I know that it might seem like we say this a lot at Digital Wealth News, but this was an extraordinary week for wealth management news, and as always, there’s plenty to cover in wealthtech as well.
Before we get into the technology headlines, however, the two biggest news items in wealth management were people moves. The first, which has been comprehensively covered elsewhere in the media, is the termination of Dan H. Arnold, until recently the president and CEO of LPL. Arnold was fired for alleged breaches of LPL’s workplace code of conduct, and will be replaced by a familiar face on an interim basis, Rich Steinmeier, who most recently served as the giant RIA’s chief growth officer.
The details of what Dan Arnold did or said to be released from LPL have yet to be revealed.
Almost as earth-shattering but not nearly as shocking was the announcement from Schwab this week that long-time CEO Walt Bettinger will retire at the end of this year, to be replaced by Rick Wurster. Wurster joined Schwab in 2016 after stints at Wellington Management and McKinsey. Again, this news was well-covered this week elsewhere in industry media.
But, after those two big pieces of news, there were literally dozens—perhaps dozens of dozens—of other important wealth management headlines regarding mergers and acquisitions, investments and capital raises, new hires, promotions, retirements, legal and political issues, and, our favorite of course, technology.
Now, we have your technology news covered below—but who is giving you a truly comprehensive look at all the comings and goings and regulatory debates that are shaping the wealth management industry?
We worry that you, dear reader, are no longer in good hands on this front. As financial services evolves quickly in the face of new technology, and wealth management follows suit, we all risk being left misinformed—if not mal-informed—by a traditional trade media that no longer has the headcount or the productivity to keep up with all the change in a broad and diverse industry.
One day, advisors may look up from reading their magazines and websites to find that a technology-transformed financial services industry has left them in obsolescence, and unable to adequately serve their client families.
Let’s get to some headlines.
401GO
401GO, a rapidly growing, fintech startup revolutionizing the 401(k) industry, announced the appointment of Joseph Marullo as Chief of Staff. Joseph brings with him a wealth of experience, having played a key role in identifying organizational priorities and driving product distribution strategies at high-growth companies.
Joseph’s extensive background in military, finance and business intelligence makes him a valuable addition to the executive team. As Chief of Staff, he will work closely with leadership to optimize operations, solve cross-functional problems, build teams and drive the execution of strategic priorities. His expertise will be instrumental as the company continues to expand its market presence and deliver exceptional value to clients.
Having closed a $12-million series A financing round, achieved record-breaking growth and released a mobile app all in 2024, Joseph joins 401GO at a time of significant momentum. His appointment reinforces the company’s commitment to attracting top talent as it continues to innovate and disrupt the financial services industry.
Altruist
Altruist, the modern custodian built exclusively for Registered Investment Advisors (RIA), is proud to announce the appointment of LaSalle Vaughn as its new Chief Compliance, Ethics, and Risk Officer. Vaughn has over 20 years of financial services industry experience spanning Fortune 500 companies to rapidly scaling startups. His expertise will play a crucial role in scaling Altruist’s internal compliance, risk, and ethics structure as the company solidifies its position as the leading modern custodian.
Vaughn joins Altruist from Bestow, where he served as Chief Compliance, Ethics, and Risk Officer, leading teams that mitigated regulatory risk for online insurance products. Prior to Bestow, Vaughn held senior executive roles at Robinhood and USAA, where he managed global compliance programs, led successful turnarounds, and mitigated significant regulatory challenges. His ability to scale operations and develop solutions for highly regulated industries makes him a vital addition to Altruist as it continues to grow and innovate within the wealth management space.
This appointment, alongside the recent hiring of Piret Loone as general counsel, comes amid another year of record growth for the firm. As Vaughn joins Altruist, former Chief Compliance Officer, Mazi Bahadori, will now focus exclusively on his role as Chief Operations Officer, driving operational excellence across the company.
Envestnet
Franklin Templeton today announces an expanded partnership with Envestnet, Inc. [NYSE:ENV] to deliver tax-managed, personalized strategies at scale through its Canvas Custom Indexing platform, as a component of the previously announced strategic partnership between the firms. Canvas, will be available to Envestnet’s extensive client base of advisors across banks, wealth management and brokerage firms, as well as RIAs.
