Ah yes indeed, it was another busy week—not just in advisor technology, but in wealth management as well. Many acquisitions were announced by wealth managers, RIAs and broker-dealers alike, and dozens of significant hires took place across the financial services industry. There are several publications dedicated to covering wealth management, and if they’re not keeping abreast of the tumult of new hires and mergers and acquisitions within the industry with scores of stories each week, then they’re not adequately or competently covering our industry!
Of course, wealthtech news kept pace with the greater wealth management industry this week, and we’ll get to a rather long list of advisor tech headlines in a moment.
First, however, we’d like to talk about the always exciting topic of continuing education credits. It seems like a good time to bring up the subject as we’re entering the season of big financial services conferences—and one of the biggest of all, Schwab IMPACT, just dropped its announcement this week. A lot of advisors look to these conferences to fulfil their continuing education, or CE requirements.
If you’re an advisor, every two years you need 30 CE credits for the CFP, 40 CE credits for the IWI designations like CIMA, CPWA and RMA, 32 credits for the AICP and, for CFAs, 15 CE credits annually, while for CPAs credentialed through the AICPA, 120 hours worth of continuing education every three years. There are plenty of other designations and credentials with their own continuing education requirements of varying degrees of difficulty across wealth management, accountancy and investment management.
The point is that there are a lot of advisors and accountants out there right now looking to fulfil these requirements, and they often turn to conferences sponsored by a big custodian or bank, or a financial media company, to help them on their way. Over a 2-day conference, many advisors can at least make good progress towards getting their CE responsibilities out of the way.
I’d like to encourage advisors to think differently about their continuing education in 2024 and 2025. This is an era of accelerating change within the financial services industry, change that is in the early stages of penetrating wealth management. Technology is going to play a much bigger role in how clients are acquired, served and retained than it has in the past. It’s also going to have more of a part in how wealth management businesses are operated on a day-to-day and a strategic basis.
At least some of the resources advisors spend on acquiring continuing education—time and money often dedicated to travel to conferences or attending virtual sessions on the web—should be spent on continuing education opportunities offered by technology providers, be they conferences, webinars or other in-person or self-directed opportunities.
I know that advisors may have some concerns about the credibility of technology providers’ CE programs, or whether they are really promotions disguised as education. I’d like to point out here that major industry and media-sponsored conferences are often curated by people either outside the wealth management industry itself or with antiquated views on what wealth management entails—and that these conferences are already chock-full of so-called sponsored sessions and promotional materials. And those published articles offering CE? They’re often written by journalists with little or no experience as a wealth manager or as a client of a wealth manager—and sometimes by journalists who only occasionally speak to wealth management practitioners.
Advisors have much to gain—and little to lose—by turning to technology for more of their continuing education needs.
Let’s get to some headlines.
Abbove
Abbove, the first pan-European wealth planning platform, announces a strategic partnership with Simulabox, a leading French tax and estate simulation software. This partnership marks a significant step in Abbove’s expansion across European jurisdictions, further solidifying its position as a leader in wealth planning solutions.
This partnership enhances Abbove’s ability to cover the entire wealth planning cycle in France. Wealth planners and family officers serving clients under French tax laws can now offer an end-to-end solution, ensuring the most suitable and comprehensive wealth planning advice and recommendations.
This collaboration not only strengthens Abbove’s presence in France but also exemplifies its commitment to delivering tailored and holistic wealth planning solutions across Europe.
Addepar
Itaú Private, a leading provider of private banking services, has announced an exclusive partnership with Addepar, a global leader in technology and data solutions for investment professionals. This strategic collaboration grants Itaú Private exclusive access to Addepar’s comprehensive data aggregation and performance reporting platform in Brazil, enhancing the bank’s ability to deliver superior service and investment solutions to its advisors and clients.
Through this partnership, Itaú Private clients will gain access to powerful tools and detailed reports that provide insights into their global wealth—both onshore and offshore—including returns, transactions, historical data, and balances. These capabilities will enable a fully automated and personalized evaluation of each client’s unique financial interests and needs.
Addepar serves a global client base, providing advanced financial technology solutions to investment professionals across more than 45 countries. The platform currently supports over $6 trillion in assets under management, offering robust data aggregation and performance reporting tools that empower clients to make better decisions and deliver more informed advice.
BetaNXT
BetaNXT, a leading provider of wealth management technology solutions with real-time data capabilities and an enhanced advisor experience, has announced the launch of DataXChange, a new data architecture that operates on Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud. BetaNXT DataXChange will offer customers a secure environment for real-time, multi-partner collaboration and an expansive ecosystem for product and process innovation.
BetaNXT is currently conducting a pilot program with a select group of wealth management firms, prioritizing the highest-priority and most universal datasets as the core ingredients for clients’ unique innovation initiatives. The outcomes will inform future use cases and solutions; BetaNXT intends to onboard committed clients by the second quarter of 2025.
