Trader Talk

An investment advisor is accused of fraudulently convincing two dozen clients to invest at least $5.1 million in two private unregistered funds with promises of growth and limited risk, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint. John Robert Jones Jr., of Carrollton, Georgia, is said to have violated multiple sections of the Securities Act,

Focus Financial Partners, a network of independent wealth management firms, announced last week that two affiliate firms, The Colony Group and XML Financial Group, are set to acquire an RIA and a wealth management practice, respectively, in the third quarter of 2021. Focus also announced that Sonora Investment Management, an RIA, will join as a

A financial advisor registered with LPL Financial has been arrested and accused of fatally striking a pedestrian and then fleeing the scene on foot, leaving his wife, also injured, and the victim behind. The advisor, Timothy Hamano, 64, of Piedmont, California, has been charged with two counts of a felony hit-and-run involving injury or death

Morgan Stanley on Thursday disclosed that a data breach at one of its contractors led to the theft of personal information about some customers whose stock accounts had gone dormant. The bank said in a notice to affected clients that the cyber intrusion affected Guidehouse, a consulting company that Morgan Stanley uses to find current

Goldman Sachs economists said their optimistic outlook for global growth this year is now increasingly shared by rivals, meaning their forecast is the closest to consensus than at any time since April 2020. The Wall Street bank predicts the world economy will grow 6.6% this year and 4.8% in 2022, compared to the 6.3% and

As Americans rush to retire, they may be looking around for the best place to settle after leaving the workforce. In a new ranking, southeast states swept the top three spots judged the best places for retirees in 2021. Georgia came out the winner, followed closely by Florida and Tennessee, in a list Wednesday released

Advisor fintech company Riskalyze proudly announced in 2019 that industry veteran Lori Hardwick would take over as chairwoman of its board of directors. The company was much quieter when she not only vacated the position, but left the Riskalyze board entirely less than two years later. In fact, Riskalyze didn’t say anything other than a

The transformative effects of big data, machine learning and AI systems on financial services are undisputed. Algorithmic trading, robo advice and automated underwriting are just a few of the emerging services pushing the industry into uncharted territory. While the rapid pace of change creates new opportunities, regulators, academics and consumer groups have raised concerns about

When Charles Schwab launched its robo advisor service in 2015, the company said it would be a smart, low-cost and hands-free solution that would automatically invest clients’ money in various exchange-traded funds. The product, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, was part of a crop of new offerings from brokerages that raced to sign up clients after the

As stocks around the world continue to smash one record after another, some of the world’s biggest money managers have a simple message: Get used to it. The likes of BlackRock State Street Global Markets, UBS Asset Management and JPMorgan Asset Management expect equity markets to keep rising in the second half of the year,

Robinhood unleashed a revolution, marshaling throngs of new traders to financial markets in an upside-down year. But the free trading app’s breakneck growth hurt the same small-time investors it sought to empower. That’s the accusation leveled by Wall Street’s self-funded watchdog, which extracted almost $70 million from the brokerage in a record settlement Wednesday, including

A midsize wealth manager’s SEC settlement displays the fragmented industry awaiting the Biden administration’s next move on fiduciary rules. Broker-dealer Crown Capital Securities agreed to pay a $1.6 million in disgorgement, interest and a fine after the SEC alleged the company did not disclose its conflicts of interests related to mutual fund share classes, cash

Sanctuary wealth signed a four-person ex-Merrill Lynch Wealth Management team that managed $1.22 billion in assets, according to the firm. Advisor Bradley Bruce, of the former Bruce Wealth Management Group at Merrill, founded mFORCE Capital in Fort Worth, Texas. Advisor and founder of mFORCE Capital, Bradley Bruce. In an email to Financial Planning, Bruce says

Charles Schwab said it will take a $200 million charge in the second quarter related to an SEC probe of its robo advisor platform. The compliance inquiry relates to past disclosures around Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios product, according to a regulatory filing. The company said it’s been cooperating with the SEC and its ultimate liability may

Raymond James hired a new Cleveland, Ohio complex director away from Merrill Lynch, and launched a program to help advisors who are military veterans get masters’ degrees while completing their firm training. Several advisor teams went independent, including a group leaving Wells Fargo Advisors to launch a new firm under LPL’s Strategic Wealth Services. And

