Orion

Feb 23, 2023

What You Need to Know Orion Advisor Academy is a new, on-demand learning platform designed to help advisors improve and grow their businesses while earning continuing education credits. The Fidelity Alliance Network added Zogo, a tech company whose platform works with financial institutions to promote financial education and well-being via short-form content. Dynasty Financial Partners selected BridgeFT’s WealthTech application programming interface to power its integrated wealth technology offerings. Orion Advisor Solutions introduced  Orion Advisor Academy , a new, on-demand learning platform that it said Wednesday provides practical, actionable education for advisors to improve and grow their businesses while earning continuing education credits. Orion Advisor Academy provides a mix of free CE-approved courses and practical training for running a successful fiduciary advisory firm taught by Orion’s experts, the firm said. Advisors can access a wide variety of courses related to leadership, marketing, financial planning, behavioral finance, investing, operational processes and more, Orion said. Including the recent additions of Redtail and TownSquare, the combined Orion platform serviced $3.7 trillion in assets under administration and $60 billion of wealth management platform assets as of Dec. 31, according to Orion. Orion supports more than 5 million technology accounts and thousands of independent advisory firms, it added. Zogo Joins Fidelity Alliance Network The Fidelity Alliance Network welcomed  Zogo , a technology company whose platform works with financial institutions to promote financial education and well-being via short-form content. Fidelity Institutional clients will now have discounted access to Zogo’s modules, which the companies said in a joint announcement Wednesday “make it easier to engage with young investors on topics most relevant to their life stage and to help educate the next generation of investors.” Through the Fidelity Alliance Network, Fidelity Institutional clients will be able to work directly with Zogo to “bridge the financial education gap by providing their clients with educational materials to better understand their investments,” the companies added. Dynasty Teams With BridgeFT Dynasty Financial Partners selected BridgeFT’s WealthTech application programming interface to power Dynasty’s integrated wealth technology offerings across the Dynasty Network, the firms said Wednesday in a joint announcement. BridgeFT is a cloud-native, API-first wealth infrastructure software company that enables financial institutions, fintech firms and registered investment advisors to deliver data-driven outcomes for their clients, according to the companies. As part of the pact, “BridgeFT will be responsible for custodial data aggregation to fuel the technology of all Dynasty’s integrated partners,” the companies said. In conjunction with the new partnership, Dynasty and select Dynasty affiliates will make a strategic minority investment in BridgeFT. Dynasty did not disclose how much of a stake it acquired or how much it paid. As part of Dynasty’s investment, Frank Coates, Dynasty’s chief technology officer, will be joining BridgeFT’s board. Coates previously served as co-president of data and analytics for Envestnet. Prior to Envestnet, Coates co-founded and was CEO of Wheelhouse Analytics, a firm acquired by Envestnet in 2016. AssetMark Tallies Q4 Growth More than 17,900 new households and 143 new producing advisors joined the AssetMark platform during the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, the company said Wednesday . In total, at the end of 2022, the AssetMark platform hosted more than 9,200 advisors (about 2,900 of which were engaged advisors) and more than 241,000 investor households, it said. The firm “realized a 14.1% annualized production lift from existing advisors for the fourth quarter, indicating that advisors continued to grow organically and increase wallet share on our platform,” it said. Platform assets decreased 2.2% year-over-year to $91.5 billion. But quarter-over-quarter platform assets grew 15.2%, factoring in $6.9 billion from the acquisition of Adhesion Wealth, market impact net of fees of $4.3 billion and quarterly net flows of $908 million, the company said. The Latest “AssetMark continued its evolution from a TAMP to a holistic, full-service wealth management platform oriented around what advisors need to deliver resilient investor outcomes while successfully growing their practices,” Natalie Wolfsen, AssetMark CEO, said in a statement. “In 2022, we served more advisors and investors than ever before, supporting over 9,200 advisors who used our platform to help more than 241,000 investor households,” she added. AssetMark had $91.5 billion in platform assets as of Dec. 31, 2022, it said. FNZ Completes YieldX Acquisition Global wealth management platform FNZ said Wednesday that it completed its acquisition of YieldX , a U.S.-based provider of fixed-income portfolio management technology and optimization services for the wealth management industry. The purchase stands to “accelerate the personalization of wealth management solutions across the U.S. market,” the companies said in a joint statement  last month announcing the deal. The acquisition will combine the full-service end-to-end platform of FNZ with YieldX’s digital infrastructure and technology solutions, providing financial institutieions, advisors and their clients with personalized fixed-income solutions, they said. Those capabilities will be integrated into FNZ’s wealth platform. As a result of the acquisition, Adam Green, co-founder and CEO of YieldX, joined FNZ as CEO of asset management, North America, while Steve Gross joined as head of asset management strategy for North America. “Together with the senior leadership team, they will support the expansion of asset management products, solutions and technology across North America,” FNZ said. Kingswood Adds New Florida Team Kingswood U.S., a network of independent wealth management firms that oversees more than $3 billion in client assets, said Wednesday that, last year, its automated alternative investment platform surpassed subscriptions representing $129 million combined in three years. The company also welcomed Brian Herman and his team , including four wealth managers, to its new corporate office in Boca Raton, Florida. The advisor team joined Kingswood from ViewTrade Securities, a provider of brokerage and trading platform services. “Our new corporate office in Florida marks an important milestone in Kingswood’s growth and demonstrates our commitment to expanding our wealth management proposition in multiple states,” Michael Nessim, CEO, president and managing partner of Kingswood U.S., said in a statement. “Our ability to give advisors integrated access to a wide range of financial and investment products at the corporate level will provide them with another edge in wealth management, as they grow their books of business,” he added. Advisors at Kingswood have cited access to a wide variety of solutions as a major strength, the firm said. According to Kingswood, its network includes an SEC-registered RIA and two Financial Industry Regulatory Authority-licensed broker-dealers and has more than 200 advisors across the U.S. (Image: Shutterstock)