This year has seen a resurgence in IPOs, with SpaceX’s listing gathering global attention and leading AI providers Anthropic and OpenAI filing confidentially with the SEC. At the same time, many other high-dollar IPOs have entered the markets. But despite the old wisdom that nothing is truly “different this time,” this IPO market is unique. Andrew Krei walks us through the characteristics of the 2026 IPO market, including what may be in store through year end.
As a reminder, nominations are open until Aug. 18 for our inaugural Top Financial Advisor Recruiters of the Year list, honoring the wealth management industry’s top five third-party financial advisor recruiters.
Connected Data Is The New Alpha: The Conversation
WSR Editor in Chief Julius Buchanan hosted Churni Bhattacharya, David Hatfield and Jack Martin of Amplify Technology, for the webinar “Connected Data Is the New Alpha: The Conversation.” The discussion tested claims from the executives’ white paper, “Connected Data Is the New Alpha: Why Connected Data Determines Who Wins the AI Era.”
The paper argues that data architecture is fundamentally revealed through the advisor experience, and it is connected data that “enables the advisor to fulfill the promise their client originally sought.”
What Advisors And Their Clients Need To Know About IPOs In The Second Half
To give advisors a glimpse into the near future for IPOs and what financial advisors and their clients need to know about them for the rest of 2026, we spoke with Andrew Krei of Barrett Upton Capital Partners.
We asked him how the current IPO cycle is different, which companies are good candidates to IPO, how private capital and secondary markets changed the nature of IPOs, what factors are needed for a successful IPO market and what advisors should be telling their clients.
Roundtable: How Advisors Should Diversify Clients’ Concentrated Positions
To explore how advisors can guide clients with concentrated stock positions, we spoke with Neale Ellis of Fidelis Capital, Brooks Schaffer of Waypoint West and David Ellis of EverPar Advisors.
We asked them how advisors can approach diversifying a client’s concentrated position while limiting the tax consequences.
Inherited Treasures, Complex Decisions
Ryan Patton of OpenArc describes how families can navigate the complexities surrounding the inheritance of art and valuables.
He explains how these differ from traditional assets, valuation, ownership structures, philanthropy and selling the assets.
Deals & Recruiting Roundup
This week’s roundup includes acquisitions by Corient, Hightower, AlphaCore, Sequoia, Wealth Enhancement and Allworth; recruiting by RBC, Raymond James, Cetera, Savvy and Ameriprise; and appointments by Perigon.
We have entered an August that is anything but the typically quieter end of summer, with a flurry of large M&A and recruiting deal announcements.
Wealthtech Roundup
This month’s roundup covers Envestnet, Feathery, Mariner, Smartria, d1g1t, Advyzon, OneDigital, F2 Strategy, Wipro, Orion, Arch and Mercer Advisors.
F2 Strategy’s Q2 2026 Trend Report found that wealth management firms are increasing AI budgets while many lack formal methods for measuring returns on those investments.
Corient To Buy $21 Billion Summit Trail Advisors
Corient is acquiring New York-based wealth management firm Summit Trail Advisors in a deal expected to close in the current quarter and add over $21 billion in assets.
Summit Trail, founded in 2015, is focused on serving ultra-high net worth individual investors, families and institutions.
FMG Suite Adds Executives With A Focus On AI Innovation And Enterprise Growth
FMG Suite added four senior team members: Christian Short joined as Senior Vice President of AI Strategy & Operations. Nathan Worthington was named Senior Vice President of Customer Success. Kevin Jurick and Jeremy Kowalski joined as Strategic Enterprise Account Executives.
According to the firm, the hires are to support the next phase of its platform strategy, including AI strategy and infrastructure, customer success and enterprise sales.
Cetera Picks Up $3.5 Billion Advisor Team From Osaic
Cetera announced that it picked up Pittsford, New York-based iTP Partners, a firm whose nearly 50 advisors oversee about $3.5 billion in assets and which launched Blue Horizon Equity, an independent RIA, using Cetera’s Blueprint platform.
With an additional office in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, the firm joins Cetera from Osaic.
VestGen Wealth Expands Zocks Relationship To Enhance Organic Growth
VestGen Wealth Partners announced it has expanded its partnership with Zocks, an AI platform provider for financial advisors. The expansion extends Zocks’ AI-enabled organic growth program to further automate key tasks and provide data-informed insights regarding potential clients and growth opportunities for existing VestGen clients.
VestGen advisors already use Zocks to produce meeting notes and structure client data through tools that integrate with Salesforce, Orion and eMoney.
Haven Tower Adds Former Kestra President Stephen Langlois To Its Board Of Advisors
Haven Tower Group appointed Stephen Langlois to its Board of Advisors. Langlois is the former President of Kestra Financial.
The firm said Langlois will provide strategic counsel as it expands its client offerings and approaches its 15th anniversary.
IFG Recruits Over $1 Billion In Assets, Begins National Conference
Independent Financial Group (IFG) added multiple advisor offices in 2026 from recruiting, representing over $1 billion in total client assets. It also held its annual National Conference Aug. 5-8 in San Diego.
Earlier this year, the broker-dealer added regional recruiters in the West Coast, Mountain Region, Midwest and East Coast, while also expanding its onboarding and transition team.
$300 Million Abound Advisors Joins Prospera
Prospera Financial Services announced that Abound Advisors, with $300 million in client assets, joined its platform. Abound Advisors has offices in Boerne, Texas, and Redlands, California.
Prospera commits to a 2.5:1 advisor-to-home-office ratio, which the firm says will not change as it continues to integrate AI solutions.
Amplify Teams With Ned Davis Research To Help Advisors With Portfolio Management
Amplify Technology announced it teamed with Ned Davis Research (NDR) to provide financial advisors with NDR’s institutional research as turnkey managed portfolios through the AI-driven Amplify platform.
The collaboration will enable advisors to implement NDR’s investment models in client accounts on any custodial platform, the firms said.
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Larry Roth
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Wealth Solutions Report