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Let’s say you’re one of the lucky ones and have accumulated $1 million in your 401(k) retirement account after years of working. But, like many, maybe the pandemic has made you second guess being in the office, and your employer is pushing older employees aside. So you’ve decided to retire. How can

Robinhood, dogged by fines and regulatory scrutiny, revealed several new inquiries from state and federal watchdogs as it seeks to sell shares in one of the year’s most anticipated public offerings. Among the fresh disclosures made in its registration statement: U.S. prosecutors demanded access to CEO Vlad Tenev’s mobile phone, New York is poised to

Out of pandemic chaos has come at least one revelation for many companies: employees’ wellbeing is crucial to the firm’s results, whether it’s physical wellness or financial. A Willis Towers Watson study conducted from February to May 2021 found that 93% of employers surveyed are planning to provide (or currently provide) financial planning and wellness

With wealth management M&A breaking records on multiple metrics, two of the fastest growing RIA aggregators unveiled deals for billion-dollar firms within five hours of each other. CI Financial struck first on June 28, with the announcement that the Canadian asset manager and giant entrant to the U.S. wealth management scene is making its 19th

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal will lead the SEC’s enforcement division, putting a well-known former prosecutor in charge of the unit that polices Wall Street. SEC chair Gary Gensler. Bloomberg News SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced the pick on Tuesday, touting his experience at state and federal levels. Gensler’s first pick, Alex Oh, resigned

(Bloomberg) — Citigroup joined banking rivals including UBS Group in touting its flexible work policies, saying that partial work-from-home will create a competitive edge in recruiting and retaining top staff. The lender’s employees will have the option of working from home at least part time, investment banking co-head Manolo Falco said at a virtual press

JPMorgan Chase is seeking to take advantage of the environmental-social-governance investing boom with its agreement to buy OpenInvest, a San Francisco startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator and QED. OpenInvest lets users invest in alignment with causes they care about — climate change, say, or animal welfare — as well as their own financial

The private equity industry, not known for its public appeal among everyday Americans, is deploying politically directed advertisements in what could be a last stand to protect a valuable tax break that Democrats have targeted for elimination this year. Arizona, with its two moderate Democratic senators, is on the receiving end of one of them.

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Source: NYSE The floor of the New York Stock Exchange, which has been quiet in the past year, has suddenly come to life. Traders have been returning, restrictions have been relaxed so more visitors can come on the floor, and the IPO business is booming.

JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy OpenInvest, a financial-technology firm that offers services for values-based investing. Founded in 2015, OpenInvest is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator, among others, JPMorgan said Tuesday in a statement. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. “Clients are increasingly focused on understanding the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impact of

In a deal taking advantage of its new custodial relationship with Raymond James, RIA aggregator Mercer Global Advisors acquired a high-net-worth practice. A. Farah Investments’ AFI Wealth Strategies (AFI), a Wisconsin-based wealth management firm with about $240 million assets under management, sold to private equity-backed Mercer, the parties said on June 23. While the firms

Morgan Stanley led big U.S. banks in raising payouts to investors — by jacking up dividends or announcing plans to buy back shares — after amassing cash piles that easily met the Federal Reserve’s capital requirements. Dividend payouts by the nation’s six largest lenders will rise, on average, by almost half — and that’s with

FINRA’s latest case has taken nearly a decade to resolve. Almost five years after the regulator launched targeted examinations of wealth managers’ sales of pricey alternative investment products called unit investment trusts, Merrill Lynch agreed to pay $11.7 million to settle a case involving allegedly unsuitable UIT rollovers between 2011 and 2015. During that four-year

UBS Group will permanently allow as many as two-thirds of its employees to mix working at home and the office, as it seeks a recruitment edge over some Wall Street banks taking a more hardline approach to work locations. The lender’s move is being led by CEO Ralph Hamers, according to internal memos seen by

For five years, Miami investment advisor Ramiro Jose Sugranes flew under the radar, stealing $5 million from more than 100 clients across the country and the globe, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint unsealed last week. In a common type of fraud known as “cherry-picking,” Sugranes allegedly skimmed small sums from clients’ profitable