Canvas’ web-based platform empowers advisors to easily create personalized and diversified portfolios with a focus on tax management. Venturing beyond traditional Direct Indexing, Canvas is a holistic technology focused on giving advisors more investment solutions, increased control, and the tools and efficiency to scale their businesses. It’s an example of Franklin Templeton’s commitment to providing differentiated outcomes and real customization to the broader investment community.
Canvas will be introduced to the Envestnet platform in phases starting with passive equity models and advancing to a more holistic offering and experience with time.
FIS
Global financial technology leader FIS® (NYSE: FIS) has today launched its Digital Trading Storefront, an innovative new platform that enables banks, brokers, market makers and fund managers to offer their customers a differentiated cross-asset trading digital experience.
The FIS Digital Trading Storefront enhances the existing FIS Cross-Asset Trading and Risk Platform with a comprehensive suite of digital features that enables hyper personalization and real-time execution of trades. Built using advanced APIs, the scalable platform provides flexibility for firms, allowing them to integrate their own front or back-end components, as well as tailor the branding and customer experience as desired. This platform enables more accessible trading in real-time, while continuing to mitigate risk with seamlessly integrated APIs for advanced regulatory compliance.
The digitalization of online trading is proliferating, with retail and High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) seeking better trading and investment services that are easy to use and hyper-personalized. According to Coalition Greenwich, electrified trading now accounts for 42% of U.S. and 44% of European equity market commissions.
Foundation Source
Foundation Source, the nation’s largest provider of cloud-based solutions for private foundations and planned giving, today announced the launch of Impactfully Mobile, a full-service smartphone app that enables foundations to manage operational, grantmaking, expense, and reporting needs on the go. The new app provides the core capabilities of Foundation Source’s cloud-based SaaS desktop platform, expanding access to the proprietary, award-winning technology that makes giving easier and more impactful.
The new mobile experience comes at a time when a generation of digital natives is beginning to inherit the estimated $83 trillion that their elder relatives will leave behind over the next two decades. Millennials and Gen Z are charitably-active in a wide variety of ways and aspire to have a bigger giving footprint in the future, according to the company’s Shaping Tomorrow: How Gen Z and Millennials View Charitable Giving report. At the same time, both generations spend more than four hours a day on their smartphones, making them the heaviest mobile users as well as the most likely to be smartphone dependent, relying solely on mobile devices for online access.
The Founders Arena
The Founders Arena WealthTech Accelerator, in strategic partnership with SEI®, First Rate, Inc., Republic Capital Group, the City of Arlington and the Arlington Economic Development Corporation, today announced the selection of its third cohort of startups participating in its global accelerator program.
The WealthTech Accelerator’s latest selection of startups are ushering in the next generation of solutions for advisors, customers and enterprise clients, including: Agent IQ, LemonadeLXP, Mammoth Technology, Practice Intel, Quinn, and Zeplyn.
The Founder Arena’s 12-week accelerator program is designed to support and propel the growth of these WealthTech startups by providing them access to resources, mentorship, networking opportunities, and investors. First launched in September 2023, the The WealthTech Accelerator is a hybrid program that offers a combination of in-person and virtual components such as workshops, client prospecting meetings, mentorship sessions, networking events, and VIP visits that provide highly tailored support to address specific needs and challenges.
Groundfloor
Groundfloor, the award-winning alternative real estate investment platform with over $1.6 billion in investment volume, is announcing the launch of the Flywheel Portfolio, a groundbreaking solution designed to amplify diversification and provide unmatched cash flow for everyday investors. This latest product breakthrough allows investors to access hundreds of loans across a single, automated investment—introducing unheard of levels of fractionalization down to even fractions of one cent, creating instant diversification and mitigating risk.
Through Flywheel, investors experience greater cash flow consistency while retaining Groundfloor’s trademark accessibility. The minimum investment amount for Flywheel is only $100 — a far lower barrier to entry than private credit funds. Importantly, Groundfloor investors can access and invest in Flywheel through any of Groundfloor’s account types–Auto Investor, Investor or IRA. Investors who prefer to invest in individual projects offered on the platform are still able to do so.
