Smith Barney Charges for Advice with New Private Client Platform

Stephen Harris

5 August 2005

Smith Barney Private Client Group has formed a new investment group, Investment Advisory Services, and has launched a fee-based advisory platform. The new platform, Smith Barney Advisor, is designed to make a transition to a fiduciary role from a transactional role, according to reports in the US media. Smith Barney hopes the new platform will help to capture a greater slice of clients’ assets as it will allow advisors to gain a better knowledge of all the clients’ holdings. Clients will be charged on advice rather than the number of transactions. The new platform will be headed by Joe D’Agostino and is part of Smith Barney’s five-year plan to become a one-stop for clients’ wealth management needs, according to the reports.