While other broker-dealers trim their line-ups, Edward Jones is bucking the trend.

Matthew Embleton Edward Jones Principal, Mutual Fund Research

"If anything, we're expanding," Matthew Embleton, who heads up mutual fund research at the St. Louis-based broker-dealer, tells MFWire.

He's looking to add more quality small and mid-cap offerings to the platform, and he's also focusing resources on learning more about strategic-beta ETFs.

"It's a growing area that's still relatively new, and we want to better understand it," says Embleton.

According to Cerulli, Edward Jones's fee-based advisory program, Advisory Solutions, is currently the second largest mutual fund advisory program by assets. Edward Jones's overall platform has $963 billion in client assets in mutual funds, ETFs, and separate accounts. About $150 billion — or 15 percent — of those assets are in Advisory Solutions. The B-D has a network of 15,000 advisors across 13,000 branch offices.

As far as industry trends go, Embleton says he's keeping an eye on consolidation, particularly where his asset manager partners are involved.

"Organizational stability is important and when you get combinations taking place, there will always be changes ... We have to be in touch and understand how that's going to impact our clients and impact our investment recommendations," he explains.

Embleton heads up a team of 30 analysts. In 2016, they launched another fee-based advisory solutions program, Guided Solutions, which is intended for clients who want to have more involvement in the investment decision-making process.  

Edited by: Katy Golvala


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