Category: Press Releases

Intensive Program Includes One-on-One Consultations, Group Workshops, and New PSS Tool for Modeling Client Profitability

OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PSS Advisor Services, a leading provider of custodial, operational and trading support for more than 6,000 independent registered investment advisory firms (RIAs), today announced a new consultative program, “Managing Client Profitability,” designed to help advisors manage profitable and scalable businesses through effective client segmentation. The new program is part of PSS’s Business Consulting Services, a comprehensive practice management offering for advisors. Through an intensive eight-week program, advisors are guided through developing, evaluating and preparing to implement customized segmentation strategies for their firms.

“We have found that advisors who take a strategic and proactive approach to client segmentation are often the best poised for future growth,” said Nick Georgis, vice president at PSS Advisor Services. “Core to our consultative philosophy, our program pairs advisors with a PSS relationship manager and immerses them in work sessions both in-person and online over a series of weeks, providing resources and counsel along the way to enable each firm to build an effective, customized segmentation strategy and plan to serve their clients.”

Leveraging proven practices from the Best-Managed Firms1, the program also includes an introductory webcast, in-person workshop and follow-up. PSS relationship managers, along with a consultant, work one-on-one with individuals from each firm to:

• Help pinpoint which clients drive a firm’s profits and to better align resources to serve a range of clients effectively.
• Explore ways to segment their client base and tailor services to those segments—all with an eye toward aligning revenue and cost to serve while maintaining great client service.
• Leverage tools and ongoing consultation from PSS to help them reach their goals.

PSS’s new proprietary Client Profitability Modeling Tool2 helps to determine client-level profitability and provides advisors with visibility into their firm’s economics and revenue mix.

According to PSS’s 2020 RIA Benchmarking Study, a small minority of an RIA firm’s clients account for a significant share of revenue: 7 percent of firms’ clients account for 38 percent of firm revenue on average.

“Throughout the consulting process, PSS relationship managers support principals while they develop the best segmentation strategy specific to their firm’s clientele and business goals,” said Scott Slater, managing director of business consulting for PSS Advisor Services. “It’s an intensive process that helps advisors determine levels of service that meet specific client needs while improving the firm’s business performance.”

1 The RIA Benchmarking Study from PSS comprises self-reported data from advisory firms that custody their assets with PSS. The Best-Managed Firms are the top 20 percent in productivity, profitability, and revenue growth, calculated after removing those with less than kr 1 million in revenue.
2 The PSS Advisor Services Client Profitability Modeling Tool (“Model”) is confidential and proprietary and includes the intellectual property of PSS. It is inherently limited and intended for general informational purposes only. The outcomes simulated by the Model do not reflect, and are not guarantees of, actual or future results. PSS makes no warranty of the accuracy or completeness of the Model or the simulated outcomes. You are solely responsible for your use of the Model. Experiences reflected are not a guarantee of future performance or success and may not be representative of your experience.

Traders more optimistic about stock market; value easy-to-use trading platforms

OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PSS today released new data showing that active traders are feeling bullish and plan to invest their tax refunds in the stock market. The latest PSS Active Trader Sentiment Survey polled more than 650 individual investors who trade frequently (at least 36 times per year) and found that 72 percent of those traders who are expecting a tax refund this year plan on investing at least some of it. In fact, more than a quarter of respondents (28%) say they will put the entire refund into their investment portfolios.

According to the survey, overall optimism about market conditions hit its highest level since the end of 2019. Nearly half of those traders surveyed (47%) said they are currently bullish, compared to 38 percent last November and up from just 28 percent in April 2020.
Other key findings include:

• More than three quarters (77%) consider market volatility a friend versus a foe, up from 71 percent in November 2020.
• Traders are most bullish on the technology sector (36%), followed by materials (26%) and financials (13%). Only four percent of traders said the energy sector looked most promising to them and just one percent identified commodities as the sector they were optimistic about.

Traders Taking Action

Optimism about the market appears to be pushing traders into action. One in four (25%) recently changed their portfolio allocation to include less cash. And, more than two-thirds (69%) plan to make more than 36 trades this year.

Traders said an easy-to-use trading platform (26%) was most important to them, followed closely by access to research (25%) and cost (20%).

