Wealth Solutions Report: Future Proof Features Enhancements From Orion, Envestnet, Broadridge And More
Susan Theder On Advisor Marketing Priorities, Richard Lofgren On The Evolution Of Independence, Katie Bruner On Wealth Management M&A Appetite, VanEck’s Carbon Mitigation Forestry Initiative, VettaFi Acquires EQM Indexes, Plus Product Launches And Enhancements From Orion, Envestnet, Broadridge And VRGL
By Chris Latham, WealthSolutionsReport.com - Day 2 of the Future Proof Festival in Huntington Beach, California, featured panels on marketing, custody and M&A best practices as well as several coinciding product launches and an ESG themed investment concept.
Susan Theder, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer at FMG, spoke on the “Advisor Marketing in Real Life” panel. She prioritized having a great website, followed by direct client communications, email and social media with an eye toward the platforms that also appeal to an advisor’s ideal clients. Developing compelling webinars and podcasts might come later, she suggested.
Richard Lofgren, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, spoke on the “Transforming Custody” panel. He recalled how, prior to the rise of the independent channel, wirehouses had the ability to tell the industry the type of clients to work with, how much those clients needed to have in assets and the kinds of solutions they needed to use, even though advisors had clients who did not fit that profile. The difference now, he emphasized, was advisor choice along all those factors, as well as how those advisors want to be paid.
Katie Bruner, President of SkyView Partners, spoke on the “Avoid These 5 M&A Mistakes” panel. She said one of the biggest misconceptions in the market is that financing for mergers and acquisitions will slow down due to higher interest rates. Bruner said SkyView has seen the opposite this year, with nearly $1 billion in financing requests from firms and deal multiples remaining strong for the foreseeable future, with the caveat that deal structuring might have to become more creative.
Envestnet
On Monday, Envestnet Co-Founder and CEO Bill Crager spoke onstage at Future Proof. The same day, his company revealed enhancements to its platform across functions including proposals, trading, the client portal, user experience and its Insights Engine.
Trade simulations now aim to give advisors greater visibility into possible outcomes and enable better trading decisions. The Insights Engine now provides more than 100 types of data-driven insights for advisors that are curated daily, from patterns in account activity and cash flows to tax-loss harvesting and identifying whether a client has underperforming products.
“Through the continual enhancements to our integrated Envestnet ecosystem, advisors can improve their productivity, unlock new revenue streams and be able to deliver more personalized investment solutions at scale, all while elevating the client experience for better outcomes,” said Tom Sipp, Executive Vice President, Business Lines at Envestnet.
VRGL & VettaFi
Also on Monday, the automated data extraction and institutional-grade analytics provider VRGL announced the upcoming launch of client transition and proposal management features; while the indexing, data analytics and digital distribution company for asset managers VettaFi announced the acquisition of EQM Indexes, a provider of custom thematic index solutions to the ETF industry. VRGL and VettaFi both are Future Proof sponsors.
VRGL’s new proposal management features include configurable account creation, tailored content management as well as proposal generation in formats such as PDF and PowerPoint. EQM Indexes provides targeted exposure to thematic investments including online retail, rare earths and critical materials, blockchain technology and the global music industry. VettaFi’s acquisition of EQM Indexes follows its April acquisition of the ROBO Global Index suite, which focus on robotics, artificial intelligence and healthcare technology companies.
VanEck
The ETF and mutual fund manager VanEck closed out the second day of Future Proof with an ESG-themed video documentary about the Pacific Forest Trust – which financial advisors and their clients cannot yet invest in but can support via donor advised funds (DAFs). The concept taps into values that many millennial clients may share, namely how to align their portfolios with companies that are actively seeking to mitigate their carbon footprints.
“Beyond the Trees” spotlighted the work of Laurie Wayburn, President and Co-Founder of the Pacific Forest Trust, and the love that private equity investor Fred van Eck had for trees – love sufficient to inspire the cultivation of the van Eck Forests in California. The Pacific Forest Trust investment thesis involves carbon emitting companies offsetting those emissions by preserving forestland with limited tree cutting, while generating revenue on forestry assets that are both held and sold.
Wealth management professionals interested in learning more about VanEck’s Pacific Forest Trust can visit https://www.pacificforest.org/support-pft/donor-advised-fund/.
Orion
Onstage at Future Proof during Day 3 of the conference, Orion Advisor Solutions showcased its new Portfolio Comparison tool, which leverages artificial intelligence and behavioral finance to make presentation-ready portfolio scenarios ready in minutes.
It features portfolio scenario visualizations intended to help advisors better demonstrate the potential effects of decisions including risk factors, tax implications and allocation changes; a centralized workflow where multiple tasks can be managed in a unified platform; as well as AI-driven client engagement narratives that can be personalized to align with varying investor knowledge levels and behavioral characteristics.
“This is a true alignment of an advisor’s workflow with all of the technology in Orion’s wheelhouse,” said Orion Founder and CEO Eric Clarke. “I couldn’t be prouder to announce the Portfolio Comparison tool at Future Proof, where the best minds in the business are gathered to build the future of wealth management.”
Broadridge
Also on Tuesday, Future Proof sponsor Broadridge Financial Solutions announced a collaboration with Salesforce that will enable Broadridge’s books and records data consolidation, securities lending and AdvisorStream financial advisor marketing systems to be available to Salesforce Financial Services Cloud (FSC) customers, with the goal of helping wealth management customers streamline workflows and enhance advisor productivity.
The securities lending and AdvisorStream solutions will be released on the Salesforce AppExchange in the fourth quarter.
Broadridge’s books and records and CRM data consolidation is designed for real-time, bi-directional data integration between the Broadridge and Salesforce platforms. The securities-based lending (SBL) application allows advisors to offer SBL, target prospects, and originate and monitor for SBL loans. AdvisorStream aims to help advisors see client engagement with AdvisorStream content and share personalized communications with clients through their preferred channels.
“We are bringing a new synergy to wealth management firms, where our solutions will offer a seamless integration between two key platforms and ultimately result in enhanced advisor productivity,” said Mike Alexander, President of Wealth Management at Broadridge. “At a time when the wealth management industry is focused on accelerating their digital transformation efforts, we are proud to expand our work with Salesforce to drive that growth.”
Chris Latham, Managing Editor at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at clatham@wealthsolutionsreport.com
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