Latest News
Below is a list of our announcements, including new technologies, company milestones, and some of our new clients.
Seasoned professional brings leadership in implementing powerful financial services technology.
DENVER (May 11, 2010) – Trust Company of America, a specialized custodian and technology provider to fee-based Registered Investment Advisors, today announced that Dennis Noto has been named chief information officer. With more than 22 years of experience in information technology leadership, Mr. Noto has a track record of implementing high-performing and powerful financial services systems.
“We are very pleased to have Dennis on board as our chief information officer,” said Frank Maiorano, Trust president and CEO. “We are a company built on the power of our technology and on the quality of our service. Dennis’ track record of innovation and success will help us ensure that the solutions we offer our advisors continue to be the class of the industry.”
Prior to joining Trust, Mr. Noto served as the chief information officer at Computer Research, Inc., where he was directly responsible for application architecture and software design that powered back office processing for Scottrade.com. In this role, Mr. Noto managed functions including application development, software configuration, data center operations, and network, mainframe, and open systems management and administration.
Before joining Computer Research, Mr. Noto held a number of senior-level positions at ADP Corporate and ADP/Securities Industry Software Corp., where he was responsible for building trading systems that processed 1 million trades per hour.
“I’m very enthusiastic about joining the team at Trust,” Mr. Noto said. “Every CIO wants to work at a place that values and invests in advanced technology. Trust’s clear commitment to providing advisors solutions found no where else in the industry makes this an exciting opportunity for me.”
Mr. Noto holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Oklahoma.
Advanced rebalancing and real-time data keep client fully-invested and limit overdrafts.
DENVER (February 17, 2010) – Trust Company of America, a specialized custodian and technology provider to fee-based Registered Investment Advisors, today unveiled Multi-Settlement Date Rebalancing. When securities with both T+1 and T+3 settlement dates are combined in a single investment model, Multi-Settlement Date Rebalancing will calculate recommended trades over time while considering the account’s pending distributions and upcoming contributions – helping advisors keep clients fully-invested and limiting the risks of overdrafts.
For models that include securities with both T+1 and T+3 settlement dates, the Trust trading system automatically creates all required trades in one action by calculating the appropriate trade date for each trade based on the availability of cash on each day up to T+3. Essentially, it determines the available cash on the current date T, T+1, T+2, and T+3 and splits up required actions into multiple trades so that at the end of each trade date, the account will not be overdrawn.
Rebalancing on the Trust platform has always used real-time information to automatically free up cash to cover any pending distributions regardless of the effective date. With Multi-Settlement Date rebalancing, it also takes pending contributions up to T+3 into consideration. In other words, if the account has a pending contribution at T+2, rebalancing will use that cash to create buys on T+2 or T+3 as needed.
When future-dated trades are created, they remain in the trade blotter until their trade date. Automatic bulletins remind the advisor to approve them as the cash is available.
When rebalancing an entire account containing multiple investment models, rebalancing is now aware of T+1 and T+3 settlement date securities and will create future-dated asset transfers between models and trades as needed when they do. Even if only one model in an account contains a security with a T+3 settlement date, asset transfers and all models will be processed looking out to T+3 – allowing pending contributions up to T+3 to be considered.
By providing advisors with sophisticated, reliable and easy-to-use trading tools, Trust makes firms more successful and makes advisors’ lives easier.
New leadership poised to continue Trust Company of America’s strong growth as former President & CEO Terry Reitan retires.
DENVER (February 1, 2010) – Trust Company of America, a specialized custodian and technology provider to fee-based Registered Investment Advisors, today announced that Frank Maiorano has been named president and CEO. Mr. Maiorano replaces Terry Reitan, who is retiring.”We are thrilled to introduce Frank as our new president and CEO,” said Stephen Finn, Chairman of the Board of Trust Company of America. “His career has been marked by consistent success as a leader in the RIA services industry. This leadership will help us continue our remarkable growth and success.”
Mr. Maiorano has spent the bulk of his career dedicated to serving RIAs. As a pioneer in the Registered Investment Advisors service industry, he was at the forefront of the one-time market niche that has now become one of the most meaningful business models for financial advisors. With more than 20 years in leadership positions, Mr. Maiorano most recently built the successful RIA and Institutional Consulting Services Group at Nuveen Investments, serving as the group’s managing director. Prior to that, Mr. Maiorano spent 12 years with Charles Schwab, where he held a variety of positions including divisional vice president at Schwab Institutional.
