Trader Talk

A wealth manager that’s under different ownership after letting go of hundreds of financial advisors as part of a compliance overhaul settled a FINRA case alleging it deceived investors. National Securities generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions by selling private placements managed by its affiliated RIA, National Asset Management, in December 2017 and

The chief investment officer of a New York firm specializing in trade finance was ordered to spend 12 years in prison for defrauding clients of more than $100 million. David Hu, one of the founders of International Investment Group, was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan. Hu and his partner,

Cryptocurrency has been slow to gain favor with independent financial advisors, who tend to regard digital assets with skepticism. Meanwhile, as more people trade bitcoin and its brethren, they’re confronting thorny tax problems this filing season that can impact their long-term financial planning. Advisors with a “holistic” approach on everything from paying for college and

Fidelity unveiled nine equity and fixed income mixes — 10/90, 20/80, 30/70, 40/60, 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, 85/15, and 100/0. Each option has I and Z share classes. The portfolios are available through Fidelity’s managed account platform, Fidelity Managed Account XchangeSM (FMAX), and the Envestnet platform. Using a blend of actively managed funds from Fidelity and

Catherine Wood, chief executive officer of ARK Investment Management LLC, applauds during the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, April 7, 2022. Eva Marie Uzcategui | Bloomberg | Getty Images Exchange, the biggest ETF conference in the world, starts Monday in Miami Beach. It’s both good times, and difficult times for the exchange-traded fund

In one of the largest recruiting moves among independent wealth managers this year, a firm overseeing 2,000 employer-sponsored retirement plans switched brokerages. Gallagher’s Retirement, Investment & Fiduciary Consulting Practices, which has more than 90 advisors and 50 support staff members with listed discretionary assets under management of $6.27 billion on behalf of 55 clients, left

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo had more banks than letters in his name before Avenue Capital Group founder Marc Lasry stepped in. The National Basketball Association’s two-time most valuable player had accounts open at 50 different banks, with each of them holding up to the Federal Deposit Insurance coverage limit. That shocked Lasry, who co-owns

Wealth managers who had agreed to a major M&A deal, recruiting move and strategic partnership have dialed it back to a simple collaboration after a slew of financial advisor exits. Summit Financial Holdings and a private partnership backing it, Merchant Investment Management, will tap into the banking services of Greenwich, Connecticut-based Fieldpoint Private while pulling

In two of three moves that saw three teams join Linsco by LPL Financial in March with more than $800 million in combined client assets, former Morgan Stanley and UBS practices left their wirehouses for LPL’s employee arm. Financial advisors Lisa Tesar and client services associate Julie Regan of Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Tesar Group Investment

Time in the trenches is valuable in just about any career, but that may be especially true in financial planning. Early-career professionals have to make myriad choices about the types of clients they want to serve, the type of firm where they want to work and their investing philosophies. It’s tough to move ahead in

Apollo Global Management is expanding its global wealth business, bringing in new hires at a rapid clip as it pushes to win the wallets of individuals seeking investments outside of stocks and bonds. The alternative-asset management giant has added about 150 people since May for global wealth, including senior hires from Goldman Sachs Group and

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association had enough to celebrate by holding its first in-person Private Client Conference since 2019 this week. But Merrill Lynch Wealth Management President Andy Sieg told the audience of advisors at a Miami hotel that was just the beginning. Sieg said that despite the challenges the stock market is

As Americans rush to file their taxes by April 18, some fintechs are offering banks tax-prep technology they can extend to customers going forward. Embedded tax service fintechs such as April and Column Tax point out that they and their financial institution partners can nudge customers into making better financial — and tax-savvy — decisions

After UBS resolved client complaints amounting to billions in alleged losses from funds tied to Puerto Rican bonds, its brokers are getting many of the thousands of claims off their records. As part of an estimated 4,000 arbitration claims about fixed-income products linked to Puerto Rico’s debt, UBS clients who owned the U.S. territory’s municipal

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says tax filings for cryptocurrency transactions should be treated just like stocks and bonds, without clarifying the specific actions the agency will take. “Taxpayers should receive the same type of tax reporting on digital asset transactions that they receive for transactions in stocks and bonds so that they have the

