Morningstar Launches Analytics Lab: Tech Roundup

Morningstar launched Analytics Lab, a new capability for analysts and data scientists in its investment analysis platform, Morningstar Direct.

The news follows Morningstar’s launch of interactive research functionality last year.

Analytics Lab allows users to investigate Morningstar data and research more deeply to discover new opportunities for investing success, the company said Tuesday.

Analytics Lab provides users with access to the development platform behind the prebuilt Morningstar research and data sets, enabling them to create custom notebooks in a hosted environment, combining Morningstar data with Python programming language, the company said.

Advisor Upbeat About New Raymond James Tech

Margaret Folk, an advisor with Raymond James Financial, gave a thumbs up to the $500 million investment that Paul Reilly, the firm’s CEO, said the company is investing in technology this year.

“The world is getting smaller almost in that we can have clients all over the place,” said Folk, who has been an advisor with the firm since March 2016 after completing its financial advisor trainee program.

The firm’s mobile app “continues to [get] better from a technology perspective,” she said at last week’s Elevate national conference in Nashville, Tennessee, pointing to the addition of a capability allowing texting through the app as one of the standout features added in the past couple of years.

“I know a lot of clients want to text me and from a regulatory standpoint we can’t do that. so it’s nice that” Raymond James tries to “stay up as much as possible with technology,” she told ThinkAdvisor, calling the mobile app the “biggest piece for me” when it comes to the company’s tech offerings.

Also helpful is the marketing materials that the firm provides via LinkedIn, she added.

RIA in a Box Partners With InvestorCOM on Rollover Tools

RIA in a Box on Wednesday announced a partnership with InvestorCOM, a provider of regulatory compliance software for the financial services industry.

The new offering will make it easier for advisors and advisory firms to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Labor PTE 2020-02 rollover requirements that are scheduled to go into effect July 1, RIA in a Box said.

With the partnership, independent advisory firms and registered investment advisors will have access to InvestorCOM’s RolloverAnalyzer technology.

RolloverAnalyzer, RIA in a Box said, was specifically developed to support financial professionals when making best interest rollover recommendations by:

• Comparing the rollover environment against current levels of service, client fit and costs.
• Integrating plan and industry average data, saving the advisor time in searching for data using third-party websites.
• Electronically document and disclose best interest recommendations directly to clients.
• Providing native recordkeeping and oversight functionality needed for compliance teams.

ICapital to Buy Simon Markets

ICapital entered into a definitive agreement under which it will acquire fintech firm Simon Markets.

The merger stands to significantly “enhance the alternative investing experience for advisors and their clients,” the companies said in a joint announcement Wednesday.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022 after necessary regulatory approvals have been granted, they said. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Morgan Stanley and UBS Investment Bank are serving as financial advisors to iCapital, while Goldman Sachs is serving as the exclusive financial advisor to Simon.

The Simon technology platform facilitates structured investments and annuity products with more than $48 billion of issuances in 2021. “Through deeply embedded technology, Simon delivers integrations across 50 plus product manufacturers and 50 plus wealth managers — including the largest IBDs, bank/regional broker dealers and private banks, and more than 100 RIAs, as well as platform access to more than 100,000 advisors,” the firms said.

As part of the agreement, Jason Broder, Simon CEO, will join iCapital as managing director, head of iCapital Solutions and member of the operating committee. He will oversee the combined platform’s integration, market development and sales of iCapital’s full suite of tech offerings, the firms said.

ICapital will also “extend offers of employment to the nearly 200 Simon team members,” they added.