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Technology > Investment Platforms

Pershing Adds Jemstep Robo-Advisor to NetX360

By Emily Zulz

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Invesco Ltd. announced this week that it will collaborate with Pershing to offer Jemstep Advisor Pro, the firm’s advisor-focused digital advice solution, to Pershing’s clients.  

This is the first news announced since Invesco acquired Jemstep in January.

“Even before our acquisition with Invesco, we were moving down the path with Pershing to be integrated on their platform,” Simon Roy, president of Jemstep, told ThinkAdvisor. “The acquisition by Invesco really just helped accelerate that because there is a deep and enduring relationship between Invesco and BNY Mellon, the parent of Pershing. That combination really helped accelerate our focus on Pershing and brought to bear the resources of Invesco, BNY Mellon and Pershing in support of this integration.”

Jemstep Advisor Pro will allow the RIAs and broker-dealers on the Pershing platform to seamlessly onboard prospects and effectively service investors. It is expected to be available on Pershing’s NetX360 platform in the third quarter.

Pershing is the second custodial platform Jemstep has partnered with. TD Ameritrade has been Jemstep’s primary custodian for “a number of years now,” Roy said. There are also a number of firms that self-custody with Jemstep.

“Pershing is obviously a very significant player in the space and we’re very pleased to be working and partnering with them,” Roy said.

Jemstep’s availability on the Pershing platform offers a digital complement to the traditional method of investment advice, according to Roy.

“The consumer adoption of technology to help manage their lives is really being accelerated. It’s certainly occurring in the financial services space. So, consumers are driving much of this adoption,” Roy told ThinkAdvisor. “Essentially, advisory firms are looking to add a digital capability to their practice as another way to engage prospects and to service clients, and to essentially give [clients] the means to engage with the advisor and advisory firm through an additional platform.”

Jemstep Advisor Pro is open architecture which allows investors to access a variety of professionally selected investment options across mutual funds and ETFs. Not only does Jemstep’s open platform enable these advisory firms to bring their investment strategies to the table, but also, in combination with Invesco, Jemstep’s platform has the ability to add Invesco’s investment solutions, such as their mutual funds as well as the Powershares ETF range.

The Jemstep platform also works with advisors’ existing technology and the existing custodian.

“If they use, for example, Salesforce as their customer relationship management software we work with that,” Roy explained. “If they use Pershing’s managed investments platform, we will integrate with that. And obviously if they use Pershing as a custodian. The ability to work with the way advisors work today and their back-office operations and software is a great combination that allows them to incorporate this technology without too much effort or retraining of the existing advisory force.” Unlike peer tools that focus on market-cap-weighted indexing, Jemstep Advisor Pro also gives home offices new and differentiated insights to help track advisor progress, view client data in aggregate, enhance portfolio management offerings and services, manage risk, and an opportunity to broaden their client reach to address intergenerational needs.

In a statement, Jim Crowley, chief relationship officer at Pershing, said, “Pershing serves a wide range of investment firms including RIAs and broker-dealers, and the Jemstep Advisor Pro platform offers the capabilities to satisfy the needs across our spectrum of clients. Jemstep Advisor Pro is distinct in that it combines Invesco’s leading world-class investment capabilities with best-in-class digital technology to enhance the financial experience for advisors and end investors.”

Being acquired by Invesco four months ago has given Jemstep more weight within the industry, according to Roy.

“The large institutions, when they’re deciding on technology that’s going to be embedded in their business, they’re thinking as much about the viability and the commitment and partnership of the company – Jemstep – as they are the platform capabilities,” he told ThinkAdvisor. “Being acquired by Invesco has been a phenomenal positive for Jemstep because some of these very large firms look at that combination as the best of both worlds.”

In addition to Jemstep’s digital technology, Invesco has a “long track record of partnering with advisory firms and supporting their goal of helping their clients,” according to Roy. “That combination has proved to be a very powerful calling card.”

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