Three wealth technology providers announced partnerships this week aimed at registered investment advisors, adding customized model portfolios, multi-custodian data tools and transition automation to the fintech menu available to independent firms.
The deals pairing Vestmark with asset manager First Trust Portfolios, NDEX Systems with Schwab Advisor Services and Forms Logic with Orion each targets an operational pain point for growth-focused RIAs that are actively adding clients, custodians and recruits.
Vestmark, the Wakefield, Massachusetts-based portfolio management technology firm, is giving RIAs a white-labeled tool for building and running model portfolios that use First Trust strategies. Advisors can adjust those models for individual clients while Vestmark’s infrastructure handles trading, tax-aware transitions out of legacy holdings and ongoing tax management.
The offering, which runs through the Vestmark Model Marketplace, will launch with exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and interval funds, the semiliquid closed-end vehicles that buy back shares from investors at set intervals rather than daily.
The tie-up is the latest in a run of asset manager agreements for Vestmark, which recently teamed up with Allspring on advisor-built model portfolios. The firm says its technology supports more than $2 trillion in assets, 5.5 million investor accounts and over 72,000 advisors, and is used by six of the 10 largest managed account program providers.
“RIAs increasingly want access to the investment expertise of leading asset managers without giving up the flexibility to tailor portfolios around individual client needs,” said Rob Battista, executive vice president of advisory solutions at Vestmark.
Montreal-based NDEX Systems is expanding its work with Schwab Advisor Services through two products that RIAs can buy separately or together.
Data Bridge ingests custodial feeds and other financial records across multiple custodians and asset types. It then normalizes and reconciles the information so it can feed a firm’s existing CRM, reporting, investment accounting and trading software.
F-Engine, NDEX’s wealth management platform, uses the same reconciled data for portfolio management, performance reporting and advisor workflows, including reporting on alternative and off-book assets. Firms can also license individual F-Engine functions rather than the full platform.
NDEX already integrates with Schwab for automated daily feed file ingestion, single sign-on, client onboarding and trading, and says further integration is in development.
The push comes as Schwab continues to grow its custodial business with RIAs. In its most recent earnings call, CEO Rick Wurster told analysts that the company now serves more than 16,000 advisory firms.
“Custodial access is only the beginning,” said Laurent Bensemana, chief executive of NDEX. “RIAs need data they can trust across the systems they use every day.”
Orion, the wealthtech platform with a focus on the RIA space, is embedding components of Forms Logic’s Migrator software into its process for bringing advisors’ books of business onto its platform.
Migrator organizes transition data, identifies and pre-fills required paperwork, automates workflows and tracks progress in real time. It follows a six-step sequence: advisor introduction, contract completion, data capture, workflow creation, affiliation day and execution of the move.
The deal builds on Orion’s recent efforts, as the firm has taken aim at onboarding and transition speed while competition for advisor talent intensifies. Forms Logic, based in Wheaton, Ill., also sells Navigator, an onboarding platform designed to cut not-in-good-order, or NIGO, submissions that lead to many time-consuming back-and-forths with custodians.
“Advisor transitions are among the most operationally complex events in wealth management, often involving thousands of accounts, multiple custodians and extensive documentation,” said Rick Burgess, chief executive of Forms Logic.
“By streamlining the onboarding process, advisors can spend more time supporting client relationships and integrating into their new firm,” said Arun Anur, Orion’s chief operating officer.
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