Page 26 - Investment Advisor November 2022

for online accounts on their own, “removing the administra- BrightPlan’ financial education is put together by a team
tive burden on financial advisors.” Since the new feature was of CFPs, who are trained in benefit programs. The BrightPlan
launched, the number of AP Client Access users who have Academy includes articles, planning guides and resources for
gone paperless has grown to more than 95%. various life events, such as getting married, having a child,
The firm also upgraded its advisory platform, so its advisors income tax planning, buying a home and estate planning, as
can better build investment models and run proposals using well as issues like inflation and investing during market vola-
one or more third-party managers. According to AP, the firm tility, it says. One of its key clients is Bread Financial, which
has had “a reduction in trading errors and an improvement in has 6,500 employees — many of whom work in call centers;
the timing of model updates and portfolio rebalances, which Bread Financial recently introduced an employee wellness
equates to a reduction in the amount of staffing … and/or time program to help those feeling financial stress and took advan-
needed to handle … requests, for instance.” Plus, due diligence tage of BrightPlan services, like unlimited advisor calls.
conducted on third-party managers has risen, while the firm
has seen a decrease in the number of accounts needed by RIAs Cambridge Investment
for regulatory mailings and by clients. Research, Inc.
“Alternatives models help affiliated investment advisor Cambridge Investment Research says its leaders have
representatives meet the risk objectives of extremely conser- worked to reconstruct its digital technology framework over
vative or aggressive clients in a turnkey fashion; reduce tax the past 18 months. Some of the firm’s key initiatives have
consequences, create custom allocations; and add alpha and been enhancements to CLIC, the firm’s digital workstation,
diversification,” it explained. including a cloud-based experience that features a dash-
board designed around the client and household rather than
Atria Wealth Solutions the account level. It also recently worked with AdvicePay
Since 2017, Atria’s leadership team to allow more “non-traditional forms of payment,” services
has launched two business channels, bundling, the ability to separate financial planning, retire-
grown to over $100 billion in assets under administration, ment and consulting engagements, and to offer subscription
acquired six broker-dealers, hit a milestone of having some services.
450 employees in its home-office locations, developed ties The firm added a new multi-factor authentication process
to 183 financial institutions, and supported its technology to its financial professional portal — which it also redesigned
platform for nearly 2,500 financial professionals. It also says and relaunched a year ago, so its resources could be accessed
that about 100,000 accounts were opened using its Unio New with greater ease and efficiency. Its website, JoinCambridge.
Account Opening platform. com, was relaunched this year.
The firm adds that it has one of the industry’s highest
first-call resolution rates and a large number of on-platform Cetera Financial Group
account openings. Using its Unio new account opening sys- The firm expanded by about $50
tem, advisors can save time and improve efficiencies: broker- billion last year, including some $37
age accounts, for instance, can be opened in as little as five billion via an acquisition of some
minutes and advisory accounts in as few as 10, it says. Plus, the assets from Voya Financial Advisors and $10 billion in recruit-
team has rolled out several credit union and bank affiliation ing; roughly $1.2 billion of these assets are managed by female
approaches, which means banks can keep their own brands financial professionals and female-led teams, it says.
while taking advantage of Atria’s mobile-friendly technology The team also rolled out its Growth360 program in late
platform, for example. 2021, which 1,000-plus advisors — representing about 12.5%
of its advisor force — have participated in. The program gives
BrightPlan advisors an initial assessment, so they can “benchmark them-
BrightPlan says its Total selves against their fastest-growing peers.” It also identifies
Financial Wellness platform several top areas of high impact, “aligns them with a Growth
is certified for fiduciary excellence and integrated with Officer to serve as an accountability partner, creates a step-
employer benefits programs to help workers “achieve finan- by-step roadmap for success, and connects advisors with …
cial success.” This platform includes financial education, tools, technology and subject matter experts,” according to
planning, investing and day-to-day money management the firm.
information. On average in its first year, BrightPlan clients
see about 43% of their employees engage with its informa- ComplySci
tion. Since the launch of its platform, the firm has added Over the past 18 months, the firm
about 100,000 U.S. employees under contract and $3.3 billion built a suite of governance, risk
in assets under advisement (as of April 2022). and compliance (GRC) consulting, technology, managed

24 INVESTMENT ADVISOR NOVEMBER 2022 | ThinkAdvisor.com

IA1122_CoverStory.indd 24 10/17/2022 2:36:56 PM