(New York)

WealthManagement.com has run an interesting article about the role of technology in our industry. Authored by Adam Malamed, former COO of Ladenburg Thalmann, the piece discusses how technology should be employed in wealth management, and what has separated successful from unsuccessful technologies. Adam makes the point that while new technologies may be nice in themselves, they are useless unless they fulfil a real market need, which is why so many previously hyped technologies have gone bust (e.g. facial recognition tech for client pitches). Furthermore, the industry itself has been experiencing heavy margin compression, and therefore wealth tech companies need to find ways to simultaneously increase operating margins while also improving client experience. One great example the article makes is Docusign, which made document execution immensely simpler, while also reducing the costs of
processing paperwork. It is a win for clients and for firms.

FINSUM: We couldn’t agree more with this view. Change in our space is by its very nature evolutionary. Clients don’t want to take risks on new tech with capital that took them fifty years to earn, and therefore, many wealth management firms are reticent to adopt “disruptive” new technologies.

(New York)

Gold has been hurting recently, with prices currently around $1,800 after some strong gains over the course of 2020. The big question is where gold is headed now that the vaccine is rolling out and a new administration is coming in. See the full story here on our partner Magnifi's site.

(Silicon Valley)

The Apple Car (capital C!) has been hyped all over the internet over the last year, and investors seem to be frothing over the idea. See the full story here on our partner Magnifi's site.

(Washington)

One of the big risks to the muni sector that has gone underappreciated by the financial media and investing community is the threat of the soon-to-be revamped SEC making some big changes to the asset class. See the full story here on our parnter Magnifi's site.

(Washington)

The SEC just made its first big move to tighten regulations ahead of Biden’s inauguration. While the SEC did clarify digital marketing rules a couple of weeks ago, that shift was largely welcomed as the previous guidelines were vague and very outdated. The big change this week is that the SEC is beefing up its Reg BI compliance program. Specifically, it is scaling up its testing program to make sure firms are complying with Reg BI. According to a note from the SEC, “Division staff has assessed the results of its initial Regulation Best Interest examinations and now that approximately six months have passed since the Regulation Best Interest compliance date, the Division intends to begin its next phase by conducting more focused examinations … beginning in January 2021”.

FINSUM: Enforcement of Reg BI has been pretty lax to date, but this feels like a new phase is beginning. Most insiders in the business think the Biden administration’s approach will be to intensify Reg BI enforcement rather than write a new rule, so this step makes logical sense within that.