ABOUT this webinar
Topic: Conducting Your RIA Firm’s Annual Compliance Review
Description: Under Rule 206(4)-7 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, RIA firms are required to conduct an annual compliance review including the adequacy and effectiveness of the firm’s policies and procedures. We often find that RIA firms run into preventable compliance issues by failing to thoroughly perform and document the completion of the mandatory annual compliance program review. Join Chad Hartwick, Compliance Director at RIA in a Box for an overview on conducting your firm’s annual review. Topics to be discussed include:

• Conducting a risk assessment
• Advisory document review
• Policies and procedures manual review
• Holding a firm-wide annual compliance meeting

Register now for this webinar on November 9 at 10 am Pacific.

SmartRIA‘s mission is to be the best company in the world at simplifying compliance.

ABOUT this webinar
Topic: Simplifying Compliance with SmartRIA & Redtail
Description: For some RIAs compliance can feel like a drag. For RIAs that do compliance well, however, it can create a strategic advantage that helps them grow. Come learn how you can use SmartRIA to simplify your compliance processes and solve more compliance problems in a single platform with information easily integrated from your Redtail CRM.

Register now for this webinar on November 10 at 10 am Pacific.

WHAT ARE THE INTEGRATION POINTS BETWEEN SMARTRIA AND REDTAIL CRM? This integration allows you to pull a significant amount of contact data from Redtail into Smart RIA.

DETAILS ON INTEGRATION SETUP AND USAGE Redtail’s documentation on this integration is available here.

Compliance software leader unites financial services powerhouses to support advisors during COVID-19 through The Path to Independence Promotion

CLEVELAND, June 2, 2020/(original press release here) — RIA in a Box, a leading provider of compliance, cybersecurity, and registration software and services solutions for the wealth management industry, today announced it has joined forces with industry leaders Morningstar, Redtail Technology (Redtail), and Riskalyze to help new registered investment advisors (RIAs) work remotely and more efficiently in the wake of COVID-19. The Path to Independence Promotion will allow advisors that partner with RIA in a Box to register a new RIA firm to use industry-leading cloud-based technology from the supporting firms, free of charge, based on their unique business needs through December 2020.

As the RIA industry adapts to the new remote work environment, RIA in a Box recognizes the important role technology plays in helping RIAs service their clients efficiently and effectively, especially during a firm’s genesis. Upon registering with RIA in a Box, new advisors will secure complimentary access to the  proprietary MyRIACompliance cybersecurity platform. The cybersecurity platform empowers RIAs to efficiently construct, implement, and document a robust cybersecurity compliance program with a single solution.  In addition, registrants will also have the opportunity to secure contracts with Morningstar, Redtail, or Riskalyze for complimentary access through the end of 2020 to:

• Morningstar Office Cloud:
  Morningstar Office Cloud is an award-winning portfolio management software that combines industry-leading performance reporting, billing, and rebalancing with Morningstar’s robust investment research and security databases. Advisors can connect with clients via an interactive portal, automate tasks, assess risk, aggregate custodial accounts, and track client holdings, dividends, and returns, and more. These tools, among others, provide advisors with a seamless experience, enabling them to work efficiently wherever they are.
• Redtail CRM:
  Redtail’s Client Relationship Management (CRM) offers advisors the tools they need to strengthen client relationships, improve team collaboration, and work more efficiently. Redtail aids advisors in increasing revenue and profitability, decreasing client attrition, and supporting business-building activities. Some of the features include Workflow, Integrations, Reporting, Calendar, Notes, Seminars, Opportunities, Retriever Cloud, and Redtail’s mobile app.
• Riskalyze Elite:
  Through this platform, advisors have access to powerful client engagement tools that set useful expectations and help to empower fearless investing. Some of the tools that advisors will have access to include Next-Gen Risk Assessment, Portfolio Risk, Retirement Maps, Stress Tests, Scenarios, The Risk/Reward Heatmap, Meetings, Check-Ins, and the Lead Generation Questionnaire. In addition to these tools, advisors will be able to access analysis tools such as Detailed Portfolio Stats and Individual Security Analysis.

“We are seeing record levels of advisors exploring how to start an RIA firm. This initiative will help ensure COVID-19 does not stand in the way of any advisor seeking full independence to better serve their clients,” said RIA in a Box president GJ King. “With this announcement, RIA in a Box’s mission is to give new RIAs the ability to leverage technology solutions so they can provide their clients with the best possible experience, virtually. We are thrilled to join forces with fellow industry leaders Morningstar, Redtail, and Riskalyze to support advisors with 24/7 remote access, no matter their location.”

To coincide with the kick-off of The Path to Independence Promotion, King will host a webinar on how to start an RIA on June 5 at 1:30 pm ET. Joined by Morningstar’s head of independent advisor software James Carney, Redtail’s CEO Brian McLaughlin and Riskalyze’s CEO Aaron Klein, the executives will offer tips and considerations for advisors who are looking to start their own firm, including how to leverage different technology platforms to accomplish their goals. For more information on the webinar or the promotion, please click here.

