Ameriprise loses longtime head of advisor recruiting; how firms are deploying AI tools; the ethics of AI in wealth management

INDUSTRY NEWS: Manish Dave , the head of advisor recruiting at Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC , is stepping down. Ameriprise said in a statement that Dave, the senior vice president of business development and experienced advisor recruiting, resigned Thursday, effective immediately. The firm's recruiting team will now report to Patrick O'Connell, CFP? , executive vice president and president of the Ameriprise Advisor & Ameriprise Financial Institutions Groups, until a replacement is appointed.

With just over 10,000 advisors, Ameriprise boasts one of the more formidable headcount figures in the business. Jeff Nash , the CEO and co-founder of the recruiting firm Bridgemark Strategies, said Ameriprise has always been an aggressive recruiter both for its direct-employee channel and its independent franchise channel.

Read: Ameriprise head of recruiting resigns

ADVISOR TECH: There's widespread recognition that advisory firms of all sizes need to begin adopting generative AI to keep growing, but how advisors apply AI tools is moving slowly and runs the gamut.

The newly released 2024 Advisor Outlook Study by Schwab Advisor Services found that 62% of more than 1,000 independent investment advisors said they plan to use AI tools to automate routine tasks, compared with 39% who said they'd use AI to enhance risk management and compliance efforts. Another 21% said they'd use AI to automate client services, like a chatbot, or for marketing (35%).?

Read: AI tools more popular behind the scenes, Schwab survey shows

TECHNOLOGY: The vast potential for artificial intelligence in wealth management and the financial industry comes with ethical risks for financial advisors and other professionals, an expert said.

AI brings questions relating to the transparency of disclosing its use, the competence and accuracy of a nascent technology still prone to mistakes, the confidentiality of clients' personal data and the problem of racial bias, according to a presentation by Azish Filabi , an associate professor of business ethics who is the managing director of The American College of Financial Services ' Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services. She presented at the Investments & Wealth Institute 's Strategy Forum conference this week in Chicago.?

Read: 4 ethical concerns about AI in wealth management

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