By Amey Stone

In a rare move for a wealth management operation, UBS amended its compensation plan for next year, trimming payouts for lower-producing financial advisors. The move risks advisor departures in the short term but could help the Swiss bank improve the profitability of its U.S. wealth management unit. Advisors who manage relatively smaller sums of money will likely be hardest hit.

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Fidelity cuts fee, adds new ETFs . Fidelity joins a growing number of asset-management companies that are responding to shifting investor preferences for exchange-traded funds over mutual funds. It is adding five actively managed equity ETFs to its lineup. Most have an international focus. At the same time, it announced it is cutting expenses on an existing fund. Fidelity Enhanced High-Yield ETF $(FDHY)$ will have an expense ratio of 0.35%, down from 0.45%.

Schwab may hike fees for referrals . Schwab, the industry's largest custodian to independent RIAs, charges advisors a fee for client assets that came through its referral program. A representative for Schwab confirmed it is "evaluating" its pricing with regard to the program after a long period of not altering its fee structure. Schwab currently charges advisors a fee that scales based on the referred client's assets -- 0.25% on the first $2 million and 0.2% on the next $3 million.

CI Financial to be taken private . The Toronto-based financial giant with a large U.S. wealth management division called Corient, is being acquired and taken private by Mubadala Capital, a unit of an Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund. Mubadala's all-cash acquisition values CI Financial's equity at approximately 4.7 billion Canadian dollars ($3.36 billion). Shares of CI Financial (TSX: CIX) soared 30% on the news.

Citi private bankers head to BofA . Bank of America Private Bank has hired Phillip Edwards and Lauren Stuhmer, formerly of Citi Private Bank, where they managed $7 billion in client assets. They are joining BofA's office in Palm Beach, Fla. The move continues Bank of America's efforts to build out its private-banking services for ultrawealthy clients.

Key Wealth's growth strategy . Joe Skarda joined Key Bank in 2021 with marching orders to turn more of the Cleveland-based institution's retail banking customers into wealth management clients. As the bank's wealth management president, he helped launch an ambitious education program for advisors that proved to be a game changer for the mass-affluent business, boosting net flows by a factor of 10. Hiring a lot more advisors also helped, he tells Barron's Advisor.

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November 27, 2024 13:16 ET (18:16 GMT)

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