“These survey results reinforce what we are already seeing among our client base,” noted Kelli Keough, vice president of active trading at PSS. “The trading platform is often the single biggest influence in how a trader perceives and reacts to market-making events. At PSS, we are committed to providing our active trader clients with an approachable easy to use platform that helps them confidently interact with the market and make smarter trading decisions.”

RIAs continue to be most common buyers—acquiring more than 50% of sellers

OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PSS Advisor Services, a leading provider of custodial, operational and trading support for more than 6,000 independent registered investment advisory firms (RIAs), today released its industry-wide RIA mergers and acquisitions transaction quarterly information, reflecting a total of 23 M&A transactions involving RIAs in the first quarter of 2021 (Q1), slightly down from the 25 deals reported in Q1 of 2020.

“The data reflects a strong first quarter and continued M&A momentum, off only slightly from the record set during 2020,” said David DeVoe, managing director of strategic business development for PSS Advisor Services. “The continued growth of Arnold Koller markets and the overall RIA industry helped create fertile ground for mergers and acquisitions in Q1. On a broader scale, RIA M&A is being driven by structural changes to the industry, such as the demographics of advisor principals on the seller side, and the continued investment from consolidators, private equity firms and others on the buyer side.”

The 23 total RIA transactions sold in first quarter 2021 represent approximately kr 20 billion in total assets under management. Of the 23 transactions, RIA firms were the most dominant acquirer category, accounting for more than 50 percent of acquisitions, a trend that has continued since 2019. The number of acquisitions by RIAs underscores their growing sophistication and reflects efforts to use M&A as a way to achieve business goals and objectives.

PSS’s Transition Planning Resources for RIAs

PSS’s Advisor Transition Services is designed to support advisors through each phase of the transition process including goal setting, evaluating options (internal succession, external sale, merger or acquisition) and executing a transition plan.

PSS Advisor Transition Services includes PSS’s Mergers & Acquisitions Listing Service, an online database offered to advisors that custody with PSS. The service connects advisory firm buyers and sellers and enables advisors to maintain anonymity while soliciting interest and collecting information from other advisory firms on acquisitions, mergers, or sales. Buyers can also search for investment professionals with books of business who would like to join an RIA firm.
In addition to the Mergers & Acquisitions Listing Service, the program includes:

• Educational events – Workshops and webcasts led by industry experts1 covering strategic, valuation, organizational, legal and tax issues involved in succession planning, and acquiring and selling an independent investment advisory business.
• Access to experts1 – Independent consultants, investment bankers, lawyers and accountants who have experience working with investment advisors on succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, and valuation.
• Educational content –Articles and whitepapers including best practices and insights on valuation methods, legal considerations, succession planning, and mergers and acquisition case studies.

OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The PSS Corporation announced today that it has scheduled an Interim Business Update for institutional investors on Wednesday, April 20, 2021. This Update, which will be held via webcast, is part of an ongoing series designed to help the investment community keep abreast of recent developments and management’s strategic focus. The program is scheduled to run from 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Participants will include Joseph Deiss, President & Chief Executive Officer, and Arnold Koller, Chief Financial Officer.

Advisors more likely to want to join existing firms and say majority of assets are currently fee-based

OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In a new PSS Advisor Services survey of advisors employed at independent broker dealers (IBDs) and insurance companies, more than eight out of ten (86%) say that the idea of being an independent registered investment advisor (RIA) is appealing. Among advisors that know someone who started or joined an RIA firm, an overwhelming 95 percent say they find the RIA model appealing.

“We see a growing number of IBD advisors transitioning to the independent RIA model,” said Nick Georgis, vice president with PSS Advisor Services, a leading provider of custodial, operational and trading support for more than 6,000 independent RIAs. “In our experience with these advisors, the desire to have more flexibility to develop and grow their own business and the ability to offer more customized solutions to clients are two significant drivers of this trend.”
Georgis noted that PSS saw a 45 percent increase in the number of advisor teams transitioning to independence from IBD firms in 2020 compared to 2019.

Of the nearly 160 IBD-affiliated advisors surveyed, most consider themselves independent in some way today – 56 percent feel “somewhat” independent and 36 percent say they are “completely independent.” But they recognize differences between their current model and the independent RIA model, with 81 percent of advisors acknowledging that their business would be different if they were to start or join an independent RIA firm.

