BNY Mellon to Use Xceptor Tax Platform: Tech Roundup

What You Need to Know

ICapital completed its acquisition of fintech firm Simon Markets.
More than 4,500 new households and 193 new producing advisors joined the AssetMark platform in Q2.
Envestnet is launching a marketing campaign with a Nickelodeon cartoon.

BNY Mellon entered into a multi-year licensing pact to implement the Xceptor tax platform.

The “phased implementation” of Xceptor’s end-to-end tax platform will help to reduce tax risk for clients by offering “transparency and efficiency in an ever-evolving tax regulatory landscape,” BNY Mellon said Tuesday.

The move comes as BNY Mellon continues to enhance the delivery of its overall tax service offering by adopting “best-in-class” technology, it noted.

The Xceptor solution provides digital process automation for tax documentation management and pre-population, identification of tax relief opportunities and enhanced submission and tracking of withholding tax reclaims, BNY Mellon pointed out.

The deal marks the “latest milestone in BNY Mellon’s ongoing digital transformation to streamline key areas of custody tax operation,” the firm added.

BNY Mellon had $43 trillion in assets under custody/administration and $1.9 trillion in assets under management as of June 30, it said.

ICapital Finalizes Simon Markets Purchase

ICapital said Tuesday it completed its acquisition of fintech firm Simon Markets.

In May, iCapital announced it had entered into a definitive agreement under which it would buy Simon Markets.

The transaction “meaningfully broadens iCapital’s investment menu, technical capabilities, education offerings and support services for advisors and their clients,” it said.

With the acquisition, iCapital will create a “single source” of alternative investment strategies from almost 300 asset managers and product manufacturers, adding Simon’s structured investments, annuities, digital assets and risk-managed product offerings to iCapital’s menu of private offerings that includes equity, hedge funds and other alternative strategies, it said.

Jason Broder, Simon’s former CEO, has joined iCapital as managing director and head of iCapital Solutions. In the role, Jason will head market development and sales for iCapital’s tech offerings, it said.

Almost 200 Simon team members, meanwhile, have joined iCapital to “ensure the continuity of quality support for clients,” it added.

AssetMark Advisor Count Grows

More than 4,500 new households and 193 new producing advisors joined the AssetMark platform in the second quarter ended June 30, it said Wednesday.

There were 8,688 advisors (up from 8,496 a year ago) and 220,172 investor households (up from 196,474) on the AssetMark platform at the end of Q2, it said.

Meanwhile, there was a 17.4% annualized production lift from existing advisors in Q2, “indicating that advisors continued to grow organically and increase wallet share on our platform,” it said.

Total revenue grew to $151 million from $128 million, while profit increased to $25.3 million from $10 million. But platform assets decreased 2.9% to $82.1 billion, it said.

“Our financial results in the second quarter reflect AssetMark’s evolution from a traditional TAMP to a full-service wealth management platform,” CEO Natalie Wolfsen said in a statement.

Envestnet Teams With Nickelodeon on ‘SpongeBob’ Campaign

As part of its latest omnichannel brand campaign, Envestnet said Monday it’s partnering with Nickelodeon to take a closer look at “SpongeBob SquarePants” character Mr. Krabs’ imagined finances.

The new digital interactive campaign features clips of the character’s experiences as a small-business owner.

The campaign, developed with Boston-based agency HeyLet’sGo, invites advisors to explore Mr. Krabs’ imagined finances via Envestnet’s next-generation Client Portal. The campaign leverages an interactive digital experience where advisors can engage with five scenarios inspired by the “SpongeBob” animated TV series, Envestnet said.

Envestnet and HeyLet’sGo collaborated with Nickelodeon, Paramount Consumer Products and Paramount’s licensing agent, Born Licensing, to help imagine the value of Mr. Krabs’ assets, net worth and business profitability, and place dollar amounts on what he’s spent money on throughout the series, the companies said in a joint announcement.