From Crypto Skepticism, to EV Euphoria, to New Deals and Talent Hires: Past Month’s Top Industry News Has Something for Everybody
I know Larry Roth, at least based on his Letters from Larry section from last week’s issue, rhapsodizes about the beauties of the autumn in New York City.
For me, I can’t really say the same as a resident of Phoenix, Arizona. Yes, it’s nice to have heat relief at long last, returning to a reasonable temperature for human beings. I can now walk outdoors without drenching myself in massive amounts of perspiration.
But while I won’t miss the summer, there still isn’t terribly much of interest out here. Elsewhere in the country, the leaves are turning into all beautiful shades of red and yellow, and soon they will be blanketed in snow.
Meanwhile here, the cacti remain green, and the only shades of red are on in the canyons and mountainsides during sunset.
Anybody who has watched the recent Dune film might find multiple topographic and cultural similarities between Arizona and the fictional desert planet of Arrakis: Here, we have vast expanses of nothingness and sweltering heat, and I wouldn’t be surprised if hallucinogenic drugs to the rest of humanity were our main export.
But one thing that certainly has not cooled off is activity – and resulting headlines – across the wealth management sector.
I’ve curated the WSR team’s favorite news clips over the past 30-45 days for the wealth management space, with our summary and analysis on each piece.
1) Jamie Dimon says bitcoin is ‘a little bit of fool’s gold’
“Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO, remains a skeptic of bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value.
Jamie Dimon has been ardently on the record against Bitcoin and digital assets, even despite the industry push towards adoption during this bull run. His critiques include that it lacks intrinsic value and will be subject to heavy regulation. Despite this, JPMorgan Chase is one of the many Fortune 500 companies contributing to adoption, rolling out JPM Coin and giving wealth management clients access to crypto funds.
To read the full article by Taylor Locke of CNBC please click here to go to the CNBC.com website.
2) Riskalyze Partners With Onramp, Brings Risk Evaluation to Crypto
“Crypto is risky, but the integration will unlock greater transparency into its diversification and correlation characteristics, says Riskalyze CEO Aaron Klein.”
Speaking of crypto, this article highlights a partnership between Onramp Invest and Riskalyze. True to his message, Tyrone Ross Jr., CEO of Onramp states that “Advisors and investors need to educate before they allocate [to cryptoassets] and understanding risk is a major part of that.” Cryptocurrency is a very volatile asset class, and partnerships like this can help further pave the way to adoption.
To read the full article by Samuel Steinberger of WealthManagement please click here to go to the WealthManagement.com website.
3) Blockchange Expands Crypto Asset Management Offerings to Tax-Advantaged Investment Accounts
“Partnership between crypto SMA and TAMP platform and Equity Trust Company enables financial advisors and asset managers to meet rising demand for digital assets in 401K Plans, IRAs and More”
This article highlights another strategic alliance involving a digital asset investing solutions provider, Blockchange Inc, and an alternative asset custody provider for retirement accounts, Equity Trust. The first Bitcoin ETF was launched this month, and firms like Blockchange and Onramp are going to be instrumental in facilitating mass adoption within the industry for trading digital assets.
To read the full article by Digital Wealth News staff please click here to go to the Digital Wealth News website.
4) Tesla zooms past $1 trillion market cap on bet that the EV future is now
“Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) surpassed $1 trillion in market value on Monday after landing its biggest-ever order from rental car company Hertz, a deal that reinforced the electric car leader’s ambitions to top the entire auto industry in sales over the next decade.”
Lead by positive earnings and news that Hertz would order 100,00 Tesla vehicles by the end of 2022, Tesla broke into the $1 trillion market cap club. Responding to a tweet by Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki, Elon Musk didn’t quite know where the strong, positive market surge came from, tweeting “Strange that moved valuation, as Tesla is very much a production ramp problem, not a demand problem.” Green energy and EVs seem on track to continue to disrupt traditional energy sources in the years to come.
To read the full article by Reuters’ staff please click here to go to the Reuters website.
5) Docupace Advances Strategic Transformation with Acquisition of Award-Winning Client Onboarding Provider PreciseFP / Skience Appoints Jeff Stephens as Chief Financial Officer
“Sawtelle-based Docupace Technologies, which offers cloud-based wealth management technology, acquired PreciseFP, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based wealth data company, it announced Sept. 30.”
“Skience continues to build out its C-suite for growth by adding its third executive team member in the last six months”
It’s been an exciting past couple months for workflow and data automation within Wealth Management, arguably one of the fastest-growing segments within wealthtech.
There are so many legacy technology and operating platforms across the wealth management space that don’t seamlessly connect with one another.
Docupace, which is extremely well-resourced via venture capital firm FTV, continues to grow both organically and through their recent acquisitions, under the leadership of CEO David Knoch, former President of 1st Global (now part of Avantax Wealth Management).
Meanwhile, Skience continues to fill out their leadership team with a new CFO hire in Jeff Stephens.
To read the press releases, click here for Docupace and click here for Skience.
6) Gladstone adds $700m hybrid team
“The LPL affiliate has won over four advisors previously affiliated with Raymond James.”
LPL Financial and their affiliates continue to acquire and build their business. One of the larger additions comes by way of Gladstone Wealth Partners bringing in Wealth Advisory Services.
To read the full article by Ian Wenik of Citywire please click here to go to the Citywire USA website.
7) Advisor Group to Recruits: Bring Your Client Assets Here in Half the Time
“Advisor Group is unveiling a suite of technology offerings that signal an effort to step on the gas when it comes to recruiting new advisors and streamlining client interaction, the firm says.”
The biggest news to come out of Advisor Group’s ConnectED conference this month is Express Onboarding, which drastically reduces the time needed to move their practices, licenses, and client accounts. They are targeting an early 2022 broad roll out.
To read the full article by Andrew Kessel of Financial Advisor IQ please click here to go to the Financial Advisor IQ website.
8) Fidelity’s HSA business grew 50% in a year
“The biggest players are getting bigger, with the top four increasing their share of the health savings account market from 56% to 60%, according to a recent report by Morningstar Inc.”
When I say “tax advantaged account”, I bet your mind immediately goes to a 401k or an IRA. Enter the Health Savings Account, a tax advantaged account that can be utilized to cover eligible medical expenses.
A recent report by Morningstar Inc shows that Fidelity grew their overseen assets from $8B to $12B in the last year.
To read the full article by Emile Hallez of InvestmentNews please click here to go to the InvestmentNews website.
James Miller, Contributing Editor & Research Analyst, can be reached via ContributingEditor@wealthsolutionsreport.com