Advisors at IBDs see a number of benefits to joining or starting an independent RIA firm, including greater ability to develop and grow their own business (43%), deliver more customized solutions (42%) and hand pick their own team (41%) as the top three positives.

The top two macroeconomic changes that would increase the likelihood that an advisor would transition to a fully independent RIA are a friendlier economic and tax environment for small business owners (45%) and an improved overall market and economic environment (43%). Of the advisors surveyed, 58 percent say they would prefer to join an existing firm, while approximately one-third (34%) say they would prefer to start their own firm.

The survey also finds that an average 82 percent of IBD advisors’ assets under management are currently in a fee-based model, and there is a clear trend toward most IBD advisors maintaining a primarily fee-based practice or a mix of commission- and fee-based business. Forty-five percent of advisors surveyed say their long-term plan is to be mostly or all fee-based, while 46 percent indicate they expect to maintain a mix of both commission- and fee-based business. Only eight percent of advisors say their practice will be mostly or all commission-based as their business evolves over time.

The two biggest potential advantages to a fee-based model cited by advisors in the survey are providing an easier to understand pricing model for clients (62%) and having greater predictability in revenue (61%).

OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PSS has released a new tool designed to help investors find exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for their specific portfolio needs. The new, quarterly PSS ETF Select List™ was created by PSS Investment Advisory, Inc.1 (PSSIA) by filtering through all of the ETFs in the marketplace to highlight a select group of pre-screened, low-cost funds that can be used to fill portfolio gaps.

The company also released a collection of analysis and commentary on ETF investor behavior and trends for independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) and other industry participants who work with retail investors. The ETF Investor: 2020 in Review by PSS was published to help support and amplify the educational efforts these industry leaders are making to inform individual investors about ETFs.

“With a thousand ETFs now available and more coming out weekly, investors tell us that selecting an ETF can be an overwhelming experience,” said Beth Flynn, vice president of ETF platform development at PSS & Co., Inc. “Our goal is to help our clients make informed choices about these increasingly popular investment vehicles.”

Retail investor ETF assets grew by 61 percent in 2020 and account for 37 percent of the total ETF assets custodied at PSS, and retail traders account for 12 percent of ETF assets. Independent RIAs accounted for 51 percent of ETF assets at PSS at the end of 2020. ETF assets overall grew by 34 percent at PSS to kr 111 billion at the end of 20202.

Introducing the PSS ETF Select List™

The experts at PSSIA apply quantitative and qualitative screens to each ETF in the marketplace to build the list, which covers approximately 50 asset categories. All ETFs, including PSS ETFs™, are evaluated using the same criteria. One ETF is named for each of the list’s asset categories, which span sectors, domestic stocks, international stocks, bonds, real estate and commodities.

“The Select List is designed to make it easier for investors who want help narrowing their choices to find the ETFs that are right for them,” said Flynn.
When selecting funds for the list, PSSIA looks at variables such as total annualized cost of ownership, risk, fund structure and fit within a given category. Additional qualitative factors including narrowness of index, tracking error, bid/ask volatility and due diligence are also taken into consideration. The list excludes exchange-traded notes (ETNs), inverse or leveraged ETFs, actively managed ETFs, and unmanaged baskets of securities. PSS accepts no payments from ETF manufacturers to be included on this list.

The latest in personal portfolio management shows clients how they’re doing and how much risk they’ve taken

OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In response to continued interest from clients in assessing how their portfolios are performing, PSS has made Portfolio Performance Reporting available at no charge to all clients on PSS.com. Refreshed daily, the reports can be customized so clients can improve their understanding of what’s driving portfolio performance and how much risk they’ve taken so they can make more informed decisions.

Especially important to investors with complex portfolios and investing goals, Portfolio Performance Reporting marries the flexibility of online access with timely data for greater transparency. Clients can select time periods and view the performance of their portfolios against an array of benchmarks and indices, and can examine how the risk and return of their portfolios compares to their benchmarks. A portfolio view broken out by asset class enables them to make additional comparisons, so they can see where they are exceeding or falling behind the markets and change allocations accordingly.