The DataXChange platform simplifies the exchange and commingling of internal and external data among wealth enterprises and their partners, helping to optimize operations, personalize advice and experiences, and strengthen advisor-investor relationships.
CAIS
CAIS, the leading alternative investment platform for independent financial advisors, today announced it has expanded its offerings of alternative investment strategies from leading alternative investment managers, deepening the firm’s commitment to making alternative investment products more accessible to wealth management.
New managers that have introduced strategies on CAIS Marketplace in 2024 include BlackRock, Blackstone, FS Investments, Golub Capital, Hines, Kayne Anderson, Stonepeak, and T. Rowe Price/Oak Hill Advisors, with Apollo, Ares Management, Bain Capital, Blue Owl, Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Franklin Templeton, KKR, Nuveen, Partners Group, Reverence Capital Partners, and Vista Equity Partners among the managers that have expanded the number of their strategies available on the platform this year. Featured strategies encompass a broad range of alternative asset classes, including private equity, private debt, hedge funds, and real estate. Additionally, they offer wealth-centric structures such as interval funds, BDCs, and non-traded REITs.
Alternative investment strategies on the CAIS Marketplace, which go through third-party due diligence by Mercer, are made available to CAIS’ broad network of over 2,000 wealth management firms that oversee approximately $6 trillion in end client assets. Asset managers gain access to a custom analytics dashboard, providing comprehensive, real-time insights into platform engagement. Additionally, they receive personalized support from the CAIS Asset Manager Partnerships team, ensuring a streamlined and strategic partnership experience. These tools, combined with direct engagement opportunities at CAIS Live and CAIS Summit events, empower managers to effectively connect with advisors, driving deeper relationships and greater market impact.
The College for Financial Planning
KoCAA is benefitting from the breadth of SEI’s capabilities, forged over five decades of growth and commitment to the financial services industry, including the client asset custody structure of SEI Private Trust Company, the combination of advisor and investor technology that’s built for efficiency, and a dedicated service model.
The AIF® assures that those responsible for managing or advising on investor assets have a fundamental understanding of the principles of fiduciary duties, the standards of conduct for acting as a fiduciary, and a process for carrying out fiduciary responsibilities. Fiduciary training supports this by providing the knowledge and tools to effectively apply an organized, prudent process for making informed and consistent investment decisions to serve clients’ best interests as fiduciaries.
Conquest Planning
Manulife Wealth* has enhanced the support it provides its advisors with access to Conquest Planning Inc. (“Conquest”), a technology platform modernizing financial planning with customized and convenient advice. With this announcement, Manulife Wealth and Conquest bring Conquest’s strategic advice manager (SAM) and financial planning tools to Manulife Wealth’s network of more than 1,000 advisors. Conquest’s modernized technology platform will enable Manulife Wealth advisors across Canada to simplify the financial planning process and deliver personalized advice and an elevated service experience for all clients.
Manulife Wealth advisors can use Conquest’s SAM to streamline workflows, boost productivity and enhance client service, aligning with their commitment to providing tailored advice and solutions that reflect clients’ goals and priorities. Backed by the power of artificial intelligence (AI), SAM empowers advisors to help understand and interpret the results for their client’s unique situation and build flexible plans quickly with individualization. These adaptable plans can be readily customized to evolve with clients’ changing life circumstances, objectives, priorities and risk tolerances.
Manulife Wealth advisors may offer planning services to help clients on decisions related to goal setting, net worth and cash flow planning, investment management, retirement planning, tax planning, insurance, estate planning, philanthropy and more.
d1g1t
d1g1t, a leading wealth management technology company announced today the launch of its revenue management and billing solution which is fully integrated into the company’s flagship enterprise wealth management platform. Meeting the needs of different types of wealth management firms, d1g1t’s billing solution is powered by a multi-currency, scalable and super-fast fee calculation engine that supports complex billing scenarios. Firms can collect revenue faster by reducing the time needed to measure and analyze fees.
d1g1t Billing supports payments in arrears or in advance, tiered or fixed fee schedules, flexible fee exclusions, various asset calculation methods, sales taxes, and payment redirection. In addition, the solution uses the same underlying data as the client reporting and portfolio management modules thereby eliminating the need for additional numerical reconciliations.
Dream Builder Wealth Society
Dream Builder Wealth Society, a global leader in fintech founded by Clemen Langston in 2009, has announced the launch of its latest product, AIΩApexTactics, a revolutionary AI-driven trading system. Building on the company’s core philosophy of “Rooted in America, Connecting with the World,” this new product aims to transform how investors navigate complex financial markets.
