The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is launching an alternatives investment platform for wealth intermediaries and financial advisors. Called Alts Bridge, the platform will provide users with access to a roster of alternative asset managers ranging from KKR, Apollo and Blue Owl Capital to alternatives by Franklin Templeton, Coller Capital and Partners Group.
BNY cited the fact that, as a group, financial advisors still need to catch up to their goals of 10% to 15% portfolio allocation to alternative investments. In past surveys, advisors pointed to high levels of administration and paperwork involved as some of the major obstacles to greater adoption. With global alternative assets under management expected to reach $24.5 trillion by 2028, the financial services industry has seen a proliferation of alternative investment platforms in recent years, including both those independently operated and ones launched by established financial services institutions.
“Powered by BNY’s data and technology, Alts Bridge will connect clients across the wealth ecosystem and alternative markets in a unique and more seamless way. As a firm that supports more than $2.6 trillion of wealth assets and has relationships with more than 500 leading alternative managers, we believe we are uniquely positioned to unlock this market,” said Akash Shah, chief growth officer and head of growth ventures at BNY, in a statement. “We’re combining the breadth and depth of BNY’s distribution team with our expertise across investment management, advisory, securities services, wealth technology and wealth custody and clearing, enabling Alts Bridge to provide a comprehensive solution to find, access, and custody alternative and private market assets.”
Alts Bridge is designed to help wealth intermediaries and advisors before, during and after trade. It will include an advisor education center, product overviews, asset management tools, automated document preparation, simplified order entry and integrated reporting capabilities.
The alternatives investment platform will integrate with BNY Pershing X’s multi-custodial wealth management platform, Wove, which includes capabilities ranging from advanced data reporting, cross-custodian trading and rebalancing to a one-stop investor portal and consolidated APIs. Alts Bridge will also integrate with the firm’s NetX360+, a technology platform for wealth management professionals featuring AI and analytics tools designed to reduce manual processing and errors.
BNY plans to open the platform to U.S.-based RIAs and independent broker-dealers later this fall. Initially, it will be available to BNY Pershing clients.
