Rather than waiting on software vendors to ship the features they need, financial advisory firms are getting a more direct path to building their own technology – no developers required.
Two wealthtech providers, AdvisorCRM and Zeplyn, have each rolled out platforms that let advisory firms design custom applications, workflows and AI agents using plain-language instructions instead of code.
The moves land as roughly 95% of financial services and wealth management professionals plan to increase AI investment over the next three years, according to MSCI's Wealth Trends 2026 report. Yet the same research found many firms still struggling to translate that appetite into practical deployment.
AdvisorCRM's new offering, called AdvisorCRM Studio, gives advisory firms a single environment to create custom tools, reports and workflows by describing what they need in plain language. The company said advisors can preview a tool using their firm's actual data before deciding how to deploy it, rather than adapting their processes to fit rigid, pre-built software.
The platform also centralizes data across whatever tools a firm builds on it, aiming to eliminate the fragmented records and duplicate data entry that come from stitching together disconnected systems. AdvisorCRM said each firm operates within its own dedicated database, structurally separated from other firms on the platform, so that issues within one firm's environment don't affect another's.
Studio launched with a limited release at this week's Future Proof Festival, with the first 50 participating firms working directly alongside AdvisorCRM's team to get to grips with the system.
“Advisors should not have to force their business into software that was built for someone else,” said Ryan Borer, managing partner at AdvisorCRM. "When you can build almost anything, the hard part is knowing where to begin."
Zeplyn, which describes itself as an AI operating system for wealth management, took a similar tack with the launch of its Agent Studio and a companion model context protocol (MCP) server. Agent Studio lets firms define, using plain-language instructions, how an AI agent should operate, what information it draws on, and what its output looks like – whether that's an annual review brief, a meeting recap, or a client email drafted in the firm's own voice.
The MCP server extends those custom agents beyond Zeplyn's own interface. It gives AI applications that support the protocol – including Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot and Slack – governed access to agents built in Agent Studio, along with Zeplyn's client intelligence and more than 60 wealth-specific tools. In practice, an advisor working inside a separate AI application could pull recent meeting summaries, CRM data, financial planning details and current holdings for a client household without switching platforms or maintaining a separate integration for each tool.
Other wealth tech providers have launched new capabilities with MCP integrations this year, including Zocks, Jump, CAIS, and Morningstar.
Zeplyn said both of its newly launched capabilities operate within its existing governance framework, which includes role-based access controls, audit trails, personally identifiable information redaction, configurable data retention and human review. The company also said client data isn't used to train the underlying AI models.
“Every wealth firm has expertise that shapes how it serves clients, and AI should help put that expertise to work at scale,” said Era Jain, co-founder and CEO of Zeplyn
The push toward firm-built AI tools comes as regulators sharpen their focus on how advisers govern the technology. The SEC's Division of Examinations has named artificial intelligence among several priorities for its 2026 examination cycle, with a particular eye on disclosure of AI use in investment advice, supervision of AI-generated outputs and marketing claims about AI capabilities.
More recent staff guidance has urged advisers to keep up a living inventory of every AI tool in use, document who owns each one, and show the human-review step for anything reaching clients.
Edwin Lickiss earlier admitted that he defrauded at least 93 victims of over $9.5 million from 1998 through 2024.
New research shows Americans want control over their money but lack the confidence to take action – and advisors are the bridge.
Retire Through Ownership Act lets ESOP fiduciaries rely on independent appraisals, closing a decades-old valuation gap for private company stock.
The breakaway-focused platform's senior hires from Wells Fargo, Bluespring and Hightower deepen its bench for growth and succession planning.
New leadership lines unify succession consulting, acquisitions and capital funding as advisor retirement wave nears.
Northern Trust’s Ken Lassner shows advisors how to convert volatility into after-tax portfolio gains
Dan Biagini of American Equity says the steady decline of pensions, longer lifespans and a reset in interest rates are rewriting how advisors build retirement income
