Advisor Group unveils redesigned UMA platform

The broker-dealer network added multiple enhancements to the 10-year-old platform from portfolio management tools to reduced account minimums

Advisor Group announced Thursday the roll out of its reinvented unified managed account platform available to all financial professionals affiliated with the broker-dealer network.

The UMA platform, which originally launched in 2010, has been redesigned to allow the firm’s advisers to manage a portion of each client’s assets themselves with access to more than 7,000 mutual funds and ETFs, according to the announcement.

Additionally, advisers can allocate client assets to approximately 1,000 separately managed accounts and more than 200 model portfolios, while managing all three asset groupings on a single platform.

Advisor Group introduced its new “investor journey” framework, the company noted, which is created for advisers to organize a client’s mix of investments based on various stages in their lives.

Advisers use the platform to spark discussions from stage one, “build a foundation,” when clients are accumulating capital as they embark on their first jobs, get married and purchase first homes through the “make it last” stage of retiring and developing their estate plans.

“As everybody adjusts to a ‘new normal’ characterized by heightened economic uncertainty and market volatility, financial professionals are seeking asset management resources that are affordable, accessible and easy to use, all while elevating the client service experience they can offer,” Advisor Group’s senior vice president for platform management and product development Shannon Larson said in a statement.

Moreover, pricing for the platform has been standardized so fees are the same between portfolios types, which makes the platform Reg BI-ready if the adviser and client opt to shift the allocation of assets, the company noted. Account minimums, too, have been reduced to $5,500 for Advisor Group’s Genesis Model Portfolios.

Advisor Group works with about 11,300 financial professionals overseeing approximately $450 billion in client assets, according to the company’s press release.