Coming RIA custody fees and a new recruiting war catch the attention of deal hounds in Manhattan

If RIA oversight burden is shifter to custodians, there will be no perceived regulatory burden in custodians being supportive of fiduciary duty as being "prescriptive" would no longer trigger fiduciary liability as liability is already established.. Thus un-incumbered custodians can play a more active role in supporting fiduciary duty, particularly in retooling of their product menus and advancing prudent process (asset/liability study, investment policy, portfolio construction, performance monitor) authenticated back to statute which puts "financial services" back into the financial services business. Treating trade execution as a cost center to be minimized may be more complex as custodians are electronic crossing networks at their core which will require RIAs to "write checks" as the primary value add would become prudent process rather than trade execution. This isa much anticipated development which will accrue to the best interest of the advisor and the investing public. SCW