Fidelity's Durbin to eMoney clients: Nothing is changing

When eMoney Advisor unexpectedly announced that its founder and chief executive, Edmond Walters, was stepping down, advisers who use the tool began to wonder if it was an ominous sign. Michael Durbin, who was named interim chief executive of eMoney and is president of Fidelity Wealth Technologies, said it is not. Ever since Fidelity first announced in February that it had acquired eMoney for a rumored $250 million, advisers have wondered whether the new owner of the platform would try to fix what was not broken. Mr. Walters' exit, and lack of an explanation for it, left many with concerns as speculation continues to swirl. Some industry participants have reached the conclusion that Mr. Walters' vision for the platform did not align with Fidelity's. Advisers who have used eMoney for years wondered if the software platform they have come to rely upon will lose its identity and become just another corporate product. "Edmond had a lot of creative juice behind the technology … it is my understanding that he drove that process," said Vincent Barbera, a managing partner at Newbridge Wealth Management in Berwyn, Pa., who uses eMoney. "With him gone, who becomes the driver?" Fidelity's response was, in a nutshell: to the contrary. 'IT'S IN STRONG HANDS' "It is in strong hands, and it will truly stay an independent eMoney," Mr. Durbin said in an interview. "It is a vibrant, dynamic and growing company that happens to be affiliated with Fidelity, and it has a strong independent future.” All of the company's goals, including its plans for its emX Select platform to integrate with 28 other companies by the end of the year, including competitors, are still on target, he added. The biggest concerns in February, which is being echoed now, is whether those integrations will actually suffer, and how Fidelity will exert its control the company.

Walters steps down as @eMoneyAdvisor CEO. Running #fintech orgs inside big co's is hard. Been there! Good luck EW! http://t.co/CEaVifpCOM

— Steve Dunlap (@Steve_Dunlap) September 3, 2015

Mr. Durbin said Fidelity knew going in what Mr. Walters' vision was for eMoney. It was one of the reasons the custodian sought to acquire the firm. "The vision for the emX Select proposition as it continues was very visible and very known to us, and it was one of the many things that attracted us to the company," Mr. Durbin said. He added that it was Mr. Walters' decision to leave, and Fidelity was sorry to receive his resignation, but that there is a team in place ready to keep pushing the company in the direction its founder intended. Mr. Walters was not available for comment. eMoney's team, and all of its 320 employees, sent an open letter to the firm's clients and the industry on Friday that they were ready for the challenge. "We have a team of 320 people who are eager and resolved, hungry to prove to everyone watching — and trust us, there will be many watching — that we rise to a challenge and face adversity head on, with the spirit of someone with something to prove and a bit of a chip on their shoulder," the letter reads. "We — with Edmond and now without him — are a force to be reckoned with," it continued. NOT SO SURE Advisers who use the software aren't so sure. With the founding chief executive out of the picture, some advisers worry that it will become a stale product without the visionary behind it to drive innovation. "The energy and passion he shared can only be created by an entrepreneur and business owner, and that spirit is no longer there," said Gregory Gardner, president of Gardner Group in Dallas, who has been using eMoney for more than a decade. "It might not be all that bad, but it's not good." eMoney Advisors' eMoney 360 platform is the second most popular financial planning software provider, according to InvestmentNews' 2015 Popular Tech Products survey. The survey found that of the more than 1,000 advisers who responded, 80% use financial planning software, and 23.6% of those advisers use eMoney. MoneyGuidePro came in first with a quarter of advisers, or 25.3%, who said that they use it. Mr. Walters's departure and the waves it has caused may be good news for competitors. Hussain Zaidi, co-founder and chief executive of Advizr, another financial planning tool for advisers, said that when news like this breaks, the company normally hears from potential clients. He said Mr. Walters' move is a big loss for eMoney, but that there has been a changing of the guard over the last few years as the industry embraces constant change and innovation. "We think there are new thought leaders in this space that can hopefully replace some of the folks that are going to continue on to new things," Mr. Zaidi said. Robert Wander, a financial adviser at Wander Financial Services, said that he's sticking with eMoney — for now. "I don't think it calls for anything drastic. I won't jump to a new platform tomorrow," he said. "But I will be looking to get more information and hear more from them about what the implications are."