eMoney provides fintech update at virtual Summit

Financial planning fintech eMoney Advisor is continuing to shift its core user interface toward Decision Center, its interactive cash flow-based planning product.

As part of eMoney’s annual Summit conference, which was held virtually this week, director of product management Ricky Illigasch detailed to a digital audience of 1,100 some of the updates the company has made over the past year and what can be expected in the future.

EMoney has developed additional reports that give detailed views of a client’s overall cash flow and let advisers drill down into income and expenses. The Fidelity-owned fintech has also introduced Monte Carlo-based reporting to show advisers how a financial plan can play out in different market conditions. Finally, eMoney has launched an “Explore Mode” in the client-facing website to let investors test how changes to their financial behaviors can impact their financial plan.

Illigasch said eMoney’s product road map is focused on four key areas: scaling planning across an adviser’s firm and book of business; easily providing alternatives and insights to the plan; seamlessly taking actions from within the planning workflow; and demonstrating the value that advisers provide to clients over time.

“Over the past year, we’ve integrated even more capabilities [in Decision Center] in an effort to create that one true hub for all planning workflows and activities, and to make creating, editing and presenting plans in an interactive and engaging way even easier,” Illigasch said. “Building out Decision Center will greatly improve your planning experience, allowing you to manage your workflows all within a single planning context.”

The company has also continued to move away from screen-scraping data for account aggregation in favor of more stable and secure connections, he added. Eighty percent of aggregated accounts are done using a application programming interface, or API, a direct data feed, which has reduced service tickets and connectivity issues by 35%, Illigasch said.

New head of product Tom Sullivan, who joined eMoney in June, also detailed his vision for the fintech, including the core financial planning and account aggregation capabilities as well as a focus on financial wellness and professional services to help advisers better use eMoney. The goal is to make eMoney a bridge between advisers and clients, Sullivan said.

“A bridge that can handle more volume in less time, and accommodate clients of all levels of sophistication, with a multitude of financial needs. A bridge where information flows both ways, enabling proactive recommendations and smart automation,” Sullivan said during a prerecorded presentation.

The eMoney Summit kicked off Monday with comments from CEO Susan McKenna, who succeeded Ed O’Brien in August after the former returned to the Fidelity mothership to lead institutional technology. McKenna repeated the theme of bridging a gap between the demand for financial planning and the ability of advisers to meet that demand.

The company has onboarded 20,000 new users in the last 12 months, ranging from small RIAs and breakaway advisers to large wealth management firms, McKenna said. More than 100,000 financial professionals now use the eMoney financial planning software, she added.

“The demand for eMoney remains strong, and I can confidently say that we are well positioned to continue delivering best-in-class financial planning solutions,” McKenna said.

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