Schwab taps Tamarac as next integration partner

Schwab Advisor Services announced today that Tamarac would be the latest “selected participant” to be added to Schwab's set of advisory platforms. Those platforms, known collectively as Schwab Intelligent Integration, have been under development for two years. The integrations with Tamarac, once completed, will provide a real-time conduit for custody data to flow from the Schwab Advisor Services back office systems directly into the modules making up the Tamarac Xi adviser platform including both its Advisor CRM (built on Microsoft Dynamics) and its Advisor View billing applications. And Schwab has worked out a 20% discount off the first year's licensing of Tamarac for those firms interested in using it. That could end up representing $5,000 to $10,000 in savings for a new firm, depending on its size in terms of accounts and assets under management. RELATED: View the InvestmentNews Technology Directory and view more than 170 products specifically designed for a financial advisory firm. I spoke yesterday to Neesha Hathi, vice president of technology solutions for Schwab Advisor Services. She was not yet ready to provide a formal schedule for when integrations would be completed or the full extent or depth those integrations would take. Tamarac already has a history with Schwab; it uses PortfolioCenter as the portfolio management piece of its Advisor Xi platform. I should point out that the Tamarac integration will be joining the Schwab OpenView Gateway and is under a relatively new group created with in Schwab called Schwab Intelligent Technologies, which sprang to life in 2011. I would also probably be remiss if I did not remind advisers of the recently completed acquisition of Tamarac by Envestnet Inc.; in fact while it forms its own group within Envestnet its new official moniker is Envestnet | Tamarac. ([email protected]) on Twitter @ddjanowski Related stories: Envestnet completes Tamarac acquisition Envestnet agrees to acquire Tamarac Schwab tries to wow advisers with its technology progress Schwab launches business unit targeting RIAs Tamarac takes a leap by offering a single solution