Financial advisors and firms across the industry are likely to see greater operational efficiency this year thanks to their recent tech investments – and one provider is highlighting its role in that trend.
Advisor360, a SaaS wealthtech provider whose platform touches 3 million households with a collective $1 trillion in assets, outlined several key updates it introduced for firms and advisors in 2023.
The company highlighted its gifts and entertainment disclosure feature, which simplifies compliance with financial regulations around gifts and entertainment. Updates around that capability, it said, have made the process of satisfying Finra and SEC requirements on those 90% faster by reducing manual data entry.
Now, when an advisor using the disclosure module reports a gift, the system automatically calculates the cost per client, adds it to the client's profile, and keeps a running total for the year. The feature also allows for easy export of disclosures to tax software, cutting down on human error and saving time.
Advisor360 also pointed to the auto-aggregation feature that lets the head office see all gift disclosures in one place. By filtering out items that fall within threshold limits set by the firm, compliance teams can more easily identify ethical breaches related to excessive gift-giving.
“We’re helping wealth management firms improve their efficiency while lowering their compliance risks and costs,” said Mat Mathews, Advisor360’s chief product and engineering officer. “This enhancement continues our commitment to improving our productivity platform and making financial advisors’ lives easier.”
Advisor360 also rolled out a wide array of other enhancements last year, including a new multiple transfer of assets functionality to its onboarding, an overhaul to its flagship Client360 application, and an integration with Envestnet/Yodlee to import account data from third-party financial institutions, which provides a more complete picture of the end client’s net worth.
Beyond enhancing advisor productivity, a well-built wealthtech stack can also be key for retention, with 92% of advisors in Advisor360’s latest Connected Wealth Report saying they would leave their firm over a poor technology setup.
“Our focus continues to be on productivity gains and actionable insights through new tools and ongoing platform innovation,” Mathews said. “Our goal is to equip advisors and the home office with easy access to data they can trust so they can make sound business decisions and provide informed financial guidance to their clients.”
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