Page 17 - Investment Advisor September 2022

Another well-capitalized Canadian was ultimately acquired by SS&C, the ately turns their eyes south, where they
venture heading south is FutureVault, owners of the popular Black Diamond see a diverse market in which the only
a secure digital vault and document Wealth Platform and Advent Software large, entrenched financial institutions
exchange platform targeting the U.S. wealthtech systems. in the independent space are the big
with its powerful document manage- According to Ireland, Canada is set up custodians. But these custodians, which
ment capabilities, automated workflows to produce lots of great tech talent: “It include TD Ameritrade and its innova-
and collaboration tools. Meanwhile, starts with a diverse talent pool support- tive Veo “app store,” are actually incen-
ReachStack, a Canadian, AI-powered ed by federal policies aimed to attract tivized through competition to provide
email communication, content sharing immigrants with tech skills, and funnels choice and open architecture.
and revenue nurturing platform also them into an excellent post-secondary According to Ireland, “the advisor fin-
recently set its sights on the U.S. finan- education/feeder system. The brightest tech ecosystem in the U.S. is very differ-
cial advisor marketplace. and most creative will find support from ent in that there genuinely is a sense that
Advisor Websites is another Canadian a few dozen incubators here in Toronto the more competition there is, the bet-
fintech success story that ter the products become.
has grown dramatically “We are seeing more and more What’s more, in the U.S.
in the U.S. by focusing on even the fintech competi-
a single core piece of the established and startup technology tors get along, and there’s a
advisor tech stack, web- companies from Canada now sense of community among
sites, by making them flexi- the vendors, which actu-
ble and dynamic — so much entering the U.S. market.” ally seems like it should be
so that Advisor Websites a Canadian thing, right?”
was recently acquired by —Joel Bruckenstein, industry As for Salentica, Ireland
the fast-growing marketing tech guru and producer of the T3 says it realized early on
platform Snappy Kraken. that it couldn’t grow by
technology conferences. staying local and needed
MOVING SOUTH to get a foothold in the U.S.
Canadians making it big in the United and across the country — so there is no independent advisor technology eco-
States is not a new phenomenon, of shortage of supply.” system to get to the next level: “We
course. Just consider this short list of On the other hand, due to Canada’s knew that what we did translated to any
celebrities who have successfully made concentrated financial services indus- wealth advisor, so we started targeting
the leap — actors Pamela Anderson, try — now dominated by a handful of firms in the U.S. We were fortunate to
Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds and doz- Toronto-based megabanks — there’s have found some excellent and support-
ens of others — all the way to famous been limited innovation, which has ive early clients who saw us as partners
musicians such as Justin Bieber, Alanis resulted in technology resources look- rather than vendors, and helped us make
Morissette and The Weeknd. So it ing elsewhere to grow. our products better. Once we committed
should come as no surprise that there “Inevitably, as these Canadian entre- to building for RIAs and family offices,
would be a plethora of fintech talent, preneurs and startup firms start to things changed quickly.”
entrepreneurs and deal-makers who explore the market here at home, they For advisors who start to get calls
originated in Canada and now have quickly discover an oligopolistic finan- from phone numbers with a “416” area
ambitions to expand beyond their local cial system regulated by the federal gov- code, be sure to answer. The person on
markets. ernment and controlled by literally a the line may offer you the very cutting-
To learn more about this emerging handful of massive banks,” Ireland said. edge technology solution you’ve been
trend, I sat down with Dave Ireland, a “These banks are the gatekeepers to the looking for.
longtime senior executive with Salentica, financial products available, and frankly,
a leading Canadian-based CRM platform they have little to no incentive to invest Timothy D. Welsh, CFP, is president, CEO and
used by the U.S. wealth industry’s most in startups who are trying to provide founder of Nexus Strategy, LLC, a consulting
successful RIAs. Salentica launched in innovative products to the marketplace.” firm to the wealth management industry and
the late 1990s, entered the U.S. market As a result, this disenfranchised talent can be reached at [email protected] or
shortly thereafter, found success, and looks elsewhere to flourish and immedi- on Twitter @NexusStrategy.

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