The wealth-management technology world moves fast, and the stream of news is becoming more like a raging river. With all of the investment pouring into the sector from venture capitalists and financial-services professionals looking to update their tech, there’s never a shortage of new tools, startups and integration partners.
To help you stay on top of it, we’re launching a new weekly roundup of wealthtech news from across the industry.
This week seemed especially busy as companies looked to get their news out before taking time off for Independence Day. Several big-name wealthtech companies added new features and tools to their advisor offerings. Compliance was also a theme, with companies finding new ways to help firms better handle ever-changing regulations.
eMoney Partners with CapitalROCK on New Product Suggestion Tool
Using CapitalROCK’s analytics technology, eMoney Advisor said the tool will generate unbiased suggestions for financial products with the eMoney financial-planning platform. eMoney says it bridges the gap between financial-planning tools and compliance software, and helps advisors remain in compliance with the Department of Labor’s fiduciary standard by only recommending products within the client’s best interest.
eMoney also hopes the suggestion tool can facilitate discussions on products during the financial-planning process, facilitate 401(k) rollovers and annuity sales, and be a central hub for monitoring firm-wide activities.
The tool includes a scoring methodology to determine which mix of retirement products is best suited for the client and to analyze current fees, features and employer contributions within a retirement account. There is also an “annuity wizard” to determine the best available annuity products.
Envestnet Tamarac Adds New Auditing Capabilities to Advisor View
The new enhancements come to Advisor View’s billing functionality to help advisors compare billing periods during the auditing process. Advisors can more easily compare the previous billable value, previous billed amount and previous billing data for any period, and for any number of billing cycles, to look for discrepancies across a client’s account history without having to manually gather the data.
Envestnet Tamarac also updated Advisor View’s portfolio-management and performance-reporting application, and made some core enhancements to Advisor Xi. The company pledges to update its technology every 60 days.
AssetMark Launches Business Assessment Tool
The free online tool will estimate the value of an advisor’s business, identify areas of strength and pinpoint opportunities for improvement. It’s powered by AssetMark’s Value Maximization Index, which looks at business risk factors and compares them to top industry benchmarks across practice management, marketing, operations and staffing.
AssetMark hopes the tool will help advisors with merger and acquisition opportunities. The company is pairing with free resources to help advisors find buyers and sellers, conduct due diligence and aid with transition of clients.
Wealthfront Partners with a Compliance Software Provider
BasisCode Compliance, an Atlanta-based startup, was contracted by the so-called "robo advisor" to upgrade its compliance management program. BasicCode will implement a cloud-based system of testing and certifications, risk assessment, a whistleblower function, document portal, and reporting. Wealthfront will also install BasisCode’s Personal Trading Manager, which the company says streamlines management and surveillance of employee personal trading.
“As a technology company that delivers automated financial planning and investing through software, Wealthfront demanded a compliance software platform that can be integrated seamlessly with other technology providers, as well as its home-grown technology infrastructure, without the need for costly and time-intensive customization,” BasisCode President and CEO Carlos Guillen said.
FinMason Launches FinTech Accelerator
Technology accelerators and incubators are increasingly popular, and FinMason, an investment analytics firm, is getting in on the action. AlphaStreet is the first startup to sign up and will get free access to FinRiver, FinMason’s set of investment analytics APIs. AlphaStreet will use it to advance its digital platform to help individual investors find stocks and make better investing decisions.
FinMason said that to be accepted into its FinSpring accelerator, startups must share a mission of educating investors around making more-informed financial decisions, be operational for less than two years, have under $500,000 in revenue, and have raised no more than $1 million in funding. The company says selected startups will have access to more than 700 analytical data types, including risk and performance metrics, aggregate factor exposures, scenario analyses and stress testing.
Are there other fintech stories you would like to share? Email me at [email protected].
