Trump Accounts App Will Be Available Thursday, Bessent Says
The Treasury announced Thursday that a new mobile app will let parents manage the upcoming Trump Accounts for their children, ahead of the program’s July 4 launch. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said nearly 6 million children are already signed up. The accounts, seeded with a $1,000 federal contribution for births between 2025 and 2028, will be administered by Robinhood and BNY Mellon, with funds locked until age 18 and then treated like a retirement account. Bessent also noted that inflation from the Iran conflict is expected to be transitory.
Bitcoin Volatility Hits Nine-Month Low as Crypto Takes Breather
Bitcoin’s implied volatility dropped to 36.11 on the Volmex Index, the lowest level in nine months, as trading activity eases and price moves stall near $77,000. The cryptocurrency remains about 40% below its October peak of $126,000, and U.S. spot‑Bitcoin...
AI Platforms Give Financial Advice With Little Oversight, Robinhood Lawyer Warns
Robinhood’s chief legal officer, Daniel Gallagher, warned that generative‑AI platforms such as Anthropic’s Claude are already capable of giving personalized investment advice and even placing trades, yet they operate outside the SEC and FINRA supervisory regime. He highlighted the regulatory...
J.P. Morgan Ordered to Pay Wells Broker $4.25M in Wrongful Firing, Defamation Award
J.P. Morgan Securities was ordered by a FINRA arbitration panel to pay $4.25 million in damages to former Wells Fargo broker Brent R. Bodner for defamation related to his June 2024 termination. The panel also permitted Bodner to amend his public record, changing...
Edward Jones Faces Race Bias Suit From Six Black Advisors
Six Black financial advisors have filed a proposed class‑action lawsuit in Missouri alleging that Edward Jones systematically pays Black advisors less, offers fewer promotions, and terminates them more often than white peers. The complaint cites salary‑setting rules that base new‑advisor...
Bluespring Buys $1.1B Kestra Affiliate
Bluespring Wealth, the RIA acquisition arm of Kestra Financial, announced the purchase of Synthesis Wealth Partners, adding roughly $1.1 billion in assets under management. The deal marks Bluespring's fifth transaction in 2026 and brings its cumulative 2026 acquisitions to over $3 billion....
$600M RBC Team Merges with Nebraska RIA to Create $1B Firm
RBC Wealth Management’s five-person team, managing roughly $600 million in assets, has joined Nebraska‑based RIA Prairie Wealth Advisors, which held $550 million. The merger lifts Prairie Wealth’s total AUM to over $1 billion, making it a sizable regional advisory firm. Timothy...
OpenAI, Plaid to Bring Tailored Financial Guidance to Masses
OpenAI is partnering with Plaid to give ChatGPT read‑only access to users’ bank data, enabling personalized financial advice such as specific credit‑card payoff recommendations. Previously, the chatbot could only offer generic tips. Over 200 million users have already turned to ChatGPT...
New High-Water Mark: Ameriprise Bumps Headhunter Bounties to 16%
Ameriprise Financial announced it will pay outside recruiters up to 16% of a newly hired advisor’s trailing twelve‑month production, the highest bounty in the wealth‑management sector. The rate surpasses the typical 6%‑12% range and exceeds prior industry leaders such as...
Captrust Acquires $1.25B Pennsylvania RIA
Captrust Financial Advisors, which manages about $1.2 trillion, announced the acquisition of Stillwater Capital Group, a Pennsylvania‑based RIA with $1.25 billion in client assets. The deal adds a fifth Captrust office in the state and brings a small team of advisors, planners...
Stratos Buys Up 11 Partner Firms With $4.8 Billion in Assets
Stratos Wealth Holdings announced the full acquisition of 11 partner firms, adding roughly $4.8 billion in assets under management. The newly acquired practices span seven states and bring the firm’s total client assets to about $37 billion. The deal follows Stratos' earlier...
Corient to Buy Oklahoma RIA Managing Almost $8 Billion
Miami‑based RIA consolidator Corient announced the acquisition of Capital Advisors, an Oklahoma firm managing about $7.8 billion. The deal, slated to close in the second quarter, adds a new geographic footprint and expands service capabilities such as alternative investments, trust strategies,...
Ex-Broker to Pay Clients $2.25 Million Over Risky Life Insurance Strategy
A FINRA arbitration panel ordered former broker Matthew K. Wilkes to pay $2.25 million to the Apostal family for recommending a premium‑financed indexed universal life insurance policy that proved unsuitable. The family had sought over $9.5 million, alleging massive commissions, breach of...
SEC Moves to End ‘Gag Rule’ Criticized by Musk and Cuban
The SEC has submitted a proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget to eliminate its long‑standing no‑admit/no‑deny settlement rule, often called the “gag rule.” Critics, including Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, argue the rule suppresses defendants’ First...
UBS to Pay $1.2M Over Widow’s Variable Annuity Claim
UBS Wealth Management USA was ordered by a FINRA arbitration panel to pay $1.17 million in compensatory damages, plus $36,300 in costs, after a Florida widow alleged a broker improperly recommended a variable annuity using retirement funds. The panel also assessed...
Citi Aims to Hire 500 Bankers, Advisors in Wealth Push
Citi’s wealth unit is hiring about 500 new bankers and advisors, adding 100 private bankers and 400 client advisors to deepen client relationships and grow wallet share. The division’s return on total capital rose from 8% in 2023 to nearly...