Flywheel brings together the best of Groundfloor’s regulatory innovations while optimizing tax-effective yield within existing federal tax rules. Investors can rest assured they’re not subject to unpredictable net asset value (NAV) calculations or redemption restrictions.
iCapital
iCapital, the global fintech platform driving access to alternative investments, and Bridge Investment Group (NYSE: BRDG) (“Bridge”), a leading alternative asset manager with more than $48 billion in assets under management, announced today the enhancement of Bridge’s Investor Portal, powered by iCapital, which enables investors to access interactive and comprehensive performance reporting for all of their products. Now, the Investor Portal will feature a new Investment Dashboard, allowing investors to see their portfolio performance across accounts, holdings, and asset classes, as well as view key performance indicators, charts, and cash flow details.
The launch of the new Investment Dashboard is the result of iCapital’s continuous innovation and investment in its technology and data capabilities, as well as its close collaboration with its clients and partners. Bridge will make the Investment Dashboard feature available to all fund investors, both institutional and wealth management, on its Investor Portal, a secure and user-friendly online platform powered by iCapital that provides investors with access to their account information, governing documents, and investment performance.
InvestCloud
InvestCloud, a global leader in wealth technology, today announced a new strategic direction that uniquely positions the company to enable clients and advisors to drive differentiated financial outcomes for customers. The updated strategy is reflected in the company’s new brand identity and further accentuated in its tagline, Wealth Connected™.
Expectations for hyper-personalization are fueling the digital transformation of wealth management. Structured and accessible data, the creation of unique insights, and the delivery of actionable intelligence for wealth management professionals and clients are essential to meeting that demand. In addition, as the more than $80 trillion multi-generational transfer of wealth accelerates, the need for new asset types is increasing. This should provide additional opportunities, along with incremental technology needs for all market participants, requiring a deeper level of connectivity that had not previously existed.
Later this year, InvestCloud will go-live with the first phase of including alternative investments within its industry-leading managed account platform. Advisors will be able to use the InvestCloud platform to manage this new asset type on behalf of their clients in a discretionary account structure.
Orion
Orion, the premier provider of transformative wealthtech solutions for fiduciary advisors, today announced the launch of a new suite of ETF portfolios utilizing Capital Group ETFs. Capital Group is home of American Funds. These portfolios, which are managed by Brinker Capital, are available exclusively on the Orion Portfolio Solutions (OPS) and Brinker platforms. This marks the introduction of one of the first 100% all Capital Group ETF models, providing financial advisors and their clients with access to Capital Group’s long-term investment strategies through Orion’s innovative offerings.
Capital Group has been a trusted name in asset management since 1931, singularly focused on delivering superior investment results over the long term. With more than $2.7 trillion in assets under management and a global presence spanning 32 office locations with more than 8,800 employees,1 Capital Group has earned a reputation for excellence in active management.
Seeds
Rossby Financial (“Rossby”)—a tech-forward, open architecture enterprise RIA—is proud to announce its partnership with Seeds Investor (“Seeds”)—a leading fintech company enabling advisors to create a personalized investing experience and streamline portfolio operations. The partnership will provide Rossby-affiliated advisors full access to the Seeds investment management platform.
As part of Rossby’s growing platform solutions, advisors can now leverage Seeds as their investment and asset management platform to deliver a personalized investment experience and minimize operational burdens. With Seeds, Rossby advisors can focus on conveying a client-centric investment value proposition to attract new clients and differentiate their services.
Seeds provides advisors with an end-to-end investment management experience. The platform allows advisors to assess investors’ financial situation and investment beliefs, generate tailored proposals, implement portfolios, and engage clients in meaningful communications in one digital solution. By classifying clients into nine investment personas, Seeds helps advisors better understand client values, customize portfolios, and communicate according to client preferences.
SMArtX Advisory Solutions
SMArtX Advisory Solutions (“SMArtX”), a leading innovator in managed accounts technology, has announced the addition of 12 new strategies from seven leading asset management firms to its Manager Marketplace. SMArtX’s continuously growing platform now offers 1,514 strategies from 318 distinguished asset management firms.
Newcomers Bernzott Capital Advisors, Brooklyn Investment Group, Crawford Investment Counsel, Private Capital Management, and Victoria Capital Management added strategies spanning across multiple categories including small cap value, tax-advantaged equities and fixed income, dividend yield, small cap equity, equity income, and thematic growth. Invesco Advisers and JAG Capital Management also expanded their current offerings to respectively include high yield corporate bond portfolios and a small mid cap growth strategy.
