Happy Friday, PLANADVISER readers. Today’s announcement that Merrill Lynch is underscores the tremendous pressures bearing down on advisory and brokerage businesses, stemming from deep regulatory change and a shift in client expectations. Collected below you will find articles and analysis identifying the top challenges and opportunities advisers face.
Enterprise-level adviser technology providers are just fine with winning new business behind the scenes; two industry executives explain why “traditional advisory firms” should embrace them.
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Internal investment product wholesalers are pursuing advanced degrees and designations to improve their image as “knowledge partners” in the eyes of advisers, according to new Cerulli Associates research.
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More than half of broker/dealers surveyed by the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute believe some of their advisers will retire rather than sell under the new.
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A confluence of generational, technological and consumer preference trends is driving a sea change in the traditional investment advisory business, according to J.D. Power researchers.
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Advisers polled said their top three concerns are, first, a lack of focus on driving firm value, followed by the inability to grow client AUM/revenue and the inability to change client demographics.
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The Pension Analytics Group says the act would only temporarily mask the deficits, as opposed to reducing them and that the only solution is to reduce benefits across the board.
When the SEC adopted the new Rule 30e-3 earlier this year, creating a new system for electronic delivery of fund information, it also established a transition disclosure period that starts in January, during which "funds that choose to implement the new delivery method for shareholder reports provide prominent disclosures in prospectuses and certain other shareholder documents that will notify investors of the upcoming change in transmission format.”
