Betterment is ditching the “Betterment Institutional” name for the white-label version of its digital advice service in favor of “Betterment for Advisors.”
The change makes clearer Betterment’s different lines of business, especially with the growth of Betterment for Business, the New York robo advisor’s 401(k) product. The company wants to reinforce the message that it wants to partner with, not compete against, financial advisors.
But Tom Kimberly, the general manager of newly named segment, said it’s about more than branding. Betterment for Advisors also plans to give advisors more options to customize portfolios managed on the digital platform.
Beginning in October, advisors will be able to offer clients model portfolio strategies from Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Vanguard. Currently, advisors can only build portfolios from a selection of Betterment models.
“We carefully selected partners and strategies that are consistent with our broader vision for portfolio flexibility, and we will continue to develop a curated suite of portfolios that offer unique solutions for our advisors’ clients,” Kimberly wrote in the blog post.
The models will be integrated into the B4A platform, and the cost will remain 25 basis points. Betterment says it plans to include more models from more asset managers in the future.
