Wealth Briefs: A weekly roundup of financial planning news and notes

April 18, 2022 6:49 PM

Scroll down to catch up on all the bits of wealth management news that you might have missed this week.

Most advisory practices are missing generational wealth transfer opportunities

Despite the fact that heirs and younger generations will receive $72.6 trillion by the end of 2045, only 42% of financial advisors’ practices offer intergenerational planning, according to new research by Cerulli Associates. At least 26% of advisors said building relationships with multiple generations of clients represents one of the biggest challenges facing their practices. “Advisors are frequently so focused on the daily operational aspects and pressing investment or advice needs, they are unable to properly develop strategy related to developing relationships with the next generation,” Senior Analyst Andrew Blake said in a statement.

Annuity sales reached 13-year high in 2021: IRI

Sales of fixed and variable annuities jumped 12% last year to $233.1 billion for the highest volume since 2008, according to the Insured Retirement Institute’s annual report based on data from Beacon Annuity Solutions and Morningstar. Fixed products ticked up just 2% to $114.1 billion, but variable annuity contracts surged by 24% to $119 billion, according to the trade group’s report. Registered index-linked annuities, also known as “buffered” products, drove the expansion of variable sales with a 63% spike last year up to $39.1 billion.

FINRA Foundation and NORC study examines retail clients’ views about ESG investing

Sign outside offic eof Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Research institution NORC at the University of Chicago and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation polled a sample of 1,200 retail investors about their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors when it comes to investing with ESG criteria. “The study included questions about respondents’ awareness and use of ESG investments and their perceptions of socially responsible and environmentally sustainable investing,” according to the introduction. “The study also assessed the relative importance retail investors assign to financial performance, environmental considerations, and social and governance issues when selecting investments.” The regulator and the research institution made the report, “Six things to know about ESG and retail investors,” available on the FINRA website.

SEC charges unregistered advisor and issuer with fraud targeting Hmong-Americans

About 70 investors, many of them Hmong-American residents of Wisconsin and Minnesota, invested a combined $16.5 million in unregistered securities sold by Kay X. Yang and her company Xapphire, according to the SEC. Yang and the company made false and misleading statements about securities issued by affiliates and misappropriated more than $4 million of the investors’ money toward casinos, cars, travel and homes, according to investigators. She told the investors she would use the money to make foreign exchange trades with expected annual returns between 20% and 50%, the regulator says. The SEC filed fraud charges in Milwaukee federal court.

State regulators to host webcast on diminished capacity and exploitation prevention

Industry elder abuse prevention experts and state regulators will speak at a free session on May 4 as part of the North American Securities Administrators Association’s series of events on seniors, diminished capacity and protecting vulnerable investors. Registration is available on NASAA’s website. “NASAA’s mission to protect investors from fraud and abuse is more important than ever,” President Melanie Senter Lubin said in a statement. “Our ‘Senior Issues and Diminished Capacity Committee Presents’ webcast provides an important and timely platform for members of the public to learn to how detect, prevent and report financial exploitation of vulnerable investors.”

Kitces Speaking offers FPA chapters discounts on educational speakers

Financial planning entrepreneur Michael Kitces and other experts from his professional education company Kitces.com will be available to FPA members and their chapters at discounted prices under a partnership between the firm and the organization. “As a former president of a ‘mid-sized’ FPA chapter myself, I know that organizing events with strong external speakers can be especially challenging given limited chapter resources,” Kitces, the chief financial planning nerd at Kitces.com, said in a statement. “Fortunately, the pandemic has given us new models to conduct entirely virtual as well as hybrid events, which now allows us to provide additional discounts to support more FPA chapters.”

Brokerage firm Fusion Analytics expelled from FINRA under settlement

A month after FINRA accused Coral Springs, Florida-based Fusion Analytics Securities of making material misrepresentations and omissions to clients in the selling of $1.8 million worth of private bonds, the firm accepted a settlement with the regulator expelling it from membership. FINRA had alleged the firm violated antifraud rules and other guidelines when it sold the products without adequate disclosure of an earlier case against an affiliate of the issuer under common ownership.

d1g1t expands senior leadership

Toronto-based wealthtech d1g1t, which provides investment risk and analytics rolls, is looking to expand its presence in U.S. wealth management with three new members of its senior leadership team. The company has hired Tate Haymond, the former global head of sales at Nasdaq Asset Owner Solutions, as chief revenue officer; Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Karchmer as chief technology officer; and Dianna Heideman, who most recently served as a vice president at Envestnet, as president of client experience. In five years, d1g1t says AUM on its platform has crossed $150 billion, while client base and revenues jumped 80% in 2021.