In recent weeks we’ve seen SEC fines, changes in executive leadership at several firms and new technology rollouts so let’s dig into a few of the key headlines in May’s Word on WealthTech to see what it all means for advisors.
Arch Celebrates Tax Day With Redesign Showcasing Next-Generation AI, Data Visualization, Tax Tools To Transform Private Investments Administration
Arch is developing a reputation among advisors for great, sustained innovation beyond the traditional OCR screen scrape functionality of many alternative asset middle office support functions. They also impress their clients with great workflows, so we’re excited to see their investment in enhanced access to and functionality around tax implications on portfolios.
Carson Group Names Dani Fava As Chief Strategy Officer
This industry leader has gone through a tremendous amount of change in the last year—Jamie Hopkins departed, Nimesh Patel departed, Burt White is moving into his new role, and Ron Carson is exiting his role. We think now, all eyes are on Carson. Hiring an innovator like Dani is a step in the right direction. At this point, it’s about execution. Any firm can hire great people if you pay enough, but after you hire great people to do great things, they have to get the great things done. We’re cheering for them to take it from strategy to execution and have confidence that they’ll do it.
SEC Fines Five More Firms For Ad Rule Violations
Emerging and fast-growing RIAs can be very entrepreneurial places. We understand why they want to showcase benefits that attract new clients, but this is a big warning light that firms need to focus on to stay on the rails. It’s very clear that with the ad rule in place, the SEC is going to enforce it. Hiring someone who understands the rules, helps you maximize marketing, and keeps your firm in the SEC’s good graces is key. Otherwise, you put yourself at risk of either not marketing at all or bending and breaking those rules. There are a few instances in our industry where a little bit of money spent working with an expert could pay off dramatically, and this is one of those times.
Former LPL Exec Joins TIFIN As President, Chief Revenue Officer
As part of the executive team during an amazing run of innovation and progress, Rob Pettman deserves a lot of the credit for LPL's growth and leadership in the wealth space. We’re fascinated by his decision to leave a very large organization for a dramatically different type of firm like TIFIN, which is a very modern take on how people get software capabilities into their organization (people bring ideas to TIFIN, who can then rapidly develop, deploy, monetize and productize ideas that are critical to the industry). We think there’s a tremendous amount of change in the industry coming in this way in the next 10 years. We don’t know him personally, but going from a long corporate career to a very fast startup kind of culture must be exciting. It will be fascinating to see how Rob makes that shift.
NewRetirement Secures $20 In Funding To Expand Access To Financial Planning Solutions
Stephen Chen, founder and CEO of NewRetirement, built his product for the end investor, so what’s coming to market now for NewRetirement is a really elegant, client-ready, highly comprehensive planning tool that investors should love. And that is hard to get in the industry today. Most other options don’t move very quickly and aren’t built necessarily for a direct consumer or direct-to-investor mindset. So we’re truly stoked this is coming to the market. We hope this will significantly move usability and interface design forward.
Let’s hope next month’s headlines are as exciting as these. Our industry is experiencing a lot of powerful innovation, and we love staying on top of it all.