We were right in our prediction that the slew of industry conferences happening in September would lead to fresh technology news. As we inch closer to the end of 2024, we definitely see a theme emerging that large, complex institutions in wealth management are working diligently to deliver new technology to their clients at a rapid pace. This kind of commitment to technology is much needed as wealth management firms strategize how to best engage with clients in a changing marketplace.
So, without further ado, here are October’s five Word on WealthTech stories.
Wealth.com Closes $30M Series A Funding Round, Led by GV, to Further Modernize Estate Planning
We’re seeing the emergence of a new class of client-planning technology, which is positive for the wealth management industry. New entrants and more competition can expose opportunities in the market, and then everyone wins, especially advisors. So we’re excited to see Wealth.com’s Series A funding round—$30 million can go a long way to growing and maturing its platform.
Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions and NewEdge Capital Group Announce Strategic Collaboration to Provide Enhanced Services to RIAs
This is a story of two really interesting brands. Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions is a legitimate future RIA custodial platform. Since Goldman acquired the Folio custodial infrastructure, it has staffed it with really smart industry veterans, including Craig Cintron and Gary Johnson. So, we’re not surprised to see innovative firms like New Edge partner with Goldman. New Edge serves advisors that work with very comprehensive, very demanding clients. Goldmans’ custody platform is very well suited for that, so the relationship makes a lot of sense. But it is important to note that new custodians, like Goldman or Altruist, aren't replacing existing custodians. They are additional options for firms that have a multi-custodial platform. Schwab, Fidelity or Pershing aren’t being displaced. Advisors and their clients have more options for parking assets and, again, more competition is almost always better for the economy and for our industry.
BNY to Launch Alts Bridge Platform Broadening Investor Access to Alternative Products
The fact that BNY is adding an alts platform on a custodial platform is really impressive, especially in conjunction with the improvements in portfolio construction that Wove represents. We are pleased with the pace of innovation by the BNY tech team in the last year. The names that they have—Blue Owl, KKR and Apollo—are fantastic to support in their roster of alts on the platform. This is incredibly helpful to RIAs that want to add an alts sleeve or to RIAs that already have an alt sleeve but are struggling to operationalize it. It’s a huge leap forward for Pershing and its clients.
Asset-Map Offering Visualized Planning and Advice-Led Solutions to LPL Financial’s Advisors Through a Strategic Agreement
We’ve been impressed with what Adam Holt has put into Asset-Map. It’s a tool that can both help you manage clients and win complex clients. As LPL actively goes upmarket, Asset-Map will help them serve those LPL advisors who are going up the market with their clients. It's proof that LPL is putting its money where its mouth is, and similar to what we said before, we’re impressed with a large complex institution deploying technology that advisors really need and, given its complexity and the size, to do that at a fast pace.
Envestnet Unveils New Technology for RIAs
Finding creative and efficient ways to engage digitally with clients remains one of the unmet capabilities for the majority of F2's clients. It’s great to see Envestnet focusing on the digital client experience and working to meet those needs and improve the experience for end investors. We look forward to more client-facing improvements from Envestnet in the future.
Strong technology advancements can only occur in an environment that has a really good technology team and an executive commitment to that technology team and the future of advisor efficiency. We don’t always see that in organizations, but we see that in these examples, and hope to see it more and more. Stay tuned for what we uncover in the next edition of the Word on WealthTech.
