Percolating: RIA custody roundup for 2010

Brooke,

Serveral areas to querry these firms on their industry leadership in advisory services:

1. Like brokerage firms, custodians have not provided access to the enabling resources which would make fiduciary standing scalable, safe and easy to execute. The fear of fidiciary liability is only managed by providing the necessary enabling resources with an audit path to objective fiduciary criteria of statue, case law and regulatory opinion letters and expert opinion letter to prove fiduciary standing. Will any of these firms actually make fiduciary counsel safe and easy to exectute?
2. Do any custodians plan to offer expert advisory services support for each of the ten major market segments (Mass, Retail, HNW, Ultra HNW, DC.DB, Foundations and Endowments, Public Funds, Profit Sharing)advisors serve?
3. Scale is terribly important for RIAs as it determines profit margins, the level of counsel provided and the capacity to grow. Are any of these custodians effective in offering practice management services that actually enhanse service yet reduce cost.
4. Unlike brokers, RIAs offer accountability. Do any of these custodians help advisors in portfolio construction, improving the client experience, if so how?
5. A functional division of labor is essential in managing clients and internal human resources and require extraordinary skill and operational insight. Do any of these custodians help advisors optimize practice operations and staff effectiveness?
6. Advisory services sales and marketing are materially different from product sales, do any of these custodians have an advisory services sales and marketing function by market segment which would help the advisor develop and articulate a preemptive advisor value proposition relative to the predominant brokerage business model?
7. Do any of these custodians provide a prudent investment process (asset/liability study, investment policy, strategic asset allocation, performance monitor, tactical asset allocation) with an audit path the the necessary statutory documentation to prove fiduciary standing for each of the ten major market segments in which advisors are active?
8. Do any of the custodians provide an objective assessment of enabling technology?
9. In managing conflicts of interests, do any of the custodians provide omnibus block trading to advisors which drive down trade execution cost, reframe from principle trades, minimize fixed income spreads, fully disclose 12(b)1 fee compensation and/or waive 12(b)1 fees, disclose and/or reframe from keeping the interestr earnings on the float between execution and settlement? All of which are prohibited transactions in fiduciary accounts.

The questions are endless, but these would be a good start.

My survey of several months ago established that custodians have little understanding of any of thes questions.

SCW