RALEIGH – AdvisorEngine®, which was acquired by Franklin Resources, Inc. in May 2020 and now operates as a subsidiary, completed a full platform integration with Schwab Advisor Center®, in what company COO Craig Ramsey called a “marquee moment” in an interview with WRAL TechWire.
The integration, announced today, allows financial advisors to automate core business processes, said Ramsey, including digital account opening, proposal generation, performance reporting, trading and rebalancing, fee billing, and more.
The company had previously integrated with TD Ameritrade, Fidelity Investments, and Pershing. Technology built by the company is meant to provide its registered investment advisor (RIA) clients, who pay a subscription fee for access to the technology platform, an end-to-end holistic software product that enables them to operate their entire business, said Ramsey.
The company also provides a client relationship management system, developed in 2000, called Junxure™ CRM.
“Compared to several years ago, we are seeing more firms look at a holistic approach to technology,” said John Tyers, chief growth officer at AdvisorEngine. “It’s often firms who had previously picked many different technologies…and then struggled over time to scale, due to disparate applications and light data integrations.”
Part of the reason this integration marks an important milestone for the company is that, according to Tyers, the majority of firms using the CRM product use Schwab for custody, where financial advisors hold their end-client assets. “Today marks the first time that most of our CRM firms can leverage our broader wealth platform functionality,” said Tyers.
According to a statement, the integration will take advantage of Schwab APIs and SSO functionality, allowing additional automation for RIAs. That includes additional ability for portfolio management, client onboarding, and increased operational clarity.
“Schwab continues to work with fintech providers who can help fulfill our commitment to offer advisors choice for their technology needs,” said Kartik Srinivasan, senior managing director, Digital Advisor Solutions at Charles Schwab, in a statement. “Our deepening relationship with AdvisorEngine is a great example of the type of quality integrations we are focused on with our third-party solutions.”
There’s an increasing trend in the world of financial advising: firms are evaluating their technology and many are making new or increased investments in technology products. A study from Schwab found that in 2020, 71 percent of firms made a new technology investment, and the top-performing firms are making significant investments across multiple digital touchpoints compared to other firms.
