RIAs

When you launch your own RIA everything matters. Even the color pink.

Commonwealth Financial Network, the nation’s largest privately held independent broker-dealer, named Rich Hunter president and chief operating officer on Friday and also announced new affiliation models for its nearly 1,500 financial advisors.

Advisors are wary of BNY Mellon's plan to provide private banking services to RIAs.

Art Tambaro, president and CEO of Royal Alliance Associates, (left) one of four independent broker-dealers owned by AIG’s Advisor Group, will retire at the end of the year. He will be replaced by Dmitry Goldin, a member of Royal’s senior leadership team for the last decade.

“There’s a huge shift this year from last year in overall optimism from the advisors,” says Mark Schoenbeck, senior vice president of marketing for Curian Capital, the asset management firm that conducted the 2013 Curian Capital Survey. “It was a pretty big swing.”

The Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., wealth management firm announced Monday it will acquire Silver Bridge Advisors of Boston, forming a $3.4 billion RIA to join the growing list of independent advisory firms hoping to establish a national footprint.

Financial advisors are setting aside their doubts and embracing the recovery.

Like any good advisor, Dave Grant has some tasks he is happy to handle, and other things he needs to outsource. How do you determine one from the other?

Connecticut Wealth Management is now the largest independent planning firm in the Hartford area after acquiring a rival with $120 million in assets under management.

The network was launched in September to help breakaway brokers transition from the traditional wirehouse model to independence.