The $99 Decision That’s Reshaping Wealth

The $99 Decision That’s Reshaping Wealth

What if your client’s $99 annual account fee was quietly steering billions of dollars away from independent products, and straight into the banks’ hands? 🏦
That’s the elephant in the room 🐘 when it comes to custody.

Banks and insurers have a simple playbook: use custody fees to nudge advisors and clients away from independent funds and into proprietary products.
It’s happening one $99 decision at a time,  multiplied across millions of households and tens of thousands of advisors.

The result? ⚡ A seismic, silent shift of hundreds of billions of dollars out of independent products and back into the banks’ control.

🚨 Why Client Name Is Under Siege

For years, client name custody promised freedom. ✨
Clients owned their assets directly. Advisors acted as independent stewards.
No interference. No hooks. Just advice.

But…
📉 Manual processes
🔗 Disconnected systems
⚖️ Regulatory pressure

…have made client name custody painfully inefficient.

CIRO now labels it “outside product” ❌  tarnishing its reputation and stripping it of CIPF coverage.
Regulators are leaning hard toward nominee custody. And the banks and insurers are ready to pounce. 🐅

📕 The Bank & Insurance Playbook

Here’s how it works:
1️⃣ Shift clients to nominee custody.
2️⃣ Charge a $99–$150 account fee, plus transfer-out fees. 💸
3️⃣ Offer to waive those fees if clients move into proprietary bank or insurance products.

On the surface, the $99 disappears. 🪄
But so does the client’s independence  and yours. 🚫

🤔 The Advisor’s Dilemma

Every advisor has faced it: a client questions the $99 fee.
Saving them money seems like the right move… but the trade-off is dangerous:
⚠️ Independence sacrificed
⚠️ Client choice narrowed
⚠️ Long-term trust eroded

Multiply that across your entire book 📚 and suddenly, what felt like a small concession becomes a structural risk to your practice  and to the very principle of independent advice.

🎯 The Stakes

This isn’t just about fees. It’s about the future of independent advice in Canada. 🇨🇦

• ❌ Clients lose access to the best independent funds.
• ❌ Advisors lose control over product choice.
• ❌ The industry slides back to the old in-house sales model.

All hidden behind a $99 fee waiver. 🕵️‍♂️

🌐 A Better Way: NextGen Custody™

Agora believes the answer isn’t to eliminate client name  it’s to evolve it.

✅ No account fees. No platform fees. No transfer-out fees.
✅ Digital-first workflows: paperless onboarding, automated compliance, integrated reporting.
✅ CIPF protection & regulatory alignment without nominee hooks.
✅ Advisor-first economics: no pressure to sell proprietary products.

Clients get transparency, dignity, and choice. 🙌
Advisors preserve independence. 🛡️

📢 The Call to Advisors

Custody is no longer just a back-office detail. It is the silent force reshaping wealth management.

You must decide:
👉 Will you let $99 dictate your clients’ financial future?
👉 Or will you embrace a custody model built for independence, transparency, and long-term value?

Agora has provided the alternative. 🌟
NextGen Custody™ is not nominee in disguise.
It’s custody redefined  keeping what worked, fixing what didn’t, and preparing for what’s next.

The banks and insurers know the power of $99. 💡
Now advisors need to know the power of saying NO to it. 🚀

Informational purposes only
The information and ideas set out herein are only conceptual and describe views of a possible future. In particular, the whitepaper is being shared to outline some of the ideas of the writer and is provided solely for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES and does not predict with any certainty as too how actual events will unfold. Please do not rely on this information in making business decisions because the development and functionality that becomes available remains subject to a host of factors not under the writer’s control. Further, the white paper may be amended or replaced from time to time. There are no obligations to update the Whitepaper or the Website, or to provide recipients with access to any information beyond what is provided herein.