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How Will Schwab’s USAA Deal Affect Advisors?

15:43 29 July in In the News by rafferty

July 26, 2019 By Janet Levaux, ThinkAdvisor Charles Schwab confirmed its expected plan to buy the brokerage and managed portfolio accounts of USAA Investment Management Company late Thursday. The $1.8 billion deal includes a referral agreement could add 1 million new accounts and about $90 billion in client assets to Schwab’s $1.9 trillion Investor Services business. The transaction comes just a few months after Schwab rolled out a subscription service for DIY investors and only a couple of days after TD Ameritrade CEO Tim Hockey announced his departure. What does it mean for Schwab’s affiliated advisors, who work with $1.8 trillion of the firm’s $3.7 trillion in total assets, and its rivals? Not much, top industry observers say. “This is a savvy retail business acquisition for Schwab, with a limited threat to financial advisors …,” said Chip Roame, head of...

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Raymond James Plans Big Play to Keep RIA-Bound Advisors

18:14 26 June in In the News by rafferty

June 25, 2019 By Mrinalini Krishna, Financial Advisor IQ Hoping to catch advisors looking to go the RIA route, Raymond+James is considering providing an in-house opportunity for advisors who want to drop their Finra registration to transition to the RIA model. Raymond James private client group president Scott Curtis says the firm is working on “an opportunity for advisors who perhaps want to drop their Finra registration, but operate as a fee-only practice. They’ll be able to do that under the corporate RIA and not necessarily have to exit Raymond James as either an independent advisor or potentially as an employee advisor, and go to an independent RIA to operate under that model.” Curtis adds that a pilot for this program will likely be “up and running before the end of this calendar year.” Some industry...

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LPL Financial push for employee model attempt to tap into $11 trillion market

21:05 25 June in In the News by rafferty

June 25, 2019 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News Advisers working for wirehouses and regional firms control vast amounts of assets that LPL would like to bring under its umbrella At a time when broker-dealers are increasingly trying to come up with business models for advisers who want to act as registered investment advisers, recent moves by LPL Financial left some wondering if the firm was taking a step back in time. LPL Financial, the largest broker-dealer with an independent contractor model, raised some eyebrows in May when it said it was adding an employe channel for advisers who want to work directly for the firm. To that end, LPL Financial's parent company, LPL Financial Holdings Inc., last month said it was buying a small employee model broker-dealer in Florida, Allen & Co., with 30 advisers and...

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4 Reasons Small BDs Are Under Pressure

15:29 07 June in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

June 6, 2019 By Jon Henschen, ThinkAdvisor Though BDs in general are seeing higher profits, several trends are mounting against smaller firms. Higher interest rates are enabling money market accounts, sweep accounts and margin accounts to contribute noticeable profit increases to the bottom lines of some broker-dealers. But though we’ve seen a bump up in profitability for BDs in general, we also see some worrisome trends unique to smaller organizations, which will work against their future survival. Here are the four trends most affecting small broker-dealers today: Fewer mutual fund sales and more ETF sales; Fewer REIT and alternative investment sales; More retiring advisors, lower rates of succession plans and recruiting difficulties; as well as A lack of scale, which puts them at a disadvantage on the services they offer, their technology and profitability Lower...