Principal Financial to Buy RobustWealth
The deal means advisors will have white-label resources like a digital advice platform, goals-based investment tools and new client onboarding processes.
The deal will give Principal access to white-label resources for financial advisors, such as a digital advice platform, goals-based investment tools and new client onboarding processes. For its part, RobustWealth is poised to benefit from Principal’s relationships with some 16 million customers worldwide.
“The role of the financial advisor — a real person across the table — remains critical. But, we must combine the best of people with the best of technology to meet clients when, where and how they want to be met,” said Tim Dunbar, chief investment officer of Principal Financial, in a statement.
The Principal-RobustWealth news comes about a week after the private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners said it would acquire the compliance-software maker RIA in a Box LLC and one month after Hellman & Friedman announced plans to buy the robo-advisor Financial Engines for about $3 billion and combine it with Edelman Financial Services.
“Principal is excited about the opportunity to leverage this [RobustWealth] platform for advisors and consumers,” added Dunbar. “We are investing in technology at the rate and pace necessary to keep up with customer preferences and buying behaviors.”
Principal has worked with RobustWealth for the past nine months.
“Together we will continue to evolve a digital advice platform that is sophisticated, but simple. Ultimately, these interactions combine our financial expertise with personalized digital advice that helps consumers meet their financial goals,” RobustWealth founder and CEO Mike Kerins in a statement.
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