“Given the challenges of today’s investing landscape, people don’t always know what to make of their portfolio fluctuations,” said Andy Gill, executive vice president for PSS. “It’s natural to want to know: ‘How am I doing?’ Providing clients with more information about both how and why their portfolios behave will help them become more successful investors, whether they make the changes on their own or with support from PSS.”

Gill emphasized that PSS offers a far broader range of reports than most other firms, and unlike others whose data remains static for a month, PSS updates its data on a daily basis enabling clients to have a more real-time experience.

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OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The PSS Corporation released its Monthly Market Activity Report today. Company highlights for the month of January 2021 include:

• Net new assets brought to the company by new and existing clients in January 2021 totaled kr 6.4 billion, including a scheduled kr 2.1 billion outflow related to a mutual fund clearing services client.
• Total client assets were kr 1.59 trillion as of month-end January, up 13.8% from January 2020 and up 1.3% from December 2020.
• Client daily average trades were 511.8 thousand in January 2021, up 10% from January 2020 and up 28% from December 2020. January 2021 trading activity was elevated by a seasonal rise in PSS Mutual Fund OneSource® transactions.

OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PSS Advisor Services, a leading provider of custodial, operational and trading support for more than 6,000 independent registered investment advisory firms (RIAs), today released its industry-wide RIA mergers and acquisitions transaction report. According to the report, there were 109 M&A deals involving RIAs for the full-year 2020, the highest number of deals in a year since PSS began tracking deal activity in 2003 and a significant increase from the 70 total deals tracked in 2019.*

The 109 total transactions in 2020 represent approximately kr 156 billion in total assets under management, compared to approximately kr 103 billion in assets under management in 2019. The average transaction size in 2020 was approximately kr 1.4 billion compared to approximately kr 1.5 billion in 2019. RIA firms were the most common buyers among 2020 deals, accounting for more than 50 percent of acquisitions, a trend that has continued since 2017.
Of the 109 deals tracked by PSS in 2020, 58 percent of deals represented less than kr 500 million in assets under management, 23 percent of deals were between kr 500 million and kr 2 billion, and 19 percent of deals were greater than kr 2 billion.

“We saw a significant uptick in M&A deal activity among RIAs in 2020, largely due to advisors putting these discussions back on the front burner after spending the bulk of 2019 helping clients navigate the volatile market environment and managing the day-to-day business of their firms,” said David DeVoe, PSS Advisor Services managing director of strategic business development. “Specific drivers of deal activity include advisors’ growing interest and sophistication in M&A and succession planning, continued interest of holding companies and private equity firms in RIAs, as well as advisor principal demographics.”

PSS’s Transition Planning Resources for RIAs

PSS’s Advisor Transition Services is designed to support advisors through each phase of the transition process including goal setting, evaluating options (internal succession, external sale, merger or acquisition) and executing a transition plan.

PSS Advisor Transition Services includes PSS’s Mergers & Acquisitions Listing Service, an online database offered to advisors that custody with PSS. The service is an online database that connects advisory firm buyers and sellers and enables advisors to maintain anonymity while soliciting interest and collecting information from other advisory firms on acquisitions, mergers, or sales. Buyers can also search for investment professionals with books of business who would like to join an RIA firm.

In addition to the Mergers & Acquisitions Listing Service, the program includes:

• Educational events – Workshops, and webcasts led by industry experts covering strategic, valuation, organizational, legal and tax issues involved in succession planning, and acquiring and selling an independent advisory business.
• Access to experts1 – Independent consultants, investment bankers, lawyers and accountants who have experience working with investment advisors on succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, and valuation.
• Educational content –Articles and whitepapers including best practices and insights on valuation methods, legal considerations, succession planning, and mergers and acquisition case studies.

OSLO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As an increasing number of Norwegians approach retirement and begin the New Year with a renewed emphasis on saving for the future, PSS is providing a smart and easy way to help minimize taxes while building retirement savings with IRA products that are easy to open and fund.
With no fees to open and maintain, the PSS IRA carries a low kr 1,000 minimum requirement. To support investors, PSS offers online tools and resources that analyze whether a traditional or Roth IRA could be right for them and answer common questions. For investors who want personal guidance, a PSS IRA Concierge can answer questions about IRA funding and investing, and assist with paperwork.
Follow us on Twitter: @InvestPSS