RIA Advocate Opens Fire On Bloomberg "Expose" Of The Independent Channel Hot

David Tittsworth of the IAA all but blasts the Bloomberg story, "Safeguards Scant as RIAs Increase 39%," as inflammatory half-truth.

While he concedes that the number of RIA firms mushroomed around 39% between 2004 and 2010, he finds the notion that registered investment advisors are subject to lighter regulation than brokers dubious and "unfortunate."

Given the number of compliance professionals quoted in the story noting that 90% of all the investor complaints out there are directed at FINRA reps, he's got a point that the scaremongering focus seems out of place.

And he's right that some of the details are just plain off.

While legal action against any advisor is going to be "expensive, protracted," singling out RIAs as the problem is a little bizarre -- after all, as Tittsworth notes, it's the brokerage firms that enforce arbitration clauses in their client contracts.

If that article had you scratching your head, there's a great comprehensive rebuttal from him at AdvisorOne.

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