“I am truly honored to join Trust Company of America,” Mr. Maiorano said. “For almost 20 years, I have dedicated myself to getting to know the business owners who run the most successful RIA firms in the nation. I’ve listened to their needs and learned from their best practices. Successful entrepreneurs demand a great deal from their custodians including high-efficiency technology and responsive service - delivered by a company with financial strength and security.
“Trust Company of America delivers this level of service, and I am committed to building upon the tremendous growth and success our company has enjoyed as we solidify our place in the market as the best choice for successful, growing RIAs,” Mr. Maiorano said.
Mr. Reitan, who joined Trust Company of America as president and CEO in September 2005, has retired after more than four years of overseeing remarkable growth and technological leadership in the industry. He is looking forward to traveling and spending more time with family, friends and his new grandchild.
Under Mr. Reitan’s leadership, Trust Company of America quadrupled its assets under custody – growing from $2.3 billion to more than $9 billion in four years. Their average assets per advisor also increased and now closely parallels the average assets held by advisors at Schwab Institutional and Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. Mr. Reitan built a strong executive team, an industry-leading, high-efficiency trading platform, and a solid foundation for future growth and prosperity.
“On behalf of everyone at Trust Company of America, I’d like to extend a sincere and warm thanks to Terry for his hard work over the last four-and-a-half years,” Mr. Finn said. “Terry has been a big part of our accomplishments, as well as a friend and valued member of our community. Looking ahead, we’re very enthusiastic about our future, and we know that we have found the right leader to take us forward in Frank Maiorano.”
Mr. Reitan will continue to serve Trust Company of America in an advisory capacity through the end of 2012.
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Advanced technology tools allow advisors to instantly execute sophisticated equity strategies
DENVER (December 17, 2009) – Trust Company of America, a specialized provider of asset custody and technology services to fee-based Registered Investment Advisors, today unveiled a set of three algorithmic trading options. Advisors can now combine the benefits of state-of-the-art, model-based trading with sophisticated equity trading strategies.
The options include:
• Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP) – minimizes slippage against VWAP by targeting the stock’s expected volume profile between the time the order is placed and market close. Uses historical and real-time volume data. Under normal conditions will complete by market close.
• Time Weighted Average Price (TWAP) – spreads the order out evenly between the time the order is placed and market close. Under normal conditions will complete by market close.
• Percent of Volume (POV) – strives for minimal market impact by participating at 5 percent of volume. Ideal when consistent participation takes priority over guaranteed completion. Due to various factors may not complete by market close.
Trust has made it easy to select an algorithmic trading method. In TCAdvisor, wherever an advisor can set or edit the special instructions for an equity trade, an algorithmic trading method can be selected.
By providing advisors with sophisticated, easy-to-use trading tools, Trust makes firms more successful and makes advisors’ lives easier.
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With over $100 million in assets under management, The Planning Center optimizes their back office operations with Trust’s high efficiency trading and personalized service
DENVER (December 8, 2009) – Trust Company of America, a specialized provider of asset custody and technology services to fee-based Registered Investment Advisors, today announced that The Planning Center has selected Trust as its primary asset custodian.
Founded in 1998, The Planning Center is an independent, fee-only financial planning firm with more than $100 million in assets under management. Over the last few years, as The Planning Center’s proprietary approach to financial planning and wealth management fueled its remarkable growth, the firm’s leadership knew it would have to implement best-in-business technology solutions and practice efficiencies to enable continued success. In Trust, The Planning Center saw an attentive partner with a custody platform and back office services capable of optimizing the firm’s operations. The Planning Center is aggressively transferring its assets to the Trust custody platform, and the conversion is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.
Driven by a need for fast and effective trading and rebalancing, The Planning Center has realized significant value from Trust’s model portfolio technology. The Trust platform enables them to define their investment strategies directly on the custody platform and then easily apply one or more strategies to each client account. The real benefit comes when they need to invest new money, free up cash for systematic distributions, or rebalance accounts. Instead of day-long trading processes involving data upload and manual calculations, now The Planning Center only needs to “click and trade.”
“We’re thrilled to have The Planning Center join our rapidly growing client roster of highly successful advisors,” said Terry Reitan, president and CEO of Trust. “Exceptional advisory firms like The Planning Center know that efficient technology really can make a difference in a firm’s success, and it is great to see them utilize our powerful platform to its fullest.”
“Not only have we benefited from technology that makes our firm more efficient, we’ve appreciated Trust’s commitment to our continued success, said Marty Kurtz, founder/president of The Planning Center. “The level of service we’ve received in planning our transfer to Trust Company and the daily service we’ve received in managing each of the transfers has been exceptional.”
