According to an article in RIABiz, the Boston Consulting Group Inc. (“BCG”) and FINRA are battling over the cost of creating an SRO for advisers. In December 2011, BCG issued a study (funded by adviser advocacy groups including the CFP Board, the Financial Planning Association, Investment Adviser Association, and the National Association of Personal Financial [...]
Ahead of the Curve
Aggregator deals back on the rise in first quarter
May 15th, 2012According to RIA Biz, roll-up firms accounted for 53% of RIA merger and acquisition deals in the first quarter of 2012. The information in the article is based on a report released by Schwab Advisor Services. The article then provides further insight into some of these statistics: There were 17 M&A deals involving RIAs, an [...]
RIA Study Group on adviser growth created
May 15th, 2012RIA Biz is reporting that a group of six RIAs have formed a study group – aRIA (The Alliance for RIAs) to investigate inorganic growth. The six current members have a combined $18 billion in assets. The group is managed by John Furey, principal of Advisor Growth Strategies LLC, who also created the group. aRIA [...]
Betterment accidentally pulls an inflamatory blog post
May 15th, 2012According to an article on RIA Biz, BettermentLLC, an online investment adviser, has removed a post from its website after RIAs expressed “outrage” over a picture that appeared to equate pigs and advisers. However, Betterment’s founder said it was a technical glitch – and not public pressure – that resulted in the post begin removed [...]
California RIA fires off a letter to Senator Bachus decrying FINRA as SRO pick
May 7th, 2012RIA Biz is highlighting a letter sent to Senator Bachus from Neil C. Hokanson regarding FINRA becoming an SRO for investment advisers. Mr. Hokanson is the president of Hokanson Associates Inc., an RIA based in California with $440 million of assets under management. A few of the highlights from the letter are as follows: “I’m [...]
U.S. lawmaker Bachus cleared in insider trade probe
May 7th, 2012According to an article by Reuters, the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics unanimously recommended that the House Ethics Committee dismiss allegations that Representative Bachus may have traded on insider information. As a result of the political backlash surrounding these allegations, President Obama signed legislation in March that will curb the ability of members [...]
Mary Schapiro Speaks up About Investment Adviser SRO and Fiduciary Mandate for Brokers
May 7th, 2012In an interview with Investment Advisor magazine in mid-march, Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, voiced her thoughts on two of the top issues affecting the investment advisory space. Ms. Schapiro stated that: (1) Brokers should be held to a fiduciary mandate, and (2) a self-regulatory organization to help the agency examine [...]
New website provides fee transparency
May 7th, 2012InvestmentNews recently reported on a new website, www.SigFig.com, that aggregates a user’s account information and analyzes how much the user is paying in advisory fees and brokerage commissions. Parker Conrad, co-founder of SigFig, believes the website will be a boon to RIAs as he expects wirehouse investors using the site to be the most unhappy [...]
Goldman Sachs facing a new insider trading probe
May 7th, 2012According to a recent article in Reuters, a Goldman Sachs employee in California is being examined for possible insider trading in a case tied to Raj Rajaratnam. According to the article, the employee is suspected of giving inside information to Rajaratnam. The information about this latest investigation was revealed during a hearing related to the [...]
FINRA Director Calls It Quits
May 7th, 2012A director of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) who was banned last week from running his own firm for three months said he will quit the self regulator’s board. Mr. Blumenschein faced growing pressure to step down after InvestmentNews reported last week that he had settled failure-to-supervise charges brought by FINRA enforcers last September. Last [...]
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