Twenty-three percent of the U.S. adult population falls into what is known as the sandwich generation, those adults who are simultaneously taking care of aging parents and raising children. Our guest columnist, a financial advisor who falls into that category, offers some tips for working with clients who are in the same boat. He counsels advisors to approach their clients with empathy and transparency, inform themselves about issues like senior housing and Medicare, and develop parallel financial plans for the clients and the older relatives.
In other most-read wealth management articles this week:
Former UBS Americas chief heads to PE firm. Tom Naratil, a former longtime
UBS
executive, has joined the private-equity firm Lightyear Capital as an operating director. Lightyear focuses on the wealth management sector and has made investments in the registered investment advisors Allworth Financial and Cerity Partners. Naratil, who retired from UBS in October 2022, said he was drawn to Lightyear for the opportunity to “help source and do due diligence on opportunities and help portfolio companies see their path.” At UBS, Naratil served in a variety of roles, including co-head of Global Wealth Management, president of UBS Americas, and chief financial officer.
LPL’s big buy. LPL Financial is buying Crown Capital Securities, a dually registered investment advisor and broker with $6.5 billion in client assets. Crown had fended off other would-be acquirers, but eventually agreed to join forces with LPL owing to the mounting challenges of regulatory compliance and its new partner’s massive resources. LPL, with more than 21,000 advisors and $1.18 trillion in assets, is the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer. The Crown acquisition is expected to close in early 2024.
Goldman’s custody platform lands a whale.
Goldman Sachs
has landed its biggest client to date for the expanding Goldman Sachs Advisor Solutions custody platform. Creative Planning, one of the nation’s biggest independent registered investment advisors, says it plans to start moving billions of dollars to GSAS beginning this quarter, citing Goldman’s technology platform and extensive menu of alternative investments as reasons for the move. Creative Planning will retain its existing custody relationships with Schwab, Fidelity, and Pershing, but sees Goldman Sachs as a welcome new entrant catering to high-net-worth clients in a custody industry that has been consolidating.
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UBS foots the bill for Archegos collapse. UBS’ acquisition of former rival Credit Suisse just got more expensive. UBS has agreed to pay nearly $400 million to settle charges with U.S. and foreign regulators relating to the collapse of the hedge fund Archegos, which had used Credit Suisse as its primary creditor. That sum, more than 10% of the purchase price for Credit Suisse, settles allegations that the failed Swiss bank didn’t adequately manage the risks related to Archegos and ignored numerous warnings that the fund was in trouble.
Piaba to lobby to reform advisor arbitration. Piaba, an influential group of attorneys who represent clients in disputes with financial advisors, is calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to reform the process for mediating those fights in the registered investment advisor channel. The group argues that while advisors are held to a stronger fiduciary duty to their clients than brokers are, the forced arbitration clauses found in advisor service agreements are unfair, carrying exorbitant costs that can effectively deter clients from bringing a complaint in the first place. Piaba’s incoming president says that if the SEC won’t act, he’ll take the fight to Congress.
Lastly, don’t miss our weekly Barron’s Advisor Q&A. This time we check in with Scott Ford, the new head of wealth management at
U.S. Bank
on his unit’s expansion plans. As the nation’s fifth-largest bank, the company has plenty of client households to whom it can market its wealth management services, Ford says. It also plans to train and hire many more financial advisors. And it recently expanded its presence in California with the acquisition of Union Bank’s consumer business.
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Have a good weekend.
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