The Planning Center’s conversion is progressing rapidly and smoothly, with the assistance of a dedicated relationship manager. This relationship manager is also assisting with internal cross-training to remove any single points of failure in their firm. Additionally, The Planning Center has already experienced Trust’s flexibility and desire to continuously enhance its platform based on client feedback. While setting up modeled portfolios, for example, The Planning Center wished to accommodate a greater amount of market float than the system allowed. This month the investment deviations settings are being expanded.
In addition to high-efficiency trading and receiving extraordinary service, The Planning Center also now has the ability to streamline account opening processes, automate management fee processing, and rely on a single relationship for both their general investment accounts and their managed 401(k) accounts.
By providing advisors with advanced technology solutions and personalized support, Trust helps position advisors for success.
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Trust’s quadrupling of assets under custody in last four years serves as proof that today’s advisors need advanced technology to keep their practice competitive
DENVER (December 8, 2009) – Trust Company of America, a specialized provider of asset custody and technology services to fee-based Registered Investment Advisors, today announced that its total assets under custody (AUC) has surpassed $9 billion. This milestone marks a year in which Trust began at $7.1 billion assets under custody, crossed the $8 billion mark in the third quarter of 2009, and passed $9 billion in November.
Despite the downturn in markets and the global recession, Trust has continued to grow rapidly in the last several years. Trust has enjoyed a 35.7% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in assets under custody over the last four years. The company’s total assets at the end of the first quarter in 2005 registered a mere $2.3 billion – meaning Trust has nearly quadrupled in assets under custody in the last four years.
“Trust’s rapid and sustained growth serves as proof that today’s advisors need advanced technology to keep their practices competitive,” said Terry Reitan, Trust Company of America president and CEO. “Not only do we supply that difference-making technology, we provide a level of personalized services that is best in class of the industry, along with a pledge to not compete with our advisor clients.”
Trust’s institutional advisor services, which provides custody, trading and back-office services to fee-only Registered Investment Advisors, represents close to 90% of Trust assets and is largely responsible for the company’s growth. The growth is fueled by both new clients who recognize the significant business advantages that the company’s high-efficiency trading technology delivers, as well as existing clients who grow their practices by leveraging the many practice efficiencies of the Trust solution. Specifically, there is an increasing demand for the scalability of Trust’s turn-key asset management support program – including support for money managers who sell through others and back-office management for advisors who offer their investment program on broker-dealer platforms.
“The recent slump in the market put a bright spotlight on the importance of efficiency and scalability for financial advisors,” Reitan said. “Inefficiencies can be hidden when times are good, but when markets are down, the efficiency our technology provides becomes invaluable.”
By providing advisors with industry-leading client service and advanced technology that optimizes an advisor’s trading, custody and back-office processes, Trust makes firms more successful and makes advisors’ lives easier.
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114 Trust employees put on their jeans and joined the fight against breast cancer not just for a day… but for a whole week!
To participate on Lee National Denim Week, employees paid $10.00 to wear jeans for the whole week or $5:00 to wear jeans on Thursday and Friday. Participants in the Lee’s Denim Week this year collected a total of $1,290.00!
Net proceeds from Lee National Denim Day will benefit the Women’s Cancer Programs of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) to:
- Benefit Lee Laboratories nationwide, which work to find more effective, less toxic treatments for breast cancer and increase patient access to some of the most significant clinical trials in the nation.
- Support a multi-year effort led by world-class scientists to develop a blood test for earlier detection of breast cancer when survival rates are the highest, known as the Breast Cancer Biomarker Discovery Project.
- Through Right Action for Women, Christina Applegate’s foundation, provide aid to individuals who are at increased risk for breast cancer and do not have insurance or financial resources to cover the high costs associated with breast screenings.
- Create resources with the National Breast Cancer Coalition to offer individuals with breast cancer evidence-based information, and train advocates nationwide.
Recently RIABiz.com featured an article written by Liz Hayden, our Director of Product Management, titled Here’s how advanced trading technology boosts financial advisors even if they eschew market timing.
We shared the article in hopes that advisors who aren’t familiar with model-based trading, or who think they are but have only been exposed to model-based trading on a brokerage platform or utilitzing a thrid-party applicatiohn, could see that there is another alternative.
Liz shared with RIABiz.com that it should be possible to make across-the-board portfolio changes with just a few keystrokes. I hope advisors will really believe it is possible – because it is.
