Wells Fargo FiNet adds $1.3 billion UBS team, loses $1.1 billion Praxis to LPL
The Cullman/Holt Group joined from UBS, and Praxis Financial Partners left for LPL, part of the $34.4 billion in team assets tracked this week.
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Alaris CEO Allen Darby says AI integration costs will cut RIA sale multiples
The Mather Group announced a $400 million deal for Legacy Consulting of Plano, Texas, as the firm disclosed more than $700 million in additions this year.
Pathstone says client assets reached $200 billion in 16 years
The Englewood, N.J., multi-family office bought a Colorado events firm and will host 77 client events in 2026, CEO Matthew Fleissig says.
Former InvestCloud and Envestnet executives launch RIA operating company Singularity Financial Partners
Singularity Financial Partners, founded in February, says its economics are tied to each firm's results rather than a software contract or consulting fee, with ownership that can come through capital, operating work or both.
ABS Global pitches interval fund as RIA route into pre-IPO shares
Its Pre-IPO & Growth Fund launched in February 2026; interval funds repurchase 5% to 25% of shares at periodic intervals, per the SEC.
The Mather Group adds $400 million Plano advisory practice
The Chicago firm has disclosed more than $700 million in additions this year, including a $300 million New Jersey practice.
Mather Group partners with $400M Legacy Consulting; AlphaCore adds Blue Rock
Legacy Consulting is a Plano, Texas firm founded in 1997; Blue Rock is a Sussex County, Del. practice founded by Todd Roselle.
Northwestern Mutual adds family office services for clients with $50 million net worth
Family investment vehicles were named in eight transactions this week, including Ljungström's €62.5 million AnaCardio Series B co-lead with Novo Holdings.
Goldman's John Waldron could replace David Solomon as CEO as early as January
RIABiz reports the president and COO oversaw the Folio Institutional acquisition that became Goldman's RIA custody unit.
Carson Group adds $410 million New Jersey RIA Foran Financial from LPL
The Somerville practice becomes a branded Carson Wealth office led by Daniel and John Foran.
Quad-A CEO Sheena Gray says succession planning must include ownership transfer
Gray, a J.P. Morgan veteran who took the helm of Quad-A in 2024, said ownership has to be part of the plan from the start.
Goldman's John Waldron could replace David Solomon as CEO as early as January
RIABiz reports the president and COO oversaw the Folio Institutional acquisition that became Goldman's RIA custody unit. DFA's M&A partner search has also gone quiet.
Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley finish first half as net advisor winners
Diamond Consultants counted 1,449 departures against 932 recruits in the first half of 2026.
M1 launches AI advisor with no minimum and no advisory fee through 2027
The advisory arm reported $1.48 billion in non-discretionary regulatory assets across 11,400 accounts, roughly $130,000 each.
Innovayte names former Apex COO Fritz Louis-Charles chief operating officer
Arax promoted Diego Galan to COO; Mesirow hired an investment executive from Morningstar.
Mercer Advisors closes $1.9B debt refinancing led by Goldman Sachs, its first syndicated loan
The oversubscribed raise added a $340 million revolving credit facility, and Mercer projects $35 million to $40 million in interest savings next year.
XYPN's registration pipeline rises 83% to 110 firms
RIABiz ties part of the increase to advisors leaving rollup-owned firms, while 30-day tracking logged 2,008 advisor moves against 34 breakaways.
Trilogy Capital strikes its largest acquisition of the year for $1B Colorado RIA
The Irvine-based hybrid RIA adds Westminster's Mountain Capital Investment Advisors, which keeps its name and folds its tax and pilot-consulting work into a Trilogy affiliate.
Mercer Advisors refinances $1.9 billion debt in first syndicated loan
The Goldman Sachs-led raise was oversubscribed and added a $340 million revolving credit facility, with the firm projecting $35 million to $40 million in interest savings next year.
Flourish brings Flourish Cash to MassMutual's more than 6,000 financial professionals
Financial professionals affiliated with MassMutual can offer clients access to Flourish Cash, which Flourish says pays a rate 9x the nationwide savings account average.
Wirehouses lost 517 advisors net in the first half of 2026
Diamond Consultants' transition report counts 1,449 departures against 932 arrivals at Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wells Fargo.
California appeals court rules alleged harasser was coworker, not supervisor, in Wells Fargo suit
The Second District affirmed summary judgment for the bank on Oct. 5, holding the strategist supervised other employees but not the plaintiff.
Hightower's Bahnsen Group to buy Hightower Naples, adding about $1.1 billion in client assets
Hightower says Naples would be the first existing Hightower advisory practice to join Bahnsen under the parent's flagship franchise model, with the deal expected to close at year's end.
Ascentis Independent Advisors adds four practices with $1 billion
Osaic recruits a $245 million advisor, Merit buys a $1.1 billion Buffalo-area RIA, and Cetera adds a $235 million Commonwealth team.
Goldman Sachs survey finds alternatives owners satisfied while unfamiliar investors see high risk
Sixty-three percent of surveyed investors call alternatives high or very high risk, while 93 percent of current owners say they are happy with the holdings.