SoFi
SoFi Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFI), a member-centric, one-stop shop for digital financial services that helps members borrow, save, spend, invest and protect their money, and PrimaryBid Technologies Inc., a leading capital markets fintech firm, today announced the launch of DSP2.0, an advanced Directed Share Platform (DSP) that offers a modern and streamlined approach to equity program management for companies looking to raise capital in the U.S.
DSPs allow companies to allocate a portion of their share offerings to specific individuals or groups such as employees or customers. However, since these solutions often require manual processing and don’t integrate well with other systems, they’re expensive and time-intensive to operate and limit investor participation to a select few.
With a potential rebound for the Initial Public Offering (IPO) market in 2025, SoFi’s offering brings equity program management, IPO, and follow-on offering processes into the digital age. It also gives issuers enhanced flexibility in raising capital by enabling them to involve non-institutional investor groups at scale.
SS&C Technologies
SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSNC) today announced the broad rollout of SS&C Accord, an AI-enabled service to help wealth managers aggregate and validate their customers’ alternative investment data. Powered by proprietary technology, SS&C Accord leverages SS&C’s wealth management and alternative investment fund administration expertise to help advisors aggregate and process siloed data across their investors’ portfolios.
Choreo, an independent financial planning and investment advisory services firm, sought to consolidate its client accounts on a single platform after acquiring the affiliated wealth management business of BDO USA last year.
Wealth managers, Registered Investment Advisors, pension funds, endowments and family offices can view their clients’ alternative investments data on a comprehensive control panel. The data is systematically integrated across the entire SS&C ecosystem, including the SS&C Black Diamond Wealth Platform. This service also delivers the reviewed data to third-party reporting systems.
TradingBlock
TradingBlock, a provider of custom trading technology solutions for institutions, individuals and Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), today unveiled it has added an executing broker-neutral platform for professional traders, active traders and asset managers.
The executing broker-neutral platform allows traders to design a custom execution environment around their unique strategy while reducing the limitations of being tied to a single platform, single executing broker and limited set of order routing algorithms.
With this platform, TradingBlock is delivering unparalleled flexibility and control to its clients, helping them optimize their trading environments without being locked into specific systems. Traders now have a choice of professional trading software as well as access to multiple executing brokers and diverse order routing algorithms. Built-in order routing redundancy, which provides added security, ensures uninterrupted operations, while tailored pricing offers the benefit of personalized pricing schedules, rebates and transparent pass-through costs.
Wealthbox
Moxo, the leading service orchestration platform for customer, vendor, and partner processes, is excited to announce a new integration with Wealthbox, a modern CRM designed for financial advisors. This powerful partnership aims to transform client management by enabling seamless data sharing between Moxo and Wealthbox, significantly enhancing operational efficiency for financial advisory firms.
The Moxo + Wealthbox integration allows businesses to automatically sync key information from Moxo’s collaborative workflow platform directly into Wealthbox. This seamless data sync ensures that client records are consistently up-to-date across both systems, providing a cohesive client experience from onboarding through ongoing relationship management.
Moxo is a service orchestration platform that automates and streamlines how businesses engage with customers, vendors, and partners. From onboarding to account management, Moxo powers collaborative workflows that simplify complex processes with external stakeholders.
Worth
Worth, the all-in-one platform for onboarding, underwriting, and risk management, is proud to announce the formation of its high-profile Board of Directors and executive leadership team. This strategic assembly of industry leaders is set to drive the company’s mission to redefine onboarding, credit underwriting, compliance, and risk management through cutting-edge AI technology.
Founded in 2023 by fintech veterans Sal Rehmetullah and Suneera Madhani, Worth was created to solve some of the most persistent challenges in financial services. By consolidating onboarding, underwriting, and compliance into a single, seamless platform, Worth aims to democratize access to advanced financial tools, enabling institutions of all sizes to operate more efficiently and transparently.
Worth’s rapid growth is fueled by strategic partnerships, including its recent collaboration with Equifax. This partnership enhances the platform’s data capabilities, providing users with access to over 1,100 data points for more precise and timely decision-making. Together, Worth and Equifax are at the forefront of automating financial service operations and streamlining funding processes, ensuring businesses receive the capital they need when they need it.
