“ETrade is a huge player in the retail world with great technology and a great brand, but they haven’t gotten into the advisory space until now,” he said. Mark Pearson, founder of Nepsis, a third-party money manager for advisers with $300 million under management, moved his custodian business from TD Ameritrade in December to TCA because of the ETrade deal that was pending at the time. “The company name sounded like a trust company, not a custodian for RIAs.” “The problem I had with TCA beforehand was that they didn’t go out and market themselves, and they didn’t go to conferences,” she said. The strategy represents a dramatic shift from the formerly low-key approach to connecting with RIAs, according to Carolyn Armitage, managing director at the investment bank Echelon Partners. Pace said the custodian has a three-pronged strategy to leverage the ETrade brand, including increased ad purchases and visibility at key industry conferences in the second half of 2018, and leveraging messaging through digital channels.Ĭustody assets as of 2017: $18 billion, up 12.5% over 2016 While he won’t disclose details, he said pre-acquisition inquiries typically included RIAs with between $50 million and $150 million in assets, and that the current range is between $250 million and $1 billion. Pace, who joined TCA nearly seven years ago, said the swagger of ETrade has already gotten the attention of RIAs looking for custodial relationships. 1 thing we thought about, how everyone would always wonder, ‘What is Trust Company of America?’” “In my heart of hearts, I definitely wanted a real brand.

“What I feel now is a huge degree of optimism,” Mr. Pace said the “halo effect” of the ETrade brand has put the second-tier custodian on the map for the first time in its 46-year history. Collectively they custody more than $2 trillion worth of RIA assets, making TCA by ETrade’s $20 billion in assets look downright puny by comparison. The custodian market is dominated by four major firms: Charles Schwab Corp., Fidelity Investments, TD Ameritrade and Pershing. “We believe the industry is ripe for a new entrant of scale in the custody space.” Joshua Pace, President, TCA by ETrade

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