Article Originally Published: RIABiz
Fisher Investments has taken its fiduciary status to the next level the old-fashioned way. It registered the brand domain, which rankles some leaders of the fiduciary movement.
The Plano, Texas, mega RIA and manager of $298.7 billion has just launched Fiduciary.com, and calls it an “educational” website.
But critics say it appears to be a monetization of the holy grail standard that sets apart independent RIAs from brokers. See: The ‘fiduciary’ movement’s lost mojo.
The professional help Fiduciary.com recommends is predominantly Fisher Investments, making it a blatant form of fiduciary-washing, a potentially tidy marketing scheme, says Knut A. Rostad, co-founder and president of The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a research and education institute.
“It’s naked lead-generation … [and its ethics are] just like all the others who claim ‘fiduciary,’ and barely know what it means,” he says, via email.
Fisher’s executive vice president of corporate communications, Naj Srivas, responded:
“The website speaks for itself, and we are not going to get into tit-for-tats. We are used to the smaller adviser world and its vendors criticizing us.”
