BNY Mellon Adds Natural Language Tech for Asset Managers, Clients: Tech Roundup

The Bank of New York Mellon is collaborating with natural language generation technology company Arria NLG on an initiative designed to help asset managers and asset owners transform data into actionable analytics, the companies said Tuesday.

As part of a deal, BNY Mellon Data and Analytics Solutions clients can now “unlock better insights from their data through the power of natural language generation” provided by Arria, whose NLG capabilities have been integrated with the Eagle Performance and Data Management solutions suite, the companies said. Terms of the pact were not disclosed.

The initiative will “help clients to accelerate their data analysis and translate data into language and insights across investment data categories, including portfolio management, performance measurement and attribution analysis,” the firms said.

The integration of Arria’s NLG capabilities inside BNY Mellon’s platform will “help clients meet compliance needs while responding to constant market and regulatory changes,” according to Charles Teschner, global head of Data and Analytics Solutions at BNY Mellon. The collaboration will help BNY Mellon clients “generate consistent bias-free professional commentary, scale their data reporting operations and significantly reduce the time and effort in analyzing large volumes of data,” he said in the announcement.

Arria’s technology “helps generate automated, real-time insights and narratives in plain, easy-to-understand language directly from data,” Sharon Daniels, its CEO, said. The capabilities will provide “new potential sources of untapped alpha for BNY Mellon Data and Analytics Solutions’ clients to help them make better informed investment decisions and more effectively grow assets,” she said.

Addapar Introduces Marketplace

Addepar launched a Marketplace application within its wealth management technology platform that it said Monday enables clients to view and assess a variety of alternative investment offerings and digitally initiate transactions via trusted partners.

Marketplace, offered through Addepar’s subsidiary broker-dealer, Acervus Securities, is available to existing Addepar clients and features private equity and hedge funds, secondary market liquidity solutions, shares in private companies and cash programs, the Mountain View, California-based company said.

Marketplace clients can access and evaluate its financial products and solutions in a “modern, streamlined application and can transact seamlessly and securely on each partner’s execution platform,” Addepar said.

The ongoing “global pandemic and corresponding market volatility is our catalyst to launch this valuable offering,” according to CEO Eric Poirier. “Our clients are demanding longer-term investments that fuel lasting solutions, and the world now has a wide range of problems that we all must confront and solve together,” he said in the announcement, noting: “It’s time for market-driven forces to efficiently allocate capital and resources on a global basis as we collectively reach for a new normal — and one that’s better than the old one.”

Marketplace “unifies access to financial products like alternatives and private assets, which have historically been fragmented and opaque,” he said. Addepar clients manage and advise on almost $2 trillion in assets on its platform, with more than 35% held in alternatives and private assets, he said, adding: “Marketplace further empowers them to utilize the data and technology to make investments that deliver real results.”

At launch Monday, Marketplace has offerings for clients that include: hedge funds and private equity (made available via Artivest, with a partnership also coming with iCapital Network); liquidity solutions for fund interests (made available via Melting Point Solutions); private company securities (made available now via EquityZen and a partnership is also coming with Zanbato); and cash management (FICA For Advisors, a liquid extended FDIC insured cash deposit program with a competitive yield, and FICA For Impact, an impact cash solution that allocates deposits to hundreds of community banks across the U.S. that assist small businesses — both made available through StoneCastle Cash Management).

Addepar recently introduced the Addepar Assurance program, saying it was designed to make it easier for new RIA clients to gain access to its wealth management platform during challenging market conditions.