Carson Group Buys Affiliated Wisconsin Practice With Nearly $400M
Carson Group, the Omaha‑based firm with $57 billion in assets, has acquired Harbor Wealth Management in Green Bay, Wisconsin, adding roughly $396 million in AUM. The practice will be rebranded as Carson Wealth and will operate under Carson’s RIA platform while retaining a brokerage license through APW Capital. The acquisition formalizes a partnership that began a decade ago when Harbor Wealth first used Carson’s coaching services and later joined its fee‑for‑service model in 2016. Backed by Bain Capital, Carson continues its aggressive affiliate‑buyout strategy that started in 2018.
Ex-LPL Broker Dinged for Unreported Work With Streaming Company
FINRA fined former LPL broker James R. Ptacek $5,000 and imposed a 45‑day suspension after he failed to disclose his role as treasurer and board member of an undisclosed streaming platform. The breach violated FINRA’s rule requiring prior firm approval...
Fidelity Fined $1.25 Million Over Client Data Breach
Massachusetts regulators fined Fidelity Brokerage Services $1.25 million after a breach exposed sensitive data of 77,000 clients. An unauthorized party exploited a flaw in the firm’s online document viewer, manipulating image IDs to retrieve records that included Social Security numbers, credit‑card...
Wells Fargo Faces Age Discrimination Claim From 50-Year Industry Vet
A 78‑year‑old former Wells Fargo Advisors broker, Kenneth J. Schneider, has filed a federal age‑discrimination lawsuit alleging he was fired after a 50‑year tenure. The complaint claims Wells managers pressured him to retire and applied harsher discipline than younger advisors...
Investors Protecting Stocks at Record Eye Bets on Higher Rates
Investors are piling into call options on major tech names as earnings season approaches, but the prolonged Iran‑Israel conflict and tightening oil supplies are reviving concerns about higher inflation and rates. UBS strategist Kieran Diamond advises buying equity put spreads...
Rockefeller Lassoes $14M Merrill Private Wealth Team in Houston
Rockefeller Global Family Office secured a Houston‑based Merrill Lynch private‑wealth team that generates $14 million in annual revenue. The group, known as Post Oak Wealth Partners, oversees roughly $3 billion in assets and was ranked Texas' top team by Forbes. The move...
Modern Wealth Buys Another Billion-Dollar LPL Practice
Modern Wealth, a three‑year‑old RIA aggregator backed by Crestview Partners, acquired Denver‑based Brown and Company from LPL Financial, adding roughly $1 billion in assets and lifting its total AUM to about $13 billion. The eight‑advisor team, led by 42‑year veteran Mark R....
Ameriprise Discloses Second Data Breach in Less Than Six Months
Ameriprise Financial disclosed a second data breach within six months, affecting 47,876 individuals, including 335 Maine residents. The breach occurred between March 2 and 18, when an unauthorized individual accessed stored files containing personal identifiers. Ameriprise responded by blocking the...
UBS Set for Long-Awaited Clarity on Switzerland’s Capital Rules
Switzerland’s Federal Council will soon issue an executive order stripping software and deferred‑tax assets from UBS’s regulatory capital, a move that could shave roughly $11 billion off its CET1 metric. At the same time, a draft law would require the bank’s...
Raymond James Hires Dimensional Exec to Build Out ETF Strategy
Raymond James Investment Management hired Kristi Higgins, a former senior strategist at Dimensional Fund Advisors, to head its ETF strategy. Higgins joins on April 13 and will report to ETF head Johan Grahn, working to broaden the firm’s active ETF...
Baird Swipes Billion-Dollar Team From Indiana RIA
Robert W. Baird & Co. announced that three veteran advisors—Donald Hutchinson, Dean Weseli and Jeffrey Borgert—have joined its Indianapolis operation, bringing a practice that manages roughly $1 billion in assets. The trio, known as HWB Partners, arrived from Goelzer Investment Management...
Stifel Settles With Investors in $133 Million Structured Note Award
Stifel Financial has reached a settlement in principle with the Jannetti family, the plaintiffs in a $133 million arbitration award tied to a former broker’s structured‑note strategy. The settlement will be finalized while the court stays the litigation for 30 days. Stifel...
Stifel CEO Gets 20% Pay Bump to $18 Million
Stifel Financial announced that longtime CEO Ronald J. Kruszewski will receive $18 million in total compensation for 2025, a 20% increase from the prior year. The boost reflects the firm’s record $5.5 billion net revenue, a 17% rise in its stock price...
Iconiq, Go-To Wealth Adviser for Tech’s Elite, Is Putting Billions Into AI
Iconiq, the ultra‑discreet wealth adviser to tech royalty, now manages roughly $100 billion in assets and is channeling billions into artificial‑intelligence ventures. In 2025 the firm poured more than $3 billion into AI startups, including a $4 billion stake in Anthropic, and is...
Schwab Considering Prediction Markets Tied to Finance Events
Charles Schwab Corp. is evaluating the introduction of prediction markets that focus on financial events, while ruling out sports or pop‑culture wagering. CEO Rick Wurster said the firm will only pursue products that align with its long‑term wealth‑building mission and...