Behind the Scenes at the Asset Manager of the Year Awards

The calendar of advisor conferences has been full. BNY Mellon’s Pershing held its annual Insite event, for instance, in early June. Some of the highlights of that Orlando meeting can be found in this issue’s RIA Lessons & Leaders section.

Meanwhile, the American Institute of CPAs hosted a gathering recently in Las Vegas, which Nexus Strategy President and Industry Insights contributor Tim Welsh writes about this month. The “big” takeaways from this event include the growing competitive presence of Certified Public Accountants and the pros and cons of advisory businesses that are smaller in size and scale.

At the Securities and Exchange Commission’s mid-June town hall in Atlanta, Chairman Jay Clayton described what a new best-interest standard might look like and how it could affect brokers’ behavior. His comments on this development and those of other industry officials are analyzed by Melanie Waddell, our Washington bureau chief, in this month’s Playing Field column.

Retirement Planning columnist Scott Stolz breaks down the industry’s “mixed feelings” for immediate annuities. The Raymond James executive also explains the role these products can play in client’s future income streams.

In his Compliance Coach column, attorney Tom Giachetti of Stark & Stark digs into a Department of Labor bulletin concerning environmental, social and governance (or ESG) investments. The DOL’s stance comes as ESG investments represent more than a quarter of $88 trillion in assets under management worldwide, according to McKinsey & Co.

Turning to our cover story, our interviews with this year’s Asset Managers of the Year Awards and analysis from Envestnet | PMC are featured in “Poised for Performance.” Investment Advisor is pleased to have partnered with Envestnet in the selection of the winners and at the awards ceremony, which took place in New Orleans in May during Envestnet’s Advisor Summit.