If you read last month’s column, you’ll know we ended with the notion that wealth management would continue to see large numbers of technology headlines and that proved to be the case. This month, there were so many intriguing headlines it was hard to pick just five to cover. But we persevered and here are our takes on five wealthtech headlines for August:
Altruist’s new subscription-based custody model for RIAs, known as Altruist One, is the next step in its efforts to build a modern tech-forward custodial platform. They have steadily become a force in the advisory custody space. And, unlike some of their modern custodial peers, they’re plowing into complicated account types and functionalities. With this Altruist One model, they are saying “we can do it better and cheaper,” which will drive firms to add Altruist as an additional custodian. That said, it remains incredibly difficult for any new (or legacy) custodian to motivate advisors to switch client accounts to their platform, and it will hinder any geometric growth for Altruist. Still in our future (and we don’t see it on the immediate horizon), the long-term promise of custodian tech will be when advisors start to convert/re-paper accounts from a legacy custodian. We haven’t seen it yet, but as the most tech-forward of their peers, Altruist could crack this nut first.
In an era where advisory firms need growth vectors for their businesses—especially those that have grown through aggregation and their AUM growth is not necessarily organic—FINNY provides an easy-to-navigate campaign-focused prospect curation tool. We are surprised there are not more technologies in the market that focus on organic growth and client acquisition campaigns. FINNY’s tech helps advisors build and reach out to specific cohorts of prospects, giving them the prospects and allowing them to build channels to change messaging, tone, and cadence. Several of F2’s clients have seen this work very well. One of the missing components from FINNY and their peers is the conduit between original (firm-built) content and the mountains of content made available for advisors through their asset management partners. In an era where ‘content is king,’ connecting them with additional sources will be critical.
More of today’s investors are creating wealth or own complex business entities that are traditionally left out of overall planning and visibility in reporting. RISR helps firms support modern wealth creators by including business assets as part of the overall planning and oversight of the wealth of their clients. It’s uniquely positioned to help quantify and bring historically opaque business assets into the portfolio, as well as help business owners navigate the complexities of handling multiple businesses. We’re not surprised that Modern Wealth is using RISR, and we’re excited to see them continue to focus on a specific cohort of wealthy individuals. More firms should consider doing the same.
It’s no surprise to F2 Strategy that increased advisor usage of technology translates into faster growth, but it’s gratifying to see the data prove it out. Advisors that use their technology are more efficient and have less viscosity in their processes. We don’t see this trend plateauing in our lifetime. Orion’s challenge, however, will be to figure out how they continue to provide white glove and personal service to advisors as their technology and integrations become much more of the focus. They must balance technology integration and DIY versus support and guidance, and configuration of the technologies for smaller advisory firms.
SEI, a comprehensive software and advisor servicing platform, taking ownership of a complex super OSJ was not on our Bingo card for 2025. It’s a bold step for a firm largely regarded for its TAMP, trust accounting platform and institutional asset servicing record keeper to acquire an RIA. The news is also a bit jarring because SEI just sold its family office services to Aquiline in February, only to turn around and acquire a super OSJ. We don’t know its intentions, but we expect this to be a foothold into the RIA advisory and custody business to start servicing the RIA and broker/dealer assets of Stratos. Undoubtedly, they will encounter some unique cultural differences that we are certain the teams can overcome, but the challenges will differ from what we’ve seen with other aggregations and acquisitions.
Enjoy the remaining days of summer weather. We’ll return in a month to give our update on all the “back to work” news that comes out in September.
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