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Reg BI implementation is less than a year away, and it is arriving at a time when investors are increasingly clamoring for more open and transparent financial advice. Certainly, you could view these coming changes as a threat to the status quo. But disruption is often what keeps businesses thriving, relevant and healthy.

FSC Securities, an independent broker-dealer and registered investment advisor representing more than 900 advisors, today announced the successful recruitment of Brad Mills, an independent financial advisor based in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The recent passage of Reg BI comes at a time when the advisor-client relationship is already becoming more collaborative, open and transparent. The future of advice will be one in which clients are empowered by technology to work with their advisors to take further ownership of their financial lives.

Financial advisors who stayed with Advisor Group as it changed hands twice in four years will reap the rewards of their loyalty to the tune of $50 million in awards from the firm. “We wanted to do something for them to say thank you,” says Advisor Group CEO Jamie Price.

One element of the cybersecurity discussion that is often overlooked is that the biggest threat to many advisory firms is not actually to client accounts but instead to the advisory brand.

Jamie Price, President and Chief Executive Officer of Advisor Group, said, “Advisor Group’s commitment to providing advisors with industry-leading tools, resources and flexibility extends to the critical area of cybersecurity. Our new CyberGuard Program leverages our scale to offer a suite of state-of-the-art cybersecurity tools that enable advisors to ensure that clients’ sensitive personal data is kept safe and secure. All the efforts of our top-notch group of security experts ladder up to our core mission – to stand in our advisors’ corner, supporting them every step of the way.”

Firms on the Advisor Group network of broker-dealers have lured three women-led teams collectively overseeing $250 million, according to news reports.

Advisor Group, one of the nation’s largest networks of independent wealth management firms, comprised of FSC Securities Corporation, Royal Alliance Associates, SagePoint Financial, and Woodbury Financial, received the third highest ranking in the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Study – scoring 843 points, 11 points over the industry average.

The system provides advisors with the flexibility to hand-off specific onboarding events to the client, collect profile and suitability information and then make recommendations based on that data. It allows advisors to be more agile by leveraging the latest technology to drive a great overall experience.

Our president and CEO, Derek Burke, has supported and been involved with Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey, a non-profit dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with disabilities and other special needs for over 10 years. Read how he supports the cerebral palsy community here.

Valerie Brown's status as a female executive in a predominately male industry is not lost on her. The executive chairwoman of Advisor Group, one of the nation's largest independent advisory firms, has never let people's assumptions about gender get in her way, but she does recognize the importance of striving for more diversity, both at her firm and in the financial services industry as a whole.

The SEC’s proposed Regulation Best Interest may require further changes at independent broker-dealers, but, at first glance, the CEO of one of the largest firms views them as welcome developments.