Envestnet isn’t talking about it, but the Chicago-based provider of outsourced investment management and financial technology sure looks to be a company preparing for a sale. On top of closing its Chicago headquarters, as first reported by Citywire RIA, Envestnet plans to shutter the Tamarac headquarters in Seattle, according to multiple sources familiar with the

A half dozen years after she first filed a wrongful termination claim and following losses in FINRA arbitration and two appeals, a financial advisor prevailed at the highest court in the land. “My hope was to help other financial advisors in similar circumstances avoid this issue,” Denise Badgerow of Thibodaux, Louisiana-based Southern Wealth Strategies wrote

Panicked about inflation? A little perspective might calm things down. With gasoline prices around $6 a gallon in California and stock and bond markets jittery about the economic effects of geopolitical tensions in Ukraine, the twin forces of higher prices and lower investment returns have investors worried about an erosion to their retirement nest eggs.

SEC chairman Gary Gensler testifies before a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Sept. 14, 2021 in Washington. Evelyn Hockstein-Pool/Getty Images The Securities and Exchange Commission has voted unanimously to propose a rule for the registration and regulation of security-based swap execution facilities. A swap execution facility, or SEF, is an electronic

Trying to come to terms with a fair distribution of assets in a high net worth divorce is without a doubt one of the most challenging aspects of a marital split — not only for the spouses, but for the professionals helping them through it. And when one of the parties does not fully disclose

Commonwealth Financial Network must pay a former broker $175,000 over a FINRA arbitration case involving a financial advisor’s medical condition and the breakup of a practice. The independent wealth manager owes James “Jay” A. Womack compensatory damages of $125,000 and punitive damages of $50,000 for “willful or wanton conduct” in the “defamatory” Form U5 filing

SEI Investments’ months-long search for new leadership has ended with the company selecting from its own ranks. Ryan Hicke, a 24-year veteran of SEI who currently serves as an executive vice president and chief information officer, will take over as CEO on June 1. He succeeds Alfred West, who founded SEI in 1968 and is

Young Black Americans are embracing cryptocurrency to counter a distrust in stock markets and financial institutions. About 38% of Black investors under 40 years old own digital tokens compared with 29% of their white counterparts, according to a survey by Ariel Investments and Charles Schwab issued Tuesday. Overall, twice as many Black respondents than those

Although most SEC-registered RIAs won’t receive an examination this year, the advisory practices that do get an audit will already have a comprehensive cheat sheet in hand. That’s because the regulator has provided financial advisors and other wealth management professionals with its annual listing of its priorities for the more than 2,000 RIA exams that

If the rising threats from malware, hacks, phishing and other breaches weren’t enough, the SEC has given financial advisors more reasons to shore up their cybersecurity. New proposed rules issued in February would create “cybersecurity risk management” standards for all RIAs, such as new disclosures on Form ADV. It’s only the latest example of how

“Seek first to understand, then be understood.” This fifth of the seven habits of highly effective people, as laid out in Stephen Covey’s bestselling book, is crucial for financial advisors who aspire to communicate effectively with clients and to obtain client referrals. But although many advisors implicitly accept the power and wisdom of this habit,

Chase Wealth Management, the branch-based unit of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, has appointed three new regional directors in key markets for the firm. Mark Adams will oversee advisors and market directors in 200 branches across North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Don Bausley is the regional director of the Mountain Region,

Financial advisors can get worn down by demanding clients, especially those who harbor unreasonable expectations about market returns or spend too much in retirement. But the mental frustration runs both ways, and when it involves taxes, things can get dangerous. Wealthy investors are increasingly exhausted from thinking about the Biden administration’s latest proposal for tax

A financial advisor received a 52-month sentence after he admitted to spending nearly $1 million of his clients’ money on vacations, jewelry, private school tuition and other personal uses. Naseem M. Salamah forged authorization documents disbursing more than $968,000 to bank accounts he controlled between August 2017 and May 2021 from those of three clients

An advisory practice accused of fraudulently selling $40 million worth of variable annuities to federal employees lost to the SEC in court and also faces an ongoing civil action over the case. Former LPL Financial registered representative Jonathan Dax Cooke and the practice he co-founded, Keystone Capital Partners, which did business as Federal Employee Benefit