Deals & People March 21, 2023

Advisory M&A

OneDigital acquires 401K Resources, Clear Group; Itheric Wealth Advisors joins Sanctuary Wealth; and more.  

Reported by


OneDigital Acquires 401K Resources, Clear Group  

OneDigital announced the acquisitions of 401K Resources and The Clear Group.  

A OneDigital Investment Advisors affiliate for more than three years, Scottsdale, Arizona-based 401K Resources designs retirement plans to help organizations achieve their overarching total rewards program objectives. Similarly, Florham Park, New Jersey-based Clear Group provides employee benefits solutions, retirement planning, human resources consulting and personal and business property and casualty solutions.  

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

The acquisitions will enhance the available resources and support for the clients of the Clear Group and 401K Resources, while adding the latter will establish OneDigital’s presence in Arizona. 

“[401K Resources’] powerful combination of integrated Employee Benefits and Retirement (401K) consulting model for clients fits squarely into OneDigital’s value proposition. Under their leadership, I am confident that Arizona will be one of our fastest growing markets in the country,” said Jeff Fallick, regional managing principal for OneDigital’s West region, in a statement. 

Sanctuary Wealth Introduces Iterhic Wealth Advisors as Partner Firm 

Iterhic Wealth Advisors and its founder, Matt Terwilliger, have joined Sanctuary Wealth. 

Terwilliger and his staff bring $170 million in client assets under advisement to Sanctuary. Based in Dublin, Ohio, Iterhic Wealth Advisors is the third wirehouse breakaway firm from Ohio to join Sanctuary in 2023. 

Iterhic provides comprehensive wealth management services to individuals and families. The firm focuses on planning strategies for first first-generation business owners, executives with significant equity and deferred compensation, as well as professional athletes. Terwilliger played three years of professional basketball and played on Ohio State University’s team that reached the 2007 NCAA Final Four. 

“Sanctuary understands what the next generation of advisers are looking for to serve their clients and ha[s] built their platform around those needs,” said Terwilliger in a statement. “I’m excited to start the next chapter of my career as an independent adviser with a firm that thoroughly understands and fully embraces the unique needs of wirehouse advisers going independent.”  

Heller Private Wealth Launches Wealth Management Practice 

Heller Private Wealth LLC announced its launch as a registered investment adviser. The firm was founded by Justin Heller, formerly a vice president at Merrill Lynch, and Eric Win, also formerly of Merrill Lynch. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic allowed me to take a step back and evaluate the different wealth management models,” Heller said in a statement. “After a couple of years of research and many conversations with industry professionals from different financial institutions, I found that the independent Registered Investment Adviser model was best for my clients. Today, the best technologies, innovations, and service providers are focused on the Registered Investment Adviser segment, positioning us to give our clients the most modern approach to wealth management.” 

Heller and Win met as part of the University of Miami’s men’s basketball program. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based firm selected Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. to provide custodial services. Schwab will provide Heller Private Wealth with back-office support and custody of client assets.  

Hilb Group Adds Agencies in Texas, Minnesota, New Jersey 

The Hilb Group LLC announced that it has acquired agencies in Texas, Minnesota and New Jersey. The agencies specialize in benefits enrollment and administration. The three transactions became effective on February 1.    

Compliance March 20, 2023

SEC Looks to Overhaul Regs SCI, SP

The SEC’s proposed updates would expand the institutions subject to various data security requirements and strengthen data breach notification requirements.

Reported by


The SEC last week proposed changes to Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity (Reg SCI) and Regulation S-P, also called the Safeguarding Rule, at an open hearing.

Reg SCI

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

The current Reg SCI, adopted in 2014, requires SCI entities to have security policies, take corrective action in response to system issues and undergo business continuity and disaster recovery testing. Under the proposal, BC/DR tests must also address the unavailability of a third party to which the SCI entity outsources. They also must immediately notify the SEC of a wider range of cyber events, such as those that deny access to systems and processes of the SCI entity.

SCI entities include self-regulatory organizations like FINRA, stock and options exchanges, registered clearing agencies and alternative trading systems.

If the new rule is adopted, SCI entities would have to make significant changes to some of their policies. They would need to update their procedures to include “the maintenance of a written inventory and classification of all SCI systems and a program for life cycle management; a program to prevent the unauthorized access to such systems and information therein; and a program to manage and oversee certain third-party providers, including cloud service providers, of covered systems.”

The proposed update to Reg SCI would also expand the entities that are subject to the rule. Currently, SCI entities are those involved in trading, clearance and settlement, and market regulation. Under the proposal, registered security-based swap data repositories, clearing agencies that are exempt from registration and large broker/dealers would also be subject to the rule.

The proposal was approved by a 3-2 vote, with SEC Commissioners Mark Uyeda and Hester Peirce dissenting. Uyeda expressed specific concern about the reporting requirements of the proposed Reg SCI and how it would interact with reporting requirements from other rules. Reg SCI requires immediate notification to the SEC of “significant cybersecurity incidents.” Uyeda wrote that overlapping reporting requirements can be confusing and might undermine cybersecurity if registrants are more concerned about reporting in a timely manner than addressing the breach.

Reg S-P

An update to Reg S-P, which was also proposed by the SEC on Wednesday, would require broker/dealers, registered investment advisers and transfer agents to adopt policies for the protection of customer records and notify clients affected by data breaches that put them at risk. Covered institutions must have written policies that outline an incident response program to address unauthorized access to customer information and to provide timely notification to affected individuals.

The covered institutions must inform customers of a data breach “as soon as practicable,” but cannot wait longer than 30 days from the date they became aware of the breach.

SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, who voted for both proposals, said the update to Reg S-P is important because it would expand safeguarding requirements to transfer agents, who are uncovered under the existing Reg S-P, which was finalized in 2000.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who also voted for both proposals, said in a statement that covered institutions currently have no obligation to inform their customers of data breaches, even though awareness would allow those customers to take steps to mitigate the damage done to them by the breach.

«