Ascentis adds four practices with $1B in client assets
All four keep Raymond James as primary custodian, and the week's three-firm total tops $1.5 billion.
Alaris CEO Allen Darby bets AI will cut RIA sale valuations
Darby says a buyer running 200 households per advisor will price in the cost of fixing a seller's 100, after arguing a year earlier that automation would lift multiples.
XYPN has 110 firms working toward registration, up from 60 a year earlier
The network reported 2,400 members and more than 370 advisors added in 2026, and RIABiz ties part of the surge to advisors leaving rollup-owned firms.
William Blair: 56% of RIAs expect to raise active ETF allocations to international and emerging markets
The survey of 200 US-based RIAs also found 73% see client portfolios heavily concentrated in US equities.
Fidelity extends $100 million custody minimum to 986 existing RIA relationships
ADV data show 706 of the affected firms hold less than $100 million across every custodian, so moving accounts around cannot clear the threshold.
Merit Financial buys $1.1B New York practice, its 10th Commonwealth team
The Atlanta RIA adds nearly 1,900 households; seller Brett Moldenhauer cited the Commonwealth advisors already at Merit.
Osaic, Cetera and Raymond James add books from Equitable, Commonwealth and LPL
Cynthia Doussard, who spent 24 years at Commonwealth, is moving a Washington practice with about $235 million in assets under administration to Cetera.
Bluespring folds Family Wealth Counseling into KDI to pass $1 billion
The Bluespring combination takes KDI past $1 billion in assets, while Constellation's minority stake in BakerAvenue, the largest of the three deals at $6.3 billion, is undisclosed.
AlphaCore adds $400 million Delaware practice Blue Rock Financial Group
The nine-person team stays in Sussex County, and founder Todd Roselle becomes a managing director and partner.
Cetera recruits Commonwealth advisor Cynthia Doussard, $235M AUA
The Burlington, Wash. advisor and three staff members join Cetera's Summit Financial Networks; her practice focuses on retirement income planning.
Records show Praxis Financial Partners' $1.1B team joined LPL from Wells Fargo FiNet
The transition is dated Oct. 6, 2026, and has not been independently confirmed; LPL also added two Utah teams managing about $1 billion from Northwestern Mutual.
Advisor moves outpace breakaways 59 to 1 in 30-day tracking
OpenArc Corporate Advisory logged 98 tracked events, ahead of UBS at 95, as advisor moves reached 1,991 in the 30-day window.
Constellation Wealth Capital takes minority stake in BakerAvenue, a $6.3B RIA
BakerAvenue says the undisclosed capital will expand tax, estate planning and corporate trustee services while its leadership team keeps control.
Dave Regan's union enters final four weeks of California billionaire-tax campaign
Regan frames the one-time levy as the only way to cover roughly $100 billion in federal healthcare money he says California will lose, while Newsom and a $100-million-plus opposition are fighting it.
Bluespring folds Family Wealth Counseling into KDI Wealth Management, lifting combined assets past $1 billion
KDI oversaw more than $750 million when Bluespring bought it in 2024; holding that baseline against the combined $1 billion implies roughly $250 million from Family Wealth Counseling.
FINRA bars Houston advisor Robert Wayne Thompson over withheld documents in $2.3 million client suit
The bar follows an October 2025 termination from O.N. Equity Sales Company over an unapproved power of attorney and undisclosed shell companies.
Alto to buy Schwab's Forge Trust, pooling $20 billion in IRAs
The purchase needs South Dakota banking approval, and MSCI supplies domicile, dividend, sector and PACS classification data.
BlackRock finds 45% of women with $10 million or more in investable assets are unadvised
Based on 1,067 women investors and 409 advisors, the inaugural survey finds women rank growing their wealth first while advisors rank it eighth among what they believe women prioritize.
Mesirow hires Paul Arnold to lead investment solutions
The former Morningstar multi-asset research head will oversee asset allocation, manager research and product development at the roughly $14 billion employee-owned Chicago RIA.
Capital Group secures Abu Dhabi FSRA licence to manage and distribute
The $3.6 trillion active manager can now trade, manage investments and distribute products inside ADGM, five months after announcing its first Middle East office.
Schwab opens its RIA marketplace to Save Technologies, a cash startup advertising 7.5%
Save Technologies holds client cash in FDIC-insured bank deposits while a subsidiary RIA invests in equity and gold ETFs for the yield; its disclosures put the return floor at zero.
BlackRock study finds advisors rank growth eighth for women who rank it first
The Future of Wealth survey, covering more than 1,000 affluent women and more than 400 financial advisors, also finds 45% of women with at least $10 million in assets are not working with an advisor.
Fidelity's $100 million custody minimum draws Betterment, Axos and Schwab
Betterment will forgo 100% of its wrap fee for Fidelity-custodied firms that sign by June 30, 2027, while Schwab says no terms are in writing.
Wealthfront reports a third straight month of positive cash net deposits
The September update also put asset-weighted cross-product adoption just under 64% and credited client incentives for the month-over-month gain.
LPL Financial to report third-quarter earnings after market close Oct. 27
The platform says it supports more than 32,000 advisors and about $2.6 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets.