange-traded funds based on the largest digital currency. This time

Advisor Sandra Cho, shown here in a selfie she snapped at an industry event, often finds herself one of very few women and even fewer minorities at the table.Sandra Cho I once had a client tell me in the early stages of our working relationship as her financial advisor, “Don’t run off to China with

Bank of America is offering $200 awards to Merrill Lynch Wealth Management branch employees who return to the workplace and confirm they’re fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The company will give the award to client associates, administrative support and operations staff “in recognition of the important work they are doing as the business has transitioned back

Gulf Coast Educators Federal Credit Union in Pasadena, Texas, is working with CUSO Financial Services, a subsidiary of Atria Wealth Solutions, to expand its investment services program. The $1.2 billion-asset credit union announced Wednesday that it has entered into a multiyear agreement with the San Diego-based broker-dealer to improve the services offered to members and

(Bloomberg) — Persistent inflation could trigger more spells when bonds and equities move in tandem, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts, posing a headache for investors who use fixed-income securities to shelter some of their portfolios from stock-market drops. The bond-market selloff in September coincided with the S&P 500 shedding 4.8%, a lockstep move

SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee and FINRA CEO Robert Cook’s calls for streamlining the various regulatory databases highlight current barriers to transparent disclosures for investors. Information about an advisor’s legal and regulatory disclosures are often a material component in an investor’s decision to hire or retain a financial professional. Therefore, it is very important that

In today’s market environment, one of the smartest moves an advisor can make in their client’s portfolio construction is to “own volatility.” What do we mean by that? First, let’s think about what a client is trying to accomplish: pursuing or preserving the comfort that comes with knowing their expenses can be met for life

RIAs were consolidated and advisor teams shuffled amongst firms, with Wealthspire and Janney making significant noise. FINRA gave its highest honor to a financial education consultant working with Native American tribes, Envestnet will help customers choose health insurance, the North American Securities Administrators Association wants your input on rules that would make it difficult for

Dividing RIAs by their size and whether they have a brokerage affiliation reveals differences in the types of clients and amount of assets managed among the industry’s more than 5,000 firms. Despite the difficult year for the world in 2020, retail-facing RIAs of all types grew substantially last year in terms of the number of

Americans amassed $464 billion in tax-advantaged college savings investment plans as of June, up $91 billion from a year ago, according to new data from the Federal Reserve. Spread among the estimated 15 million families with so-called 529 accounts, that means that the average plan holds less than $29,000, which would pay for about half

LPL failed to follow its own anti-money-laundering procedures when it opened a customer account and processed wire transfers for Eugenio Garcia Jimenez, Jr., an unregistered investment advisor who allegedly misappropriated $7.1 million of taxpayer funds from the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, according to documents from the SEC. Garcia presented a plan to invest approximately

The benefit of tax deferral offered by retirement accounts is a powerful tool that can allow individuals to accumulate substantially larger nest eggs to fund retirement spending than the savings they could otherwise accumulate through the use of regular taxable accounts. But that tax deferral isn’t a free ride. Rather, it comes at a cost.

In a new episode of the Financial Planning Podcast, the head of the independent arm of one of the largest regional brokerages explained how it plans to compete beyond its traditional market. Alex David is the CEO of Stifel Independent Advisors, a firm that rebranded earlier this year from Century Securities after appointing the 13-year

President “Thrive not survive” — that’s the mantra Suni Harford, the president of UBS Asset Management, adopted as her organization weathered the changes brought on by the pandemic. Harford was quick to decide that UBS would not just tolerate the flexible work arrangements made necessary by the pandemic, but would embrace them as the dawn

Two RIAs managing several billions of dollars in client assets in their second generation of ownership are folding into bigger firms in an effort to ramp up their growth. Dallas-based Quest Capital Management, a hybrid RIA with $1.5 billion in client assets and 24 employees and advisors previously affiliated with Raymond James Financial Services, sold

As large wealth managers aim to reach clients historically excluded from financial services, a financial advisor teamed up with an academic researcher to look into the most common planning questions among affluent Blackhouseholds. More than 80% of the 115 clients of Keith Beverly’s Washington, D.C.-based RIA, Grid 202 Partners, identify as African American, and the

As recent breaches and related major SEC-imposed fines have made clear, cybersecurity is not something that financial advisors and accountants can afford to address once in a policy handout, never to revisit. Indeed, breaches keep occurring and mistakes keep happening because of non-adherence to firms’ cybersecurity policies and because of a lack of oversight and

With his ultra wealthy clients, Thomas Giordano-Lascari is used to dealing with complicated tax issues, like eight-figure estate planning for exotic investments. Now he’s telling his rich customers to consider splurging on something decidedly mundane: life insurance. The tax plan taking shape in Congress would strangle a strategy widely used by the wealthy to shield