Pershing LLC Chairman and CEO Richard Brueckner, COO Brian Shea, and Managing Director Frank La Salla sat down with Investment Advisor Group Editor-in-Chief and John Sullivan, editor of IA sister publication Boomer Market Advisor and AdvisorBiz.com, for an exclusive interview at the firm’s annual Insite Conference in Hollywood, Florida, on June 11.
What are you hearing from advisors?
“At this conference two years ago, the advisor and RIA attendees wanted to know about international investing, but it was more simple and straightforward, such as: ‘How do I invest in BMW?’” La Salla began. “Today, it’s still about overseas investing, but it is much more sophisticated.”
“In the interim, it was about a massive flight to quality,” Brueckner added.
Specifically, La Salla said attendees want information of two- and three-year foreign paper, such as Australia or even Germany. They are also interested in individual foreign stocks and foreign currency, but also low risk vehicles. Sovereign debt from quality countries is also popular, and Brueckner noted advisors and investors don’t have to go far to get it, naming Canada as one such country.
Who owns the debt that led to the global crisis in 2008, and more recently the crisis in Greece and Portugal?
“Regulators might know, but they don’t talk to one another,” Brueckner said. “Disclosure rules in Europe aren’t like they are in the U.S.” and “Europe needs a systemic regulator like the one we already have in the U.S.,” indicating the Federal Reserve.