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Technology > Investment Platforms

New Skience Tool Helps Advisors Transition Client Accounts: Tech Roundup

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What You Need to Know

  • The Dynasty-Envestnet Advisor Services Exchange joint venture launched a new marketing initiative.
  • Franklin Templeton introduced a MyFi Guide financial wellness digital platform.
  • Foreside Financial Group is acquiring the regulatory compliance business of JG Advisory Services.
  • The fintech firm Smarsh added two senior leaders to its executive team.
  • YCharts launched a new tool.

Skience launched Advisor Transitions Solution, a new tool that it said Thursday “streamlines, digitizes and simplifies the process” in which advisors switching wealth management firms can transfer client assets to a new platform.

The new Advisor Transitions Solution tool allows advisors to open client accounts and then transfer assets quicker than manual transition processes allow, as well as “easily communicate and collaborate with clients when collecting required personal information to open accounts and make transfers, and remain compliant with all industry regulations related to those tasks,” Skience said.

The new tool also allows advisors to “enjoy guided workflows, including real-time validation checks, to facilitate the seamless transmission of client data to new custodial or clearing platforms and the creation of accounts,” it said.

When changing firms, advisors, broker-dealers and custodians could face significant fines if they don’t protect client data or follow the proper transition steps, while “repapering accounts manually and other overly complicated procedures can lead to delays and leave clients frustrated,” the company noted.

The Skience Advisor Transitions Solution tool helps advisors “navigate these pivotal processes correctly and with confidence, allowing them to avoid mistakes that have led others to lose business,” it added.

ASx Introduces New Marketing Initiative

The Advisor Services Exchange (ASx) launched a new marketing initiative called “Unlocking the Essentials of Social Media.”

Envestnet and Dynasty Financial Partners teamed up to launch ASx last year. The aim of the move — which included Envestnet acquiring a minority stake in Dynasty — was to provide financial advisors using Envestnet technology with more business tools and outsourcing services for growing their practices, the companies said at the time.

The new virtual coaching platform provides advisors with digital training classes, interactive workbooks and technologies to better market their services on social media networks including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others.

The platform is leveraging proprietary technology to “scale existing consulting services and give broader access to proven digital and lead generation strategies,” according to ASx.

The course includes lessons that teach advisors how to: “efficiently use data to make impactful marketing decisions, build professional editorial calendars, create engaging content without a writer or designer, and even how to gain compliance buy-in,” it said.

The platform is being rolled out across the U.S. now and can be purchased directly from the ASx website.

Franklin Templeton Teams With iGrad

Franklin Templeton partnered with San Diego financial education company iGrad to develop MyFi Guide, a digital financial wellness platform designed for financial professionals to share with defined contribution plan sponsors and participants.

MyFi Guide is powered by iGrad’s artificial-intelligence enabled Enrich financial wellness solution, and features a financial behavior assessment that analyzes each user’s financial “personality,” the companies said in a joint announcement.

MyFi Guide also features: Financial education courses with personalized action plans on topics including financial planning, budgeting, mortgages, health care, college savings, student loan repayment, banking and credit; retirement and home affordability analyzers; a suite of student loan and higher education tools; and personal finance calculators with a real-time budget tool.

Foreside Buys JG Advisory Services’ Compliance Business

Foreside Financial Group acquired the regulatory compliance business of New York City-based JG Advisory Services, a regulatory solutions provider for hedge and private equity funds.

Foreside, a provider of governance, risk management and compliance solutions and technology offerings to clients in the global asset and wealth management industry, didn’t say how much it paid.

Judy Gross, principal and founder of JG Advisory Services, and her colleagues will join Foreside in mid-March, the companies said in a joint announcement.

The transaction represents the sixth acquisition since 2019 for Foreside, which is majority-owned by the private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners.

Smarsh Expands Executive Team

Fintech firm Smarsh added two senior leaders to its executive team in support of its growth and increased demand for its solutions and services, it said Thursday.

Laurie Ehrbar, formerly of Bizagi, joins the company as chief marketing officer, while Goutam Nadella, formerly of Symphony, joins as chief product officer. Prior to Bizagi, Ehrbar worked at firms including Citigroup and TD Waterhouse. Before joining Symphony, Nadella worked at companies including Goldman Sachs.

Since 2017, Smarsh has increased annual revenues by 138%, and has grown its overall employees by 22%, it says.

Smarsh now manages billions of messages every month across email, social media, mobile/text messaging, instant messaging and collaboration, web and voice channels, it says, adding it has over 6,500 customers globally and provides solutions and services for nine of the top 10 banks. Other customers include broker-dealers and RIAs, according to Smarsh.

The additions of the new Smarsh executives follows two major acquisitions in 2020. In November, Smarsh announced the acquisition of AI company Digital Reasoning. In May, Smarsh announced the acquisition of Entreda, a provider of cybersecurity software, systems and training to the wealth management industry.

YCharts Launches New Tool

YCharts launched a new Custom Securities tool that pulls in data on any number of investments that aren’t available on typical financial data platforms, the financial data and fintech firm said.

The new tool enables users to upload their own data into YCharts; access performance, risk, and other metrics calculated off that data; and create holdings to use within the company’s Model Portfolios, it said.

Custom Securities allow users to add their portfolios’ past returns to the platform; model cash positions within portfolios; and create proxies for securities not available on YCharts, including individual bonds, annuities or private placements, it said.


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