OneVest, Merit Financial Advisors partner as RIA pursues aggressive expansion

Wealth technology provider OneVest and Merit Financial Advisors have announced a strategic partnership aimed at supporting the advisory firm’s continued expansion as it prepares for a year of acquisitions.

Merit, a national wealth management firm headquartered in Atlanta, said the agreement will support its plan to add roughly 15 firms in 2026. The firm recently reported assets of more than $24 billion after doubling its asset base over the past year.

The partnership will see Merit deploy OneVest’s operating platform across its advisory network, with the goal of consolidating workflows and reducing operational complexity as the firm grows.

“As we continue our rapid growth trajectory and welcome more advisor teams to the Merit family, our priority is providing them with the absolute best-in-class infrastructure,” said Rick Kent, CEO of Merit Financial Advisors. “We aren't just looking for tools; we are looking for a partner that helps us move faster without compromising the personalized experience our advisors and clients deserve.”

Merit said the technology will be used to streamline onboarding of newly acquired advisory teams and unify data across custodians, performance systems and planning platforms. The firm also expects the platform to automate administrative tasks that often fall to advisors.

"Merit is a visionary firm that understands technology is no longer just a support function, it is a competitive differentiator,” said Amar Ahluwalia, CEO of OneVest. “Together, we are setting a new standard for how wealth management firms can grow while delivering a frictionless experience that keeps the advisor at the center of the story.”

Merit operates more than 55 offices across the US and reported $24.69 billion in assets as of Jan. 1, 2026 across advisory, brokerage, retirement and ESOP accounts.

AI-powered system

The partnership follows the recent launch of OneVest’s Agentic Wealth Operating System, which the company says is designed to automate operational processes within wealth management firms.

“Most wealth management technology was built for a different era. AI in this industry has largely stopped at insight, note-taking, and reminders. That’s not transformation, it’s redecorated inefficiency,” said Ahluwalia. “Our Agentic Wealth OS doesn't just suggest operational actions; it executes them securely, compliantly, and at scale. Every hour an advisor or middle-office professional spends acting as a 'system integrator' is an hour stolen from the client experience. We are ending that era once and for all.”

OneVest says the system is designed to automate tasks such as account opening, fund movements and data reconciliation, while handling compliance workflows across a firm’s operations.

“Modernizing legacy infrastructure by layering on new features is like strapping a jet engine to a horse-drawn carriage; costly, disruptive, and still limited by the original design,” said Nathan Di Lucca, CTO of OneVest. “We didn’t build a better dashboard. We moved beyond static data to create a system that understands context and takes action. The future of wealth management will be built by firms that embrace an agentic operating system to elevate their people, or it will be built without them.”