Pershing introduces program to attract hybrid RIAs to correspondent firms

Clearing giant Pershing LLC has rolled out a program to help client firms attract fee-based advisers who do some commission business.

Pershing LLC, which provides credit, trading and record-keeping services to broker-dealers, has rolled out a program to help those clients attract fee-based advisers.
The Jersey City, N.J.-based subsidiary of the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. today announced a program called RIA Complete, which aims to provide a broad array of business and practice-management solutions to help its introducing broker-dealer customers better serve registered investment advisers and investment professionals.
Pershing already has an affiliate, Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC, which offers custody to fee-based independent advisers.
But unlike its major competitors in that arena — Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. of San Francisco, Fidelity Investments of New York and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. of Omaha, Neb. — Pershing does not operate a discount-brokerage business that can refer wealthy clients to advisers and create a high-net-worth channel for the company.
Instead, it is encouraging its brokerage clients to investigate the burgeoning market for hybrid RIAs — advisers who keep their brokerage licenses to do commission business but focus primarily on providing fee-only asset-based services to most of their clients.
“The continued trend towards dually registered and independent registered investment advisers is challenging the traditional brokerage model,” Jim Crowley, managing director at Pershing, said in a statement.
“As a result, introducing broker-dealers must proactively enhance their business models and platform capabilities to support hybrid advisers and independent RIAs so they can continue to grow their businesses.”
The RIA Complete service offers “objective advice” to brokers from consultants at Pershing and outside firms “on how to expand or transform their business, attract and retain investment professionals, and enhance compliance oversight, operational efficiency and overall profitability,” Pershing said in the statement.
Practice-management support includes guidebooks, seminars, self-service tools, and a best-practices program on how to transition from a commission to fee-based business.
Pershing’s competitors, for their part, have been actively courting individual brokers with seminars and other tools aimed at showing them how to set up as registered investment advisers.
They also have been introducing technology aimed at integrating commission and fee-based businesses onto a single platform — something that Pershing says it supports through its NetX360 technology platform.
Pershing said its clients can attract fee-based business through various models, ranging from leveraging a corporate-advisory platform to developing their own RIA practices.
In announcing RIA Complete, Pershing said its brokerage clients also can get direct support on soliciting RIA business by affiliating with Pershing Advisor Solutions.
Mark Tibergien, chief executive officer of Pershing Advisor Solutions, noted in the statement that the programs aren’t mutually exclusive since RIA Complete is “highly customizable,” offering a program that can be turnkey, completely integrated or open-architecture.
“This innovative offering underscores our ongoing commitment to provide introducing broker-dealers with an array of choices that will help them win the battle for fee-based advisers and assets,” he said.