Ritholtz Wealth Management and Advisor Circle have selected a small group of technology companies to showcase innovative new products for financial advisors as part of the second annual Future Proof wealth management festival.
Out of a pool of nearly 100 applicants, seven companies were selected for the “Fintech Demo Drop” at Future Proof, which returns to Huntington Beach, California, in September. The finalists will receive digital promotions from the event, scheduled meetings with qualified financial advisors and firm executives, and stage time to demonstrate their products at Future Proof, which expects to draw more than 3,000 attendees, including 2,000 financial advisors.
“The fintech tools presented on stage last year sparked our collective imagination, reshaping our perceptions of what our industry could be, and most importantly, where it is headed next,” Michael Batnick, managing partner at Ritholtz Wealth Management, said in a statement. “The Fintech Demo Drop series serves as a catalyst for innovation, fueling our collective drive to shape the future and push the boundaries of what our industry considers possible.”
A committee that included Advisor Circle, the studio that produces Future Proof, practicing financial advisors at Ritholtz Wealth and third-party consultants judged companies based on creativity and the ability to solve real problems for financial advisors. Products must be useful for both newly launched RIAs as well as larger, more established firms.
“A lot of [applicants] had a lot of promises about what the technology will do, but when you look under the hood, it’s still being developed,” said Matt Middleton, CEO at Advisor Circle. “There was no shortage of artificial intelligence-focused applications. We really looked through the hype versus what are the real potential applications.”
The finalist companies aren't sponsors of the event, nor are they backed by The Compound Capital Fund, the venture capital fund created by Ritholtz Wealth Management as a private offering to clients. Organizers wanted to avoid turning the Future Proof stage into a paid advertising platform, Middleton said. The producers also wanted to avoid creating a competition for some award between the companies.
“It’s more to give them stage time that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to have at other industry events that are pay-to-play,” Middleton said. “They don’t have the budgets to get speaking time at other events.”
The exception is Pershing X, the new fintech arm of BNY Mellon’s custody and clearing business, which was chosen for the new Wove product that debuted at the Pershing Insite conference in June. The product was recognized for providing exceptional data integration and intelligent workflows for advisors, according to a statement from Future Proof.
Pershing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other finalists include a new product from Wealth.com to make estate planning more efficient, and a lending platform from Uptiq that uses AI to determine which product and lender fit any given liquidity need or risk profile.
Personalization is also a theme, with Alphathena, Conquest Planning and InvestSuite being chosen for products that help advisors offer customized investing, advice and performance reports, respectively.
The group is rounded out by Opto Investments, which was chosen for its Custom Private Allocation builder, which gives independent advisors access to private markets.
In addition to stage time, the companies will participate in “Breakthru meetings,” a feature of Future Proof that Middleton hopes will change how advisors and exhibitors interact at events. Rather than cold calls, email blasts or messaging an attendee through an event app, hoping to make a connection, Future Proof has reserved a large space and blocked out time on the schedule to foster thousands of prescheduled meetings. Some will involve asset managers or fintechs pitching their products to advisors, others will be meetings between two advisors to discuss recruitment or a possible deal, Middleton said.
A digital platform will help create efficient matches, and both parties have to opt in to scheduling a meeting, Middleton said. The seven fintech companies chosen for the Demo Drop will get featured attention on that platform and five complimentary meetings each.
“In place of that spamming culture, we provide an interface and tool to have a more efficient process,” Middleton said.
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