Raymond James Completes Rollout of Mobile Platform

August 12, 2016 at 09:46 AM
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Raymond James Financial (RJF) says its advisors now have full use of its mobile technology platform.

Its Advisor Mobile platform, which works on iPhones and iPads, means that its roughly 6,800 advisors can access all their client contact and account information on the go, including recent trades, as well as their latest production and asset statistics.

"We continually strive to provide our advisors with leading edge capabilities," said Chief Information Officer Vin Campagnoli, in a statement. "These most recent launches are right in line with that philosophy and illustrate how we design our technology tools from the perspective of the advisor — and spend time getting their input and feedback. Our goal is to make our advisors' lives and practices more efficient, more productive and more convenient, so they can focus on their clients' needs."

The broker-dealer gave some advisors access to the new technology at its independent-advisor conference in April, but the full rollout of the program wrapped up in July.

"The RJ Advisor Mobile App has accomplished what many of us have wanted for many years; the ability to have our clients' information in our hands at all times, without being constrained to a specific location," said independent advisor Kevin Fusco, in a press release. "The app provides for a cutting-edge competitive advantage, and a foundation for upgrades that will further alleviate the reliance on more traditional computing."

In May, the firm introduced Vault technology across the firm; Vault lets both advisors and clients share and store documents securely. It also updated its client-reporting system so that it integrates information from Vault and from external accounts.

"The new advisor [mobile] app is such a time saver in my day," said employee advisor Amber Seale, in a statement. "The ability to dictate notes and post to CRM one second after a client meeting is genius. I commend our technology group for all the ways we can pull client accounts, access recent trades, and so much more on the go. This is a busy mom and financial advisor's dream!"

Further down the line, Raymond James plans to roll out a complex wealth- and product-management system that integrates a large amount of data and details on financial products.

"We are two years into the planning and design," said Bella Allaire, head of technology and operations for the firm, during its April conference. "We have some first-release dates a few years out."

The technology aims to integrate a large amount data and a variety of features for building portfolio and financial models, drift reporting, remodeling work and so on. "This would help advisors with model-based practices and those who want a comprehensive solution [for financial planning] in one place," she said. "It's very sophisticated and involved."

The firm was working on this for its "top advisors" before it announced plans earlier this year to acquire Deutsche Bank's U.S. wealth management group of about 200 advisors (and rename the group Alex. Brown).

"We do not think — with the 700 or 800 attributes of products it includes — anyone else in the industry has this technology," Allaire explained. "It will let the advisor understand the characteristics of products, structures and other aspects of complicated investments."

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