Envestnet moves to make its UMA platform more personal

Envestnet is enhancing its advisor users’ ability to offer customized investment strategies for their clients by deepening its relationships with some big-name asset managers.

On Wednesday, the integrated technology, data intelligence, and wealth solutions said it’s strengthening ties with BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton and State Street.

Through those deeper alliances, it plans to develop personalized investment strategies tailored to individual financial goals, risk tolerance, and personal circumstances, benefiting over 109,000 advisors on Envestnet's platform.

"As wealth management continues to advance, these relationships will fuel our collective growth through investment, collaboration, and focused sales efforts,” Tom Sipp, executive vice president of Envestnet Business Lines, said in a statement.

“By bringing these solutions from asset managers into our ecosystem; we believe advisors will be able to capture share and serve more of their clients' unique needs," Sipp said.

Underscoring a trend towards the integration of personalization and technology in wealth management, the collaboration will have a focus on integrating UMA-eligible personalized direct index solutions from each manager into the Envestment platform, enabling customized solutions for advisors.

It will also provide access to sophisticated solutions for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients through one-to-many models.

Envestnet says it will also create bespoke models for HNW accounts over $1 million, featuring asset manager solutions, either made by the asset manager or through Envestnet’s platform, and supported by investment and client-facing portfolio managers.

Dana D'Auria, group president of solutions and co-CIO at Envestnet, said the renewed partnerships answer a call from advisors and clients asking for personalization at scale and affordable platform options leveraging the firm’s UMA capabilities.

"We believe working with a focused opportunity set of like-minded asset managers invested in our mutual success will enable us to provide the choice and functionality our clients want now and the roadmap to an even more enhanced ecosystem down the line," D’Auria said.

"Expanding our relationship with Envestnet furthers our goal of serving as an integral partner to advisors, helping them access solutions to meet the unique needs of high-net-worth investors in both public and private markets, and offering them customizable options to reflect client preferences across taxes and values," said Jaime Magyera, co-head of US wealth advisory business at BlackRock.

Gary Gallagher, head of wealth advisory and portfolio solutions at Fidelity Institutional, added, "As technology reshapes clients' relationships with their advisors and makes it easier for advisors to engage at key life stages, there is an increased desire for additional products to build better, more diverse and more personalized portfolios."