WealthStack Tech Roundup: Schwab, Pontera and AltsAxisWealthStack Tech Roundup: Schwab, Pontera and AltsAxis
Advisors using Schwab and Salesforce, Pontera and alternative assets will all be impacted by recent announcements.
A new app, new integrations and a new networking platform round out a bevy of recent wealthtech announcements for advisors. Schwab is replacing an app it uses to connect with Salesforce. Pontera, formerly known as FeeX, is adding SS&C to its integration list. Meanwhile, networking entrepreneur Mark Salameh is debuting a service to connect advisors and alternative investment managers.
Schwab Readies New App
Advisors using Charles Schwab and Salesforce Financial Services Cloud should expect to see a new app by midyear, according to an announcement. The “important milestone” for Schwab will permit advisors to initiate digital onboarding and account opening, view and incorporate real-time data on account profiles, balances and positions and receive status alerts from Schwab Advisor Center, according to Kartik Srinivasan, director of third-party integration for Schwab Digital Advisor Solutions.
“Independent advisors who custody with Schwab have been actively requesting this integration,” he added in a statement. The new functionality represents “the breadth and depth of our integration capabilities.”
The new app will replace Schwab’s existing app connecting the two service providers and leaves the door open for the addition of new capabilities in the future.
Pontera Integrates with SS&C
Pontera announced an integration with SS&C’s Advent Custodial Data Network, giving advisors using the Black Diamond Wealth Platform a way to trade and manage retirement assets while reporting and billing on the held-away accounts. Pontera, formerly known as FeeX, switched its focus earlier this year from fee discovery to helping advisors compliantly and securely manage held-away assets.
Because Pontera integrated its 401(k) trading and management tool with SS&C’s network, advisors using Black Diamond, Axys, APX and Geneva will all have access to the toolkit. Pontera already has integrations with Morningstar Office, Orion and Advyzon, as well as Carson Group.
Pontera raised $80 million to help it refocus and remodel its business. Its tools help advisors manage assets in 401(k)s, 403(b)s and HSAs.
Alts Matchmaking Targets Advisors
Alternative investment software developer AltsAxis announced the launch of its AXIS platform on Wednesday. In addition to helping advisors find alternative investment managers, the firm helps standardize and organize alternative investment data, “in a market that is rife with inefficiencies,” according to the announcement.
Advisors have access to more than 130 filters to help them monitor the performance, investment focus, structure and fees of catalogued asset managers. The firm was started by Mark Salameh, who said he built the platform to bring multiple datasets onto one interface.
“Our ecosystem simplifies and optimizes the sourcing of alternative strategies for family offices, institutional investors and wealth managers,” he said in a statement. “We also go a step further by creating opportunities for alternative asset managers, institutional investors allocating to alts and their strategic partners to engage and find out more about one another, so they can make well-informed decisions for meeting their goals and facilitating growth.”
Professional networking services aren’t new to wealth management. Over 20 years ago, Microsoft helped match brokers from firms like Salomon Smith Barney, American Express Financial Advisors and U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray with clients. More recently, advisors have launched networks to help financial advisors of color find clients and other entrepreneurs have debuted their own platforms to match advisors and clients.
Nevertheless, Salameh said the connectivity he provides to advisors and alternative asset managers doesn’t exist elsewhere. Previous endeavors by Salameh include Context Summits, an event producer for networking within the alternative investment industry.
