BlackRock is expanding its suite of technology for financial advisors with the launch of Auto Commentary, a generative AI feature designed to help advisors deliver more tailored portfolio insights to clients.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is the first to implement the new tool, which was unveiled Tuesday, integrating it into its Portfolio Risk Platform this month.
Auto Commentary is the latest addition to Aladdin Wealth, a branch of BlackRock’s broader Aladdin platform. The tool analyzes data from three sources – Aladdin’s risk analytics, a firm’s chief investment office outlook, and individual client portfolio details – to generate concise talking points for advisors.
The aim is to help advisors quickly identify key issues, such as portfolio overweights or misalignments with a client’s objectives or the firm’s market view, and communicate them more effectively with clients.
Ted Stratigos, global head of Aladdin Wealth Tech, told Barron's that the feature is intended to help advisors “do more with the amount of data and information that we’re serving up to them.” He described Auto Commentary as a way to “create that first-draft narrative that an advisor could use with their end client to explain the information in their portfolio.”
Unlike some AI tools that generate full scripts or emails, Auto Commentary produces bullet-pointed insights within a template accessible through the Aladdin interface. BlackRock is also considering expanding the tool’s data sources to include relevant news and market articles in the future.
Morgan Stanley’s adoption of Auto Commentary is part of its ongoing effort to modernize advisor workflows. Chris Scott-Hansen, managing director and head of the consulting group at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said the product will distill “hundreds of analytics and firm-level market insights into a cohesive narrative.” He added that automating research tasks allows advisors to “concentrate on what truly matters – building trust through assisting clients in navigating complex market dynamics.”
Morgan Stanley is working to equip its advisors with higher-net-worth capabilities. Last month, it unveiled programs aimed at educating advisors on tax-forward investing and alternatives investing through Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
The launch comes as competition intensifies among asset managers to provide AI-driven tools for advisors. Earlier this year, Vanguard introduced a tool for summarizing market commentary that advisors can share with clients. BlackRock’s approach, however, focuses on synthesizing portfolio analytics and firm-level insights, rather than simply delivering market summaries.
Access to Auto Commentary is limited to firms with an enterprise license for Aladdin, which has so far seen greater adoption among large banks and brokerages than among RIAs. Stratigos noted that BlackRock is in discussions with large RIA firms about adopting Aladdin, but most current users are larger institutions.
The Aladdin platform itself is a cornerstone of BlackRock’s technology strategy. Originally developed to unify risk analytics and portfolio management for institutional investors, Aladdin now offers a “whole portfolio” view across public and private markets, supporting asset managers, insurers, pension funds, and wealth managers globally .
Earlier this year, BlackRock completed its acquisition of Preqin, a leading private markets data provider, and began integrating Preqin’s data and analytics into Aladdin. This move significantly expanded Aladdin’s capabilities in private equity, private debt, private credit, and infrastructure analytics, aligning with BlackRock’s broader push to make private market investments more accessible to retail and wealth clients.
Whether those capabilities will ultimately trickle through to Aladdin Wealth – potentially bolstering BlackRock's agenda to expand private market access to the masses – remains to be seen. For now, Stratigos said BlackRock sees AI as a “structural force” that will reshape wealth management, but emphasized that the technology is intended to enhance, not replace, the advisor-client relationship.
“I don’t see that there’s going to be a shift where AI is going to be completely replacing the advisor. I think the wealth management industry is based on a level of trust, which at this point is very personal,” he said.
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