Dynasty Financial Partners has partnered with fintech firm Pontera (formerly FeeX) to enable RIAs in Dynasty's network to fully manage 401(k), 403(b) and other held-away accounts for their clients in a secure and compliant way that leverages Pontera's SOC 2 certified platform, the companies said in a joint announcement Wednesday.
Since 2010, when Dynasty was founded, assets in employer-sponsored retirement accounts have more than doubled from $4.9 trillion to over $11 trillion as of Dec. 31, 2021, the firms said.
In addition to market appreciation, that growth can be chalked up to declines in rollovers because of retiree-friendly plan policies and better in-plan investment options, they noted.
Pointing to the findings of a recent Cerulli report, Dynasty and Pontera said that, of the $3.3 trillion eligible for a distribution last year, 73% remained in-plan. Bipartisan support of accommodative legislation in the Secure Act 2.0 and the re-enactment of the DOL Fiduciary rule suggest the trend of employer-sponsored plan growth will only continue, according to Dynasty and Pontera.
Therefore, the need for investment advice in these accounts has grown, they said, noting a recent J.P. Morgan survey found 62% of plan participants wished they could completely hand over retirement planning to an expert.
Traditionally, however, financial advisors have struggled to help clients with these accounts because they are typically held off wealth management advisory platforms, Dynasty and Pontera said.
Pontera's technology "addresses this gap by allowing advisors to trade held away accounts for their clients," the companies said, explaining: "Pontera's data integrations into portfolio accounting systems means that wealth managers can also run performance reporting, portfolio analytics, and trade surveillance, enabling advisors to provide clients with the same level of service on held away accounts as custodied accounts."
The advantage for advisors is they can increase their revenue while providing a comprehensive financial picture via the addition of retirement plan accounts, the companies added.
Dynasty will handle the operational elements of Pontera's services for advisory firms within its network, including billing and performance reporting integration, "allowing them to focus on delivering best-in-class client services," the companies said.
Orion and Apex Team Up on Account-Opening Tool
Orion Advisor Solutions teamed with Apex Fintech Solutions subsidiary Apex Advisor Solutions to provide a fully digital account opening solution for independent advisors and their clients, the firms said Tuesday.
Using Apex's digital application programming interface suite, Orion's new Automated Account Solution "helps to transform account opening and ongoing client relationship management so advisors have the speed, efficiency, and flexibility they need for accelerating new business growth," the companies said in a joint announcement.
"The traditional, paper-based onboarding process is time-consuming and cumbersome, making it challenging for independent advisors to compete with larger institutions that can handle small accounts at scale," Eric Clarke, founder and CEO of Orion Advisor Solutions, pointed out in the announcement.
"With our Apex integration and Automated Account workflow, advisors are now equipped with the resources to better service investors with smaller accounts and simple financial planning needs," he said.
Integrated with Apex's digital-first custody platform, Orion's Automated Account Solution provides advisors and their clients with access to a simple but "sophisticated, financial planning tool and the ability to efficiently open and fund accounts with Apex directly from Orion's white-label client portal," the companies said.
Advisors just have to send a link to the client or prospective client and, in less than five minutes, they're guided through a fully digital onboarding and financial planning workflow, the firms noted.
A self-guided client or prospect can complete the onboarding steps on their own, or the advisor can handle the initial data entry and pass along the financial plan to their client for final sign-off, the firms explained.
The Orion-Apex integration also "streamlines document management, making it easier for advisors and their clients to share, sign, and store important paperwork," they added.
WealthTech Integration Score Debuts
Ezra Group introduced a new research metric on Tuesday called The Ezra Group WealthTech Integration Score.
