Low-cost 401(k)s for small businesses continue to be in demand despite tough economic circumstances. This week, Guideline, a San Mateo, Calif.-based 401(k) provider for small businesses, raised $80 million in funding at a valuation of $500M.
Read MoreFintechs that specialize in rounding up customers’ spare change and investing those funds are getting a boost. Plum, a U.K.-based savings and investment app picked up $10 million in new funding as it plans European expansion.
Read MoreDiscount brokerage Robinhood raised $320 million as part of its Series F round, bringing its valuation to $8.6 billion. The company in May raised $280 million as part of the same round, signaling investor confidence in its growth and IPO prospects.
Read MoreAyco, a Goldman Sachs-owned financial company serving employers, expanded its product marketplace for employees this week, encompassing annuities, investment accounting, and tax services.
Read MoreAsset managers, wealth managers, insurance companies, and fintechs say they want data. But in reality, what they really want is answers.
Read MorePersonal Capital offers a free dashboard where users can pull together all their financial accounts for a holistic view of their assets and liabilities. CEO Jay Shah discusses the company’s notable growth during the past 16 months.
Read MoreWhat’s the future of human wealth managers in an age of passive investing, ETFs, and robo advisors? Joe Mrak, global head of wealth management at Refinitiv, says data and analytics will allow the next generation of tech-savvy wealth managers to add value and remain relevant.
Read MoreNews of the robo-advisor’s death may be premature. But they’ll soon be under the same pressure to outperform the market as the humans they’re replacing.
Read MoreIt seems a tired trope to say that financial advisors need to invest more in digital, but the fact remains that many advisory firms still lack the robust tech experience their younger investors want.
Read MoreThe Head of Asset Servicing, Americas at Northern Trust discusses the trend toward bringing investment decisions in-house. The reasons relate to fees, controls, efficiencies, and investment performance. Funny, isn’t it, since those sound much like the rationale for outsourcing?
Read MoreConsolidation continues to rise in the RIA industry. And further consolidation means trillions of dollars up for grabs.
Read MoreThe number of RIA firms is exploding. Organic growth is playing a role, but M&A is an even larger contributor to this trend.
Read MoreRobo-advisors were once all the rage in the world of fintech and digital financial services. But has the luster worn off?
Read MoreHedge funds have long been closed off to the average retail investor. But so-called “hedge funds for the masses” — pooled funds that use hedge fund-like strategies — had been growing in recent years. That is, until now.
Read MoreThe prevailing sentiment for years has been that tech tools in wealth management are primarily designed for the mass affluent. These are clients who don’t need to meet with an adviser regularly and can use automated digital services for much of their needs. But for high-net-worth clients, the human touch was still needed, the thinking went.exaggerated. Still, the old days of banks just plastering new branches everywhere as if they were billboards are surely over.
Read MoreThe Financial Revolutionist is weekly newsletter and blog focused on the torrid pace of financial innovation. Today, thanks to the exponential rate of technological change, explosion in global trade and new regulations ushered in by the Great Financial Crisis, a new financial revolution is under way. In this battle, virtually every aspect of the greater financial services sector is subject to rigorous challenge. With the Financial Revolutionist, we are aspiring to create a boots-on-the-ground and highly opinionated assessment of important financial innovation developments in the past week.