Langston, a seasoned financial analyst and tech innovator, was inspired in 2016 while watching the AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol match. He realized the immense potential of artificial intelligence in enhancing investment decisions. Driven by this vision, he initiated the development of the AIΩ system—a proprietary platform that uses big data and machine learning to provide unparalleled market analysis and predictions.
AIΩApexTactics, the latest evolution of the system, is designed to offer even greater precision in forecasting market trends and providing actionable investment advice. By integrating cutting-edge AI with robust data analysis, the system allows users to make informed decisions in highly volatile environments. The platform’s ability to adapt and self-learn ensures it remains a vital tool for investors seeking long-term growth.
Education Pioneer Wealth Society
Education Pioneer Wealth Society, a leader in fintech, is transforming global investment strategies with its advanced AI technology and strategic vision. Co-founded by Cyrus Langston, the company combines financial education with cutting-edge tech to drive investor success.
Founded in 2019, Education Pioneer Wealth Society empowers investors through its AI Ω trading system. This platform merges artificial intelligence with big data to deliver precise market insights, allowing for rapid and accurate responses to market fluctuations. The AI Ω system has set new benchmarks for investment efficiency and opportunity.
Education Pioneer Wealth Society is excited to announce the launch of AI Ω AlphaPulse, an advanced version of the AI Ω system. Set to debut next month, AI Ω AlphaPulse integrates more sophisticated analytics and a streamlined user interface, delivering unparalleled precision in market predictions. With enhanced features, this new tool enables investors to make data-driven decisions more effectively, accelerating their path to financial success.
Empower
Empower, a leading provider of retirement and wealth management services, today announced that it has acquired Plan Management Corporation (PMC), the creator of OptionTrax®, a leading digital equity plan administration platform and service provider.
Under the agreement, Empower has wholly acquired PMC, headquartered in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, including its technology, proprietary product and service offerings, intellectual property, licenses, and contracts. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
The combination will bring together Empower’s leading retirement and wealth management services and integrated financial tools with OptionTrax’s growing, digitally oriented equity compensation platform and administration services. The new offering from Empower with be available to both publicly traded and privately held companies. The OptionTrax equity plan platform will be integrated with Empower’s digital experience, which provides individuals a complete view of their financial picture — including their personal assets and liabilities — and the ability to manage their progress toward financial goals.
Envestnet
Time, arguably an advisor’s most valuable resource, is often in critically short supply, insufficient for what they would ideally like to spend with clients. According to Envestnet’s 2024 Advisor Perspectives Survey1, nearly 40% of advisors are spending their time on investment management and administrative activities, with 30% saying they are not able to spend enough of their time with clients. That’s why Envestnet is launching new features and capabilities for RIAs on its wealth management platform, to help streamline business workflows and free up advisor time to do what they do best – serve the financial needs of their clients and enable better financial outcomes.
Now available as a standalone product, Envestnet RIA Trading is helping address firms’ needs for a trading tool without switching their reporting tool, and integrates seamlessly with Envestnet Managed Accounts. This integration allows advisors to manage UMA sleeve allocations and streamline recommendations and performance reporting without switching platforms. An updated client portal consolidates accounts into a single, user-friendly interface. Available on both iOS and Android devices, its mobile application enables advisors to monitor and manage assets, track goals, and provide personalized advice from almost anywhere. The portal’s high configurability allows for a tailored client experience, enhancing engagement and planning.
FinFit
FinFit, the most comprehensive financial wellness platform available to US employers, has partnered with Sunny Day Fund to make workplace Emergency Savings Accounts available to its customers via the FinFit SafetyNet platform. Powered by Sunny Day Fund, an award-winning technology that enables workplace emergency savings program, FinFit enterprise clients will be able to add the Emergency Savings product to their existing FinFit offering starting this fall.
Sunny Day Fund has consistently turned employees into savers and helped them build and maintain their savings balances. In 2023, more than eighty percent of workers with an Emergency Savings Account through Sunny Day Fund increased their contributions and contributed more than $1,500 in the year. On average, Sunny Day Fund participants only make 1.6 withdrawals per year, demonstrating that they are prioritizing their savings efforts. The accounts based at Portage Bank, Member FDIC, include a market-leading interest rate* that is nearly 10 times the national average and seven times that of competitors. Unlike other workplace Emergency Savings Accounts, FinFit with Sunny Day Fund allows employees to set and track progress against multiple savings goals and works with employers to design completely customized employee incentives.
FinFit’s SafetyNet platform is the only employee financial wellness solution that combines credit and savings in a proactive way to contribute to employee financial health and actively move workers from debt to saving.
LPL
Ocean Park Asset Management announced today that five of its strategies are now available on LPL Financial’s “Model Wealth Portfolios” (MWP) platform: Ocean Park Tactical Bond Strategy, Ocean Park Municipal Bond Strategy, Ocean Park Strategic Income Strategy, Ocean Park Conservative Allocation Strategy, and Ocean Park Moderate Allocation Strategy. The Ocean Park model portfolios are designed to follow the firm’s quantitative rules-based investment process with a focus on trend following, security selection and a trailing stop discipline.
