FutureProof, Tifin, Docupace and Envestnet

Hey advisor fintech guys, where is everyone?

I know it’s the end of July, but my inbox is quiet—too quiet. Don’t you have integrations and acquisitions to announce?

I heard from Riskalyze CEO Aaron Klein this week, who told me about the company’s new leadership team and its strategy to work more with large wealth management firms.

BPAS, a Utica, New York-based fund administrator and provider of retirement and defined benefit plans, updated its financial planning tool. and Oaks, Pennsylvania-based asset manager SEI launched a digital practice management hub for independent advisors. TradeStation, an online securities and futures brokerage, was fined $425,000 for lax identity theft prevention.

Here is the rest of the week’s news from the advisor fintech companies who are not on holiday.

FUTUREPROOF Announces FINTECH DEMO FINALISTS

Advisor Circle, a product and content studio for the financial services industry, and Ritholtz Wealth Management have whittled down more than 100 applicants to a final list of 10 fintech companies that will demonstrate their technology to attendees at the FutureProof event in September. The list includes startups, new products from established firms and some ground-breaking features from widely adopted fintech firms.

If you’ve ever been to a tech demo event — and if you haven’t, definitely check out this parody of TechCrunch’s infamous Disrupt competition — you’ll know that it’s unusual to see brand new startups alongside established ones suppliers. It will be interesting to see what companies like Intelliflo’s RedBlack and WealthAccess have cooked up to take the place of a new startup.

TIFIN LANDES AN AGREEMENT WITH CHALICE NETWORK

Advisory fintech company Tifin announced a new partnership to make its software suite available to the 60,000 financial professionals on the Chalice Network. Advisors will receive preferential rates and the Chalice team will promote Tifin’s investment customization and digital marketing tools on the network market.

This is obviously a big win for the growing advisor fintech provider. Earlier in July, when the company acquired SharingAlpha to expand its presence internationally, I wondered how many customers it would get outside of the acquisitions. While it remains to be seen how many of Chalice’s 60,000 (including CPAs and attorneys as well as financial advisors) will adopt Tifin’s technology, there is still a significant opportunity for exposure.

DOCUPACE PROMOTES INTEGRATION WITH ENVESTNET

Back office automation company Docupace had enhanced its integration with Envestnet to improve the digital account opening process for managed accounts. Advisors can create a proposal in Docupace, move into the Envestnet dashboard via a single login to work on drafts, send a finished proposal with a single click and automatically start the funding process.

It’s a little crazy to think how fragmented much of wealth management still is in 2022. Even tasks as critical to the job as open accounts is paper-based for many advisers or requires manual re-entry of data, opening up opportunities for error. Integrations like this are a step in the right direction, but it’s up to advisors to actually take advantage of them.

[More: 5 wealth management trends to pay close attention to]