In recent weeks we've seen SEC fines, changes in executive leadership at several firms and the use of new technology, so let's dig into some of the top headlines in Word's May on WealthTech to see what this means for counselors.
Arch is developing a reputation among advisors for great, consistent innovation beyond the traditional OCR screen scraping functionality of many alternative asset middle office support functions. They also impress their clients with great workflows, so we're excited to see their investment in improved accessibility and functionality around tax implications in the portfolio.
This industry leader has gone through a huge amount of change in the past year – Jamie Hopkins left, Nimesh Patel left, Burt White is moving into his new role and Ron Carson is stepping down. We think that right now, all eyes are on Carson. Hiring an innovator like Dani is a step in the right direction. At this point, it's all about execution. Any firm can hire great people if you pay them enough, but once you hire great people to do great things, they have to do the great things. We're rooting for them to take it from strategy to execution and have the confidence to do it.
Developing and fast-growing NRCs can be very entrepreneurial places. We understand why they want to tout benefits that attract new customers, but this is a big warning light on where firms need to focus to stay on track. It is very clear that with the advertising rule in place, the SEC will enforce it. Hiring someone who understands the rules, helps you maximize your marketing, and keeps your firm in the SEC's good graces is essential. Otherwise, you put yourself at risk of either not marketing at all or bending and breaking those rules. There are some cases in our industry where a little money spent working with an expert can pay off dramatically, and this is one of those cases.
As part of the executive team during an amazing run of innovation and progress, Rob Pettman deserves much of the credit for LPL's growth and leadership in the wealth space. We are fascinated by his decision to leave a very large organization for a completely different kind of firm like TIFIN, which is a very modern view of how people get software skills into their organization (people bring ideas to TIFIN , who can then rapidly develop, distribute, monetize and produce ideas that are critical to the industry). We think there is tremendous change in the industry coming this way in the next 10 years. We don't know him personally, but going from a long corporate career to a very fast paced startup kind of culture must be exciting. It will be fascinating to see how Rob makes that change.
Stephen Chen, the founder and CEO of NewRetirement, built his product for the ultimate investor, so what's coming to market now for NewRetirement is a really elegant, customer-ready, very comprehensive planning tool that investors should love. And that's hard to come by in the industry today. Most other options don't move very quickly and aren't necessarily designed for a direct-to-consumer or direct-to-investor mindset. So we're really excited that this is coming to market. We hope this will significantly move usability and interface design forward.
Let's hope next month's headlines are as exciting as these. Our industry is experiencing many powerful innovations and we like to stay on top of it all.