About RIA in a Box LLC

RIA in a Box is a leading provider of compliance software to the wealth management industry. Launched in 2005, RIA in a Box is led by Will Bressman and GJ King who transformed the business into the market leading SaaS-based compliance solution focused on the RIA industry. Nearly 2,000 registered investment advisors (RIAs) of varying size use the platform to increase compliance workflow efficiency and to automate regulatory requirements. For more information about RIA in a Box, please visit: www.riainabox.com.

In Redtail’s September 2019 AdvisorComms Survey of over 3,200 wealth management professionals we found that “nearly 87% of respondents think their clients would like to communicate with them via text, but 29% have a ‘no client texting’ policy within their office. Further, nearly 41% of respondents have not been approved by their BD for texting with their clients.”

Of course much has changed in our world since September of last year. While correlation does not always imply causation, we’ve certainly seen an uptick in Redtail Speak adoption since many in the country began working from home in March. But, regardless of whether the primary reason more advisors are now adopting texting as a means for client communication is that they are working from home due to the pandemic or whether the pandemic simply hastened their adoption when they’d already planned to incorporate texting, it’s never a bad idea for advisors and their staff to brush up on things they should and should not be doing when communicating with clients via this channel. Note: much of the below from Dusty Russell, one of Redtail’s Relationship Managers, was published previously by InvestmentNews in July of 2019.

Compliance dos and don’ts

The recent Risk Alert from the SEC “to remind advisers of their obligations when their personnel use electronic messaging” also “encourages advisers to review their risks, practices, policies, and procedures . . . and to consider any improvements . . . that would help them comply with their regulatory requirements.”  Texting with clients is always subject to compliance, so:

Do:

• Use an SEC and FINRA-compliant texting platform to communicate with your clients. Redtail Speak is an option here if your compliance department has approved it for you to use.
• Control the environment and lead by example. Keep it primarily business-related in this communications channel and refrain from sending or replying to messages inappropriate for the medium.

Don’t:

• Assume your staff isn’t texting clients so you have nothing to worry about. This won’t protect your firm if they are and FINRA comes calling. Similarly, don’t rely on a no-texting policy to protect you, as FINRA does not consider that a defense either.
• Make recommendations via text. Otherwise, you are potentially setting yourself up for suitability claims. Save those conversations for channels where your recommendations can be explained in depth, with context, and documented fully.

Use channel-appropriate etiquette and understand the medium

Texting has its own set of generally accepted norms. Be aware of these and make sure you practice them so you don’t create a bad impression.

Do:

• Reply as promptly as possible. Texting with clients works because it allows for an almost immediate response time. Give your clients the same level of attention by being available when they text. Texts can be forgotten if we don’t answer them quickly.
• Be careful when using internet or texting abbreviations and acronyms – not everyone stays up-to-date on all of these. “LOL” may be dictionary-worthy at this point, but once you move beyond those abbreviations with everyday widespread usage, you risk alienating your recipient by sending them a message they simply don’t understand.
• Know your audience. Emojis are fun and can be used to clarify tone of a potentially ambiguous word or phrase, but they aren’t for everyone. Use where appropriate but aim for clarity with your words rather than relying on emojis to convey your meaning.
• Think outside the box, be creative with texts (birthday and anniversary greetings, invitations to social events you are hosting and/or attending, etc.). Texting shouldn’t be limited to appointment confirmations and reminders.
• Proof your messages prior to sending (for content and recipient). It only takes a second and can prevent much embarrassment.

Don’t:

• Shout – turn the ALL CAPS off.
• Text anything that’s too complex for the medium. You can, however, alert your recipient via text that you have emailed or physically mailed something of this nature, so they can be on the lookout for it.
• Deliver bad news via text. You should never allow anyone in your office to use texting as a distancing tool for bad news. Set up a meeting or a phone call for those situations.
• Text at the wrong times. Avoid dinner hours, overnight, holidays, etc. In this regard, texting is like telephoning – so don’t text someone when you wouldn’t appreciate being disturbed yourself. Also, keep the client’s time zone in mind. A little common sense and courtesy should be your guide here.

Keep it simple for your clients

Compliance concerns are, of course, paramount when adding texting to your communications mix. And, having a good grasp of texting etiquette should be a requirement for all of your staff members prior to launching your texting platform.

But, with those considerations in hand, an overarching consideration on your texting “Do List” must be to make it easy on your clients. In fact, make it seamless. They shouldn’t have to use anything other than their default texting app for text conversations with you. Platform fatigue is a real thing for many people, and you should never expect your clients to adopt a new platform to perform a task they are already quite comfortable with on an existing platform.

Bearing all of the above in mind, you should be able to pick between the compliant texting platforms now available, meet your clients’ desire to text with you where appropriate, and ease your concerns (compliance and otherwise) in regard to texting as a viable means of client communication. And, if you are already a Redtail CRM user, Redtail Speak is a great option, as your text messages through Speak are archived to contact records within the CRM and viewable at any time.