RIABiz

Rick Wurster's off-hand offer to trade sweep cash for RIA custody fee at IMPACT reveals dilemma over 'hidden costs' driving legacy custody model off the rails and i…

Fidelity's answer was to dump sub-$100 million RIAs, with no fee option, but Schwab, for now, clings to its legion of small ...
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RIABiz - News, Vision & Voice for the Advisory Community

Schwab surprises analysts with extra rapid launch of own MCP servers, also leaping from read-only to agentic (get stuff done) AI; it leaves RIAs out for now, and makes Anthropic's days numbered as ...
RIABizOpinion

Vanguard just scored a $4-billion private placement to close its $4.6-billion Altruist deal by year's end, but it comes with at least a $200-million annual drag on its ...

The giant Malvern company is apparently set to close in 2026, though it needed Bank of America, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan ...
RIABizOpinion

SEC, Schwab, and Michael Kitces all improbably allied successfully to 'protect' sub-$1 billion RIAs by reclassifying them as 'small,' but move may create vulnerability -- th…

The SEC will absolve 17,400 practices -- a 40-fold bump -- of onerous 'big' RIA definition, but Paul Atkins could use ...
RIABiz

Craig Siegenthaler sat out the Oct. 29 Ameriprise conference call but three of his peers asked about the 'elephant' he cited in double-downgrading the broker's stoc…

The BoA analyst took Ameriprise from buy to sell based in part on fears that Amerprise is being compelled to stop poaching ...
RIABizOpinion

Crisis of confidence still dogs 'Top Advisor' rankings, only months after ethics scandal rocked Forbes and cast shadow over Barron's, but the business is too lucrative to pa…

Forbes is back in business after three-month stand down, and it's business as usual at Barron's, but two wirehouses are still ...
RIABiz

Schwab RIAs have until Monday to convert exclusively to 'Docusign,' ending paper era, as it deputizes Nevis to help RIAs conquer their onboarding quagmire – and pr…

The Nov. 2 deadline marks a huge Schwab milestone but the real challenge remains – integrating the back-office with ...
RIABiz

LPL shares freefall more than 15% after investors aren't appeased by answers to hard-hitting questions about next act after Commonwealth, or by CEO humor during the quarterly ...

Rich Steinmeier: 'It can take several quarters before the assets transition to our platform.' Key Points LPL Financial shares plummeted 15% after executives failed to provide clear guidance on future ...
RIABiz

Schwab is the latest to leap on runaway 'Nevis' AI bandwagon with capital backing and a critical endorsement

Schwab invested in Nevis's $70 million funding round to expand its advisor-facing AI ecosystem. Nevis functions as an AI operating system designed to integrate with existing advisor workflows without ...
RIABiz

Schwab trumpeted Anthropic's Claude for all 16,000 of its RIAs, but a 20-seat enterprise minimum suddenly sidelines 11,000-plus small firms -- right before IMPACT 2026

Drew Parker: For the time being, there is no path... Key Points Anthropic set a 20-seat minimum for its Claude enterprise plan, effectively sidelining 11,000 small Schwab RIAs. Small firms face a ...
RIABiz

Vanguard is fulfilling Salim Ramji's May 1 promised renewal of 'Flagship' platinum tier service after it eroded, and he's willing to count non-Vanguard funds against the $1 ...

The Malvern giant's CEO admits he heard from many investors about how the 1990's program had ceased to differ from baseline self-directed service; again, investors get a dedicated agent, better yields ...