Displaying items by tag: wealth tech

Apex Fintech Solutions has introduced a new Direct Indexing platform designed to help advisors and fintechs create tailored, tax-smart portfolios for their clients. The solution enables investors to directly hold the individual stocks within an index, allowing for fine-tuned adjustments based on personal goals or values like ESG preferences. 

With a minimum investment of $10,000, it opens access to advanced portfolio customization for a broader range of users. The platform offers built-in benchmarks for large, mid, and small-cap equities, and incorporates automated tax-loss harvesting to improve efficiency and returns. 

Seamlessly integrated into Apex’s Augmented Advice™ suite, it simplifies portfolio management while supporting deep personalization. Future upgrades will further enhance customization, including user-defined indices and more precise portfolio adjustments.

Finsum: ESG is a great spot for custom indexing because it is ripe for picking companies that align with investor value. 

Broadridge’s Fi360 has rolled out a new tool designed to help plan advisers and sponsors evaluate retirement income and stable value products with a more tailored, due-diligence-focused approach. The Retirement Product Evaluator, powered by CANNEX data, enables users to customize assessments across 60 criteria, allowing them to prioritize features based on the needs of a specific plan or participant base. 

With interest in retirement income rising—90% of large institutional clients now rank it as a top plan design priority—the tool aims to meet growing demand for clarity and transparency in annuity evaluation. 

Unlike mutual fund scoring tools, this evaluator avoids rigid scoring and instead invites a deeper, more nuanced analysis given the complexity of the products involved. While adoption of in-plan annuities remains low due to fiduciary and recordkeeping hurdles, Broadridge hopes its tool can demystify options and boost comfort levels among plan sponsors. 

Finsum: Already in use by major firms, the evaluator reflects an industry shift toward equipping retirement plans with tools for both income generation and long-term stability.

Corporate Insight (CI) has released its latest Asset Management Monitor – Advisor report, analyzing portfolio construction tools from top asset management firms. The report highlights BlackRock and J.P. Morgan as industry leaders, with both earning Excellent ratings for their comprehensive and user-friendly portfolio analysis tools. 

Key features that set these tools apart include flexible input options, advanced data visualizations, and the ability to customize client reports. J.P. Morgan stands out for allowing advisors to integrate investment objectives, a capability the report suggests other firms should adopt. 

Data visualization remains a crucial factor, with 81% of surveyed advisors emphasizing its importance, and firms like Franklin Templeton and Vanguard excelling in this area. Firms can enhance their tools by improving visualization features, integrating investment objectives, and offering more customization for client-facing reports.

Finsum: Visualization is a great way to demonstrate to clients and help them understand the intricacies and information you are presenting. 

Financial advisors are rapidly integrating generative AI into their workflows, with 76% reporting immediate benefits, particularly in efficiency and client engagement. Concerns about AI replacing human advisors have diminished, with only 8% viewing it as a threat, down from 21% a year ago. 

While firms are increasingly formalizing AI policies—jumping to 82% from 47% in 2024—advisors remain selective in their use, favoring AI for analytics and marketing rather than personalized financial planning. 

Many see technology as a competitive advantage, with 57% acquiring clients from competitors with outdated systems. However, despite AI’s rapid adoption, 65% of advisors believe their tech stacks still need improvement. 

Finsum: As AI-driven tools continue to reshape wealth management, firms that strategically implement these advancements stand to gain the most.

Commonwealth Financial Network is enhancing its advisor platform with new tax-focused tools to improve efficiency and meet clients' evolving needs. This suite includes advanced planning solutions such as direct indexing, portfolio tax optimization, and unified managed accounts, providing advisors with tailored options for optimizing client portfolios. 

In 2025, advisors will also have access to a managed CTO service to streamline technology management, allowing them to focus more on client relations. Additionally, tools like the tax transition feature and automated tax-loss harvesting will support tax-efficient investing for clients. 

These upgrades are positioned to enable advisors to scale their businesses and better serve clients, particularly those with sophisticated financial needs.

Finsum: These types of innovations in wealth tech can vastly improve advisors options particularly with tax solutions.