Future Capital, a registered investment advisor (RIA) based in Chattanooga, Tenn., is working with SS&C’s Black Diamond Wealth Platform on a technology integration effort intended to help advisors manage held-away retirement assets as part of an overall wealth management strategy, officials say. “Through this collaboration, Future Capital’s recently launched Construct platform will be integrated into… Read More >>
RIAs & ERAs Face New Regulatory Obligations
Registered investment advisers (RIAs) and exempt reporting advisers (ERAs) may have to develop customer identification programs (CIPs) to prevent “illicit finance activity” involving their customers because of a joint effort by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The SEC and FinCEN on May… Read More >>
Apex Fintech Solutions Acquires AdvisorArch
Apex Fintech Solutions intends to strengthen its RIA Custody and Execution Platform with digital advice tools that will be added as a result of Apex’s acquisition of AdvisorArch, a portfolio management and rebalancer provider, officials say. Apex will not be disclosing the financial details of the acquisition, which is expected to be final on April… Read More >>
Confluence Technologies Unveils TSR Tool & Other News
New Tool Helps Firms Meet SEC Rule Confluence Technologies has unveiled “Confluence Unity Rex,” which it says is a tool that will help firms comply with the SEC’s Tailored Shareholder Reports (TSR) rule. The solution provider says that Confluence Unity Rex “mines and pinpoints discrepancies in language and numeric information between financial reports,” and that… Read More >>
SEC Probe Spurs Firm to Revamp MNPI Policies
Private equity firm Ares Management is settling with the SEC over charges that it lacked proper policies and procedures to oversee the handling of “material nonpublic information [MNPI],” a.k.a. insider information, according to the regulator’s order. The case revolves around the firm’s representation on a board of directors “of a listed issuer” in the Ares investment… Read More >>
deVere USA Pays $8M to Settle SEC Case
The SEC reports that deVere USA, Inc., a New York-based registered investment adviser, or RIA, has agreed to pay an $8 million civil penalty related to its alleged failure to disclose conflicts of interest to its retail clients. The settlement will result in the establishment of a so-called fair fund that will distribute the penalty… Read More >>
Tradier Brokerage Partners with Apex Clearing
Tradier Brokerage is hoping to expand the reach of its brokerage application programming interface (API) through a partnership with Apex Clearing Corp., to serve the growing digital advisory community and registered investment advisors (RIAs) that need robo-advisor capabilities, officials say. The expanded offering will bring together Apex’s clearing and execution platform with Tradier’s API to… Read More >>
SIFMA Pushes Back on Revamp of Retirement Savings Rules
President Barack Obama announced Monday that he wants to see “major actions” taken to update the rules governing retirement savings that will focus on conflicts of interest. The White House will be directing the Department of Labor (DOL) to “crack down on Wall Street” in order to protect investors from conflicted retirement advice, officials say…. Read More >>
SEC Hits HSBC Private Bank with $12.5M Penalty
HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) is admitting wrongdoing and will pay $12.5 million to settle charges from the SEC that the Swiss-based private banking arm violated federal securities laws by not registering with the regulator before providing cross-border brokerage and investment advisory services to U.S. clients, SEC officials say. HSBC Private Bank has agreed to pay… Read More >>
RIAs and Outsourcing
Over the past year, back office services provider BridgePortfolio has seen an uptick in demand for its outsourced offerings—which weave in Fiserv’s software—among registered investment advisors (RIAs). But BridgePortfolio is also seeing more RIAs willing to outsource front, middle and back office operations, says Mike Ruane, national sales manager for the Chicago-based vendor.“I manage the… Read More >>
