RIABiz

Marty Bicknell commits $175 million to install 700 'AI' bots to revolutionize RIA automation; the gamble isn't AI but whether advisors, clients, staff and leadership will ...

The Mariner CEO is all-in on Humanity Labs' agentic artificial intelligence, a venture he co-owns; the payoff will be faster and smoother integration of RIA acquisitions, he says.
RIABiz

Bain Capital (mostly) funds Envestnet buy of Vestmark to surpass $10 trillion and define 'adaptive modularity' strategy, leaving Orion a clear RIA lane

The New York City PE powerhouse likely spent $500 million-plus to power up its Envestnet take-private deal by creating a ...
RIABiz

Schwab Wealth Advisory (SWA) unveils 'corkage' fee on third-party SMAs, typically .35%, as slew of changes add to 'elegant' master plan to convert DIY book to fees

The new Schwab price schedule, much like Fidelity's 'wrap manager,' goes into effect in 2027 and aligns with the aggressive ...
RIABiz

RIABIZ INTERVIEW: Jason Wenk tells RIABiz one big unnoticed reason why he sold to Vanguard, and the Bogle-ish scenario he envisions for his eventual departure decad…

The Altruist CEO and founder saw myriad conflicts in being acquired by a public company -- a problem for a company called ...
RIABiz

MassMutual helps Flourish find white knight buyer and regain 'standalone' status just months ahead of Phase II rollout that makes its 1,300 RIA clients more like a giant ...

The Springfield, Mass. life insurer is passing the 'controlling interest' baton to private equity on the verge of RIA play to ...
RIABizOpinion

SEC seeks to rescind 2010 'pay-to-play' rule, paving the way for investment advisors to again bid for public pension contracts while making political donations to official…

The rule grew out of a major 2009 New York state pension scandal involving bribes and kickbacks for pension contracts and ...
RIABiz

Vanguard Group and Altruist can win RIA hearts, no problem, experts say, but the bro-cultural chasm – 2,700 miles apart and two ways of defining 'client-first' – will ...

Jason Wenk (right) [with Salim Ramji]: We've been defying the odds and proving the haters wrong for nearly eight years. Key Points Vanguard’s $4.6 billion Altruist acquisition marks a direct challenge ...
RIABiz

Wells Fargo follows Morgan Stanley out the door, prompting Forbes and Shook to freeze all 2026 advisor rankings amid fallout from $6-million editor payout

Forbes and Shook Research suspended all 2026 advisor rankings following a $6 million secret payout scandal. Wells Fargo followed Morgan Stanley in withdrawing from the rankings, triggering a potential ...
RIABiz

Charles Schwab & Co. took out full-page WSJ ad promising to 'hire thousands more financial consultants' last week; this week it said RIAs will no longer receive sub-$5-million ...

Schwab will feed its wealth manager all sub-$5 million leads starting 2027, and consoled RIAs by promising skyrocketing $10-million and $25-million referrals will keep coming their way. Schwab is ...
RIABiz

Wild weekend brings rapid-fire legal settlements, admissions, explanations, threats, and a New York Times follow-up to Forbes rankings blow-up after Morgan Stanley bombshell to ...

Shook Research founder R.J. Shook admitted a $6 million payment to Randall Lane was compensation for professional services. Morgan Stanley suspended participation in Forbes advisor rankings, ...
RIABiz

Amid a flood of warnings about dangers of rogue AI, Hamachi steps in with newly patented system to protect sensitive RIA client data from AI breaches

Anthropic staffer quit among dire warnings Tuesday and the RIA startup today released the news it has a patent to exceed ...
RIABiz

Will Trout

After Fidelity shutdown its password-sharing business model last year, Pontera's new tack is a 'non-discretionary service' while it waits out a CFPB decision on bank data-sharing fees and offers APIs ...