The successful shift of $25 billion to TDAI puts it firmly in third place. TD Ameritrade Institutional (TDAI) has completed the conversion of RIAs from Fiserv Trust Company's legacy system to its own platform. The RIA service agency says the conversion solidifies its standing as the number three provider of brokerage and custody services to independent RIAs.

"We are completely focused on serving independent RIAs by providing best-in-class service and one of the most robust platforms in the industry," says TDAI's president Tom Bradley.

Tie breaker

In the spring of 2007, discount broker TD Ameritrade agreed to pay $225 million up front and another $100 million based on "revenue retention targets" for Fiserv's RIA custody business -- specifically with a view to folding it into its TDAI division.

The completed conversion of former Fiserv-custodied client assets gives TDAI about $25 billion with about $10 billion of it in retirement-plan assets with about 80 third-party administrators and the rest managed by RIAs.

This is enough to push TDAI past Pershing's Advisor Solutions (PAS) unit as the third biggest broker-dealer custodian in the investment advisory space.

Before Fiserv's RIA assets came into play, PAS, fresh from its 2006 acquisition of Neuberger Berman's RIA custody business, had been more or less tied with TDAI.

With nearly $570 billion in client assets, the biggest name in RIA custody is Schwab Institutional. Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services' is number two with $341 billion. TDAI about $100 billion. -FWR

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