In addition to offerings on the MWP platform, Ocean Park’s Tactical Bond Strategy, Conservative Allocation Strategy, and Strategic Income Strategy are offered on Manager Select platform.
MAI
MAI Capital Management, LLC (“MAI”), a registered investment adviser specializing in comprehensive investment and financial planning for high-net-worth individuals and families, today announced two new additions to its c-suite executive team.
Philip Noftsinger joins MAI as the firm’s new Chief Financial Officer, where he will be responsible for corporate accounting, financial reporting, and financial planning and analysis. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the accounting and finance fields, including almost two decades with CBIZ as Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller. Noftsinger most recently served as CFO for B&W Solar, the developer of community solar, distributed generation, utility solar, and utility-scale storage assets.
JP Pattinson arrives at MAI in the role of Chief Digital and Technology Officer, where he will oversee the firm’s network and infrastructure, management information systems, applications, and the digital client and advisor experience. Pattinson joins MAI from Merit Financial Advisors where he served in multiple roles including client service, relationship management, and 12 years as a wealth advisor. He spent the past seven years as Merit’s VP of Technology.
Pontera
Pontera, the fintech company helping retirement savers receive professional 401(k) account management from their trusted financial advisor, has announced a strategic partnership with 401GO, a fast-growing retirement plan provider that uses advanced technology to better serve plan sponsors, their participants and financial advisors.
Founded in 2019, 401GO is a 401(k) plan recordkeeper and leader in using innovative technology to simplify and enhance workplace retirement solutions for thousands of small and midsize companies sourced through payroll firms, start-ups and plan providers. Recordkeepers are firms that set up and administer workplace retirement plans for sponsoring employers and advisors.
Working with Pontera’s technology, 401GO will be able to empower plan participants to receive holistic, personalized 401(k) account management from their own advisor, helping them to realize better outcomes. Pontera believes all retirement savers should have access to expert help managing their 401(k) accounts and the ability to choose how they receive that help.
SEI
SEI (NASDAQ: SEIC) today announced that Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors® (KoCAA) expanded their strategic partnership across technology, operations, asset management, and advisor services for KoCAA’s individual and institutional wealth management business. An existing client leveraging SEI’s fund administration services, KoCAA is moving more than $500 million in assets under management (AUM) to the SEI Wealth PlatformSM, and the firm’s financial advisors have embraced these additional capabilities to better serve their clients.
Based in New Haven, CT with financial advisors across the U.S., KoCAA is a full-service investment firm dedicated to investing according to Catholic principles, serving institutional and retail clients while managing the investment portfolio for its parent company, Knights of Columbus, the world’s premier lay Catholic men’s organization. With more than $27 billion in AUM as of June 30, 2024, KoCAA specializes in mutual funds, private wealth management, philanthropic solutions, and more.
KoCAA is benefitting from the breadth of SEI’s capabilities, forged over five decades of growth and commitment to the financial services industry, including the client asset custody structure of SEI Private Trust Company, the combination of advisor and investor technology that’s built for efficiency, and a dedicated service model.
Wealth.com
Wealth.com, the industry’s leading end-to-end estate planning platform, today announced the successful completion of a $30 million Series A funding round, led by GV (formerly Google Ventures). This investment underscores the growing significance of combining scalable next-generation technology with the essential human touch that is required for financial planning.
The Series A round includes participation from Citi Ventures, Outpost Ventures (an investment platform of Neuberger Berman), 53 Stations (supported by The Pritzker Organization) and Firebolt Ventures (headed by prolific technology investor Gokul Rajaram). The new capital will fuel wealth.com’s continued expansion and product innovation, further establishing its position as the go-to platform for estate planning among financial advisors and wealth management firms. The funding will support the enhancement of its innovative technology and integration capabilities, as well as the development of new features tailored to the needs of advisors and their clients.
This funding comes on the heels of wealth.com’s recent launch of its Family Office Suite™, a collection of sophisticated estate management tools designed for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. The suite enhances advisors’ ability to efficiently manage complex estates, with features that simplify estate visualization, optimize tax planning and streamline reporting processes. By integrating powerful artificial intelligence with human expertise and an intuitive user experience, wealth.com has firmly established itself as an industry leader. This leadership is validated by widespread industry adoption and recognition, such as recent inclusion in Fast Company’s 2024 Best Workplaces for Innovators list. Additionally, at the 2024 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards, the company was recognized as the ‘Best Technology Provider’ in the Trust category, while CEO Rafael Loureiro received the Advisor Choice Award for Technology Providers: CEO of the Year.
