Displaying items by tag: advisors

Turnkey asset management platform and fintech provider GeoWealth has signed a deal to buy First Ascent Asset Management, a Denver-based registered investment advisor overseeing nearly $1.4 billion. Colin Falls, President, and CEO of GeoWealth, told FundFire that the deal is expected to close early in the second quarter. First Ascent, which also provides TAMP services, specializes in providing investment management and consulting services to independent advisors. The firm also provides non-discretionary model portfolios to technology platform providers. First Ascent will move to the GeoWealth platform and have access to its proprietary integrated tech stack, including back-office capabilities and customizable unified managed account offerings. GeoWealth’s platform includes advisor-managed models alongside a suite of third-party-manager-built models from about 40 providers, according to Falls. The firm also offers ETF model portfolios created by third-party ETF sponsors, including J.P. Morgan Asset Management. According to a news release, First Ascent’s investment offering and service model will remain unchanged, as will its flat-fee schedule. The firm charges a flat fee rate or percentage of assets under management, and annual fees range from .15% to .30% for accounts with at least $50,000.

Finsum:Managed-model providerGeoWealth is buying First Ascent Asset Management, an RIA that also provides TAMP services such as model portfolios.

According to a recent study, advisors are moving away from revenue-sharing products such as mutual funds and toward products such as ETFs and SMAs due to regulatory pressure and changing investor preferences. In fact, advisor use of mutual funds is expected to decrease by 13% by 2024, according to research by Cerulli Associates. Dennis Gallant, associate director at Boston-based analytics firm ISS told FA-IQ that affluent clients tend to expect products that can be personalized, such as separately managed accounts, and capabilities such as direct indexing could bring that personalization down market” Iraklis Kourtidis, co-founder and chief executive officer at Rowboat Advisors, a direct indexing provider told the magazine that there are three main reasons why custom portfolios are preferential for advisors. He said one is to meet clients’ environmental, social, and governance preferences, “which you can’t do within a fund because it’s one-size-fits-all.” The second reason is tax efficiency, particularly tax-loss harvesting, “which you also can’t do with a big fund where you lump all the money together.” According to Kourtidis, the third “much less talked about” reason is the concept of “completion portfolios.” He said, “If someone has a lot of tech exposure through stock with their employer, for example, you can give people a custom portfolio that offsets that.”

Finsum:According to research by Cerulli Associates, advisors will be moving away from mutual funds and towards ETFs and SMAs due to regulatory pressure and changing investor preferences such as personalization.

There are numerous ways for an advisor to expand his or her client list, but approaching people you know might be one of the lowest-hanging fruit. However, approaching them in the wrong way will only end up in rejection. Bryce Sanders, President of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. recently wrote an article for ThinkAdvisor on how best to approach people you know for business. According to Sanders, the first step is to identify their need and research the issue. For instance, if you’re talking with someone, listen carefully when they speak. You may realize they have a problem on their mind. The next step is to discuss the issue and demonstrate an understanding of it. You know there is something on their mind and as a friend, you are concerned. Try to “tactfully” draw it out. Next, assess their level of comfort or unease. They might be thrilled you spoke up or ask you to back off. The fourth step is to view the situation as a third party. Make a list of all the potential solutions or approaches to their issue. Then offer to do something for free. You could say it’s not the first time you heard about the problem and then connect your friend with a specialist at your firm. After you meet with the specialist, present your friend with a turnkey solution. If they say no, gently follow up.

Finsum:Bryce Sanders, President of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. recently wrote an article for ThinkAdvisor on the best steps for approaching your friends for business, including identifying their needs, demonstrating an understanding, offering them free advice, and gently following up.

Advyzon Investment Management, a turnkey asset management program, announced at the recent T3 Advisor Conference, that the firm is launching its new model marketplace called Nucleus. Nucleus will be fully integrated into the comprehensive, award-winning Advyzon platform built on single source code. Lee Andreatta, CEO and co-founder of Advyzon Investment Management stated, "We're extremely excited to announce the launch of Nucleus, something that has been in the works since we launched AIM in Spring 2022. Adding a model marketplace enhances AIM's TAMP offering and moves Advyzon closer than ever to offering a fully comprehensive solution for financial advisors and investment managers to run their firms." Andreatta and his colleague John Mackowiak, Chief Revenue Officer for Advyzon, shared the news during their T3 main stage session, 'If You Think Your Tech Stack Is Optimized, Think Again: The Benefits of a Comprehensive Solution'. The Nucleus model marketplace is structured for unified managed accounts (UMAs) and will include sleeve-level reporting and trading. Financial advisors will have access to third-party strategists offered in two ways to help their businesses. The first is Advyzon traded, with advisor-built UMAs or pre-set UMA portfolios built by AIM incorporating strategist sleeves and the second is Advisor traded, with Nucleus access available in Advyzon's Quantum Rebalancer – a powerful, in-house trading and rebalancing tool seamlessly integrated into Advyzon's cloud-based platform.

Finsum:Advyzon Investment Management, a turnkey asset management program, recently announced that it is launching its new model marketplace called Nucleus, which is structured for UMAs and will include sleeve-level reporting and trading.

According to a FINRA enforcement executive at Sifma’s recent Compliance and Legal Conference, the regulatory body is planning to complete at least 1,000 Regulation Best Interest exams of broker-dealers by year's end.  While FINRA has been examining Reg BI violations since the rule went live, officials have exclusively reported violations in industry-wide notices such as the 2023 FINRA Report on Exam and Risk Monitoring Program, instead of seeking enforcement actions against firms or reps. However, according to FINRA officials, “a year and a half after Reg BI went live, the enforcement gloves are coming off.” Christopher Kelly, FINRA’s acting head of enforcement, said, “A number of the firms that have been warned still haven’t remedied the [violations] the examiners…warned them about, so those will often result in referrals to enforcement.” St. Louis added that FINRA is taking a hard look at variable annuities and has at least one Reg BI enforcement in the works dealing with conflicts surrounding the contracts.

Finsum:After a year and a half of warnings, the gloves are coming off for FINRA as they plan on examining just under one-third of FINRA’s 3,300 member firms for compliance with Reg BI.