Wall Street Bonuses to Rise, With M&A Bankers Set for 20% Boost or More
Wall Street bonus pools are set to climb for a third consecutive year as trading volatility and a resurgence in mergers and acquisitions drive higher incentive pay. Investment‑banking advisers could see bonuses rise 10%‑20% or more, while equity traders may...
LPL Recruits $330M UBS Team to Employee Channel
LPL Financial, the nation’s largest independent broker‑dealer, has absorbed UBS Wealth Management’s Paxara Wealth Partners, a team that managed roughly $330 million in assets. Led by 44‑year industry veteran Conley Thornhill, the group joined LPL’s employee channel on March 4. In the...
UBS CEO Ermotti Sees Acquisition as an Option for US Growth
UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti said the bank cannot rule out an acquisition as a path to grow its U.S. wealth business. The firm recently recorded $5.3 bn of client inflows in the first quarter, reversing three quarters of outflows, and secured...
Rockefeller Adds $3.5M Raymond James Team in Michigan
Rockefeller Global Family Office announced the acquisition of the Meridian Wealth Partners team from Raymond James, a group that generated $3.5 million in annual revenue. The five‑person team, led by Michael A. Rosner and Robert “Bobby” Barrett, oversees roughly $350 million in...
SEC Investigating Alleged Fraud in Private Credit, Atkins Says
The SEC announced a probe into alleged fraud across private‑credit firms, signaling heightened regulatory scrutiny of a fast‑growing market. Chairman Paul Atkins emphasized that the agency is coordinating with the Treasury and the Federal Reserve while refusing to name specific...
Focus Hits Breakaway Team With Trademark Suit Over ‘Mosaic’ Name
Focus Financial has filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against three former advisors who left its Mosaic Family Wealth Partners practice to join rival Mariner Wealth. The advisors, managing about $1.3 billion, launched a website under the name Mosaic Value Partners...
SEC Semiannual Reporting Proposal Clears White House Review
The SEC’s plan to let public companies file financial reports twice a year has cleared a White House review, clearing the way for a formal rollout and public comment period. The proposal, first championed by former President Donald Trump, would...
LPL Maintains Commonwealth Retention Target, Eyes Recruiting Rebound
LPL Financial reaffirmed its goal of retaining 90% of client assets from the $2.7 billion Commonwealth acquisition, noting that more than 80% of those assets are already under firm control. The integration is on track, with all Commonwealth advisors slated to...
Finra Gives Itself Pat on the Back Over ‘Modernization’ Efforts, Enforcement Flexibility
FINRA says its modernization program is delivering results, highlighting a rewrite of Rule 3270 to narrow outside‑business activity disclosures, a raise of the gifts cap to $300, and a push toward informal enforcement via its Rapid Remediation Program. The regulator...
Is AI Coming for Advisors? Execs Start to Say the Quiet Part Outloud
Wealth‑management CEOs are publicly championing AI as a productivity boost, yet many acknowledge it could undercut traditional advisory revenue. Charles Schwab has rolled AI tools to all 33,000 employees, while Stifel and Ameriprise see AI as a “tailwind” that will...
Trump to Sign Order to Expand Access to Retirement Plans
President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order that directs the Treasury Department to launch a new website, TrumpIRA.gov, helping workers locate private‑sector retirement plans. The move dovetails with the bipartisan Saver’s Match program, which would provide a...
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...
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...
No Firms Carry Finra’s ‘Restricted’ Tag as Rule Nears Third Year
Almost three years after FINRA introduced Rule 4111 to label high‑risk broker‑dealers with a "restricted" tag, no firm has been officially designated. Consulting firm SLCG Economic Consulting identified nine firms that met the rule's thresholds, all with fewer than 100...
Raymond James Promotes Firm Veteran to COO of Private Client Group
Raymond James Financial announced that Patrick O’Connor, a firm veteran of more than 20 years, will become chief operating officer of its Private Client Group effective May 15. O’Connor previously served as COO of the employee advisor unit and led...
Wells Fargo Touts Success of Multi-Channel Approach
Wells Fargo Advisors highlighted its multi‑channel model in Q1, marking a third straight quarter of hiring advisors who generate $100 million or more in production. The independent Financial Network unit added teams overseeing roughly $9 billion in client assets, and a recent...
UBS Faces New Pressure on Nazi Accounts From Senate Panel Chair
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley has accused UBS Group AG of withholding key documents in its probe of Credit Suisse’s historic Nazi-era accounts, a case UBS inherited after its 2023 acquisition. A report by Neil Barofsky, the Credit...
LPL Recruiting Chief Scott Posner to Exit
LPL Financial announced that its senior recruiter Scott Posner will leave the firm in June, ending an eight‑year tenure that began with a vice‑president role in 2018. Posner oversaw an aggressive broker‑recruiting push, but recruited assets fell 30% to $104 billion...
AI Could Spark Next Wave of Advisor Fee Compression, Consultants Say
Industry consultants warn that generative AI is set to compress financial‑advisor fees as tools replicate planning and portfolio analysis. The average advisory fee drops from 125 basis points for $100,000 accounts to 67 basis points for $10 million portfolios, and AI‑driven...
UBS Bringing SMA Oversight In-House
UBS Wealth Management USA is moving the execution and overlay management of its Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) from third‑party providers to its own asset‑management unit, a shift that began on April 1 and will roll out through 2026. The change cuts...
Corient to Buy $5.6 Billion Chicago RIA
Corient, the Miami‑based wealth arm of Canada’s CI Financial, announced it will acquire a Chicago‑based registered investment adviser managing roughly $5.6 billion in assets. The deal, expected to close by June 30, brings founders David Sternberg and Randal Golden on board as...