Regional B/Ds, along with independents, have been the winners of the past few years, certainly as compared to the wirehouses. There has been a lot of press lately about whether or not this momentum can continue. My answer is that yes the regionals B/Ds can maintain this momentum, but they have to be careful not to be undone by some of their traditional weaknesses.

I wrote an article on this topic which was published in today’s FundFire. Click here to read the full article, entitled “What Slows Managed Acct Growth at Regionals? In the short- and medium-term, there is no reason that this momentum will not continue. Many long-standing advisors at regional B/Ds are not going to go independent for many of the reasons that they traditionally haven’t – namely it takes a lot to run a business. They are also unlikely to go to the wirehouses in large numbers.

And the recruits that have just joined the regionals are under contract for a number of years. To me, the danger to regionals will appear as these contracts expire. Regionals have often lagged in the fee-based area not because their recruits don’t do the business – but rather that the advisors that have been at a regional firm for the majority of their careers don’t tend to do as much of this business.

While strives have been made in the quality of the fee-based platforms at the regionals, many still lag. They have time to rectify this situation – especially on the training side, where significant investments are not necessary. The successful regionals will use the growth in their fee-based revenues generated by recent recruits to invest back into their businesses and to broaden the reach of the programs to advisors who have traditionally not done the business. This should make their platforms extremely competitive and provide the newest recruits little reason to jump ship again when their contracts expire.

Regionals have the time to do this – the only question is whether or not they will. My guess is that some will and some will not. But overall, I think the momentum will continue.

This is the title of an opinion piece that I wrote for yesterday’s Ignites; click here to read it.

The article discusses the things that will separate the winners from the losers among firms that decide to enter the social media arena. (These same principles are germane to advisors entering this foray as well.) Bottom line, those firms that succeed will be those that have a strategy to attack this ever-influencial channel and then execute on this strategy. Those that enter with no strategy, and act accordingly, are probably wasting their time and money.

Key principles firms should consider in developing their approach to social media include:

• Be informative and educate – pull people in with value-added content; do not try to sell something
• Be consistent with your delivery – if you’re not going to have fresh content on a regular basis – don’t start!
• Be accessible – give people multiple ways to follow your company, link them together and make them easy to use
• Have an opinion – it’s okay to be outspoken and a little controversial
• Be patient – Rome wasn’t built in a day – it will take time to build a sizable following

Roughly 80% of asset management firms recently survey by Kasina expressed interest in developing a social media strategy. Some will and some won’t. Some will be successful and some won’t.

You can be sure that the winners will plan, allocate resources and personnel and treat their entry into social media as a serious endeavor. Because it is – and if not done right can hurt your reputation and leave you behind the competition.

Ignites today reported the results of its latest survey on social media. Click here to read the article and see comments by AK Founder and Principal Andy Klausner.

The surprising headline in the survey is that a greater percentage of respondents said that Facebook is their main social media tool; LinkedIn came in second (45% to 30%). The question did not distinguish between business and personal use, however, which is probably why Facebook placed higher. While among companies the use of Facebook is increasing, as they develop company-specific pages, I think the number of advisors using LinkedIn as opposed to Facebook is still far greater.

Encouraging was that only 16% of respondents said that don’t use any social media; a similar survey by Ignites last year indicated that 33% of respondents did not use social media. The message here is that the financial services industry is not as far behind in the social media race as previously believed.

Finally, not surprisingly, Twitter trailed significantly in the survey, with only 4% using this tool. Twitter remains a much more social tool than a business one.

Bottom line, despite the results of this narrow survey, I still believe that LinkedIn remains the primary social media tool of individuals in the financial services industry, followed by Facebook and Twitter. Companies are increasingly turning to Facebook but remain active in LinkedIn as well.

Published on December 22, 2010 – Ignites – An Information Service of Money-Media, a Financial Times Company- written by Gregory Shulas

Poll: Industry Gripped by Ambivalence in 2011

The mutual fund industry foresees a mix of good and bad for 2011, predicting a rebound in equity funds but major challenges in the municipal bond and money fund markets.

That’s according to the results of an Ignites survey that polled readers on what they see as the most likely events to occur in the coming year. The answer options provided a full range of responses from the optimistic “Investors return to equities en masse” to the pessimistic “A wave of defaults sparks a crisis in the muni market.”

The results suggest a high level of ambivalence in the industry about what the future holds.

Roughly 27%, or 80 voters, said investors will move en masse to equities next year. That made it the top response.

But equity market optimism was largely muted by concerns over credit markets. The second most popular answer with about 20% of the response, or 58 voters, predicts that a wave of defaults will spark a muni bond market crisis next year. Moreover, 16% or 47 voters, believe tighter regulations and thin yields will push most money fund firms to exit that market.

Other potential trends received less support. Roughly 14%, or 41 voters, prognosticate that the Dodd-Frank Act to be overhauled by Congressional Republicans, while 12%, or 36 voters, believe 2011 will be marked by an uptick in M&A. Meanwhile, 9% believe the SEC will adopt 12b-1 reform.

The favorable equity market sentiment comes after bond products attracted massive inflows as part of a larger de-risking trend. The development boosted the profile and flows of the industry’s top bond shops during the past two years.

But signs that the so-called “flight to safety” is reversing have emerged, industry observers say.Pimco‘s Total Return Fund was among the bond funds that saw a decline in assets in the past month as investors sold off Treasurys, Bloomberg has reported. However, Pimco still enjoyed a stellar year for their products through November.

Additionally, Pimco’s Total Return Fund is broadening its investment policy to allow stakes in equity-linked securities. The fund’s portfolio manager, Bill Gross, has said he expects bonds to weaken following Federal Reserve asset purchases.

Bruce Johnston, founder of sales consultancy DBJ Associates, says firms should be asking themselves whether they are prepared for the equity market’s re-emergence.

“The balance sheets of large-cap companies are cleaned up and poised for growth. It is a clear trend,” Johnston says. “But the question is: Are firms prepared to take advantage of what is coming up? If prices for equity firms were cheap, did you take advantage of it? Did all that money saved by cutting jobs go right into the bottom line or did some of it go toward buying equity firms?”

Andy Klausner, founder of asset and wealth management consultancy AK Advisory Partners, says the poll’s mixture of optimism and pessimism is a sign of the times.

“It has been a very good year in the markets – better than in the economy as a whole,” Klausner says. “However, the high percentage of respondents thinking there are problems ahead in the muni bond market represents the part of the industry that realizes that unemployment is too high and the deficit is growing too quickly.”

“I do agree with the general consensus that with the new Republican majority in the House, that there is a chance that Dodd-Frank will face some overhaul. Overall, there is certainly a better chance here given some of the problems that have already emerged in the [Act] as opposed to other major areas of debate like health care,” Klausner says.

Dan Crowley, partner at K&L Gates and previously general counsel to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, also sees the potential for Congress to revisit regulations that were hastily put together following the financial crisis.

“A bipartisan chorus of concern is already emerging about the speed with which the regulators are promulgating proposals that could have a profound impact on the economy and on U.S. competitiveness,” Crowley said in an e-mail message. “House Republicans will be particularly focused on the cost versus the benefit of proposed regulations, and we will almost certainly see corrective legislation to address unintended consequences enacted in stages in the coming Congress.”

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 300 Ignites subscribers participated in the survey, which is an unscientific sampling of the publication’s subscribers. Readers voted only once on a voluntary basis. Ignites’s audience consists of financial advisors, money managers and service providers.