A Canadian wealth manager is teaming up with a fintech firm to create an engine to drive RIA roll-up acquisitions.
CI Financial, an independent hybrid wealth manager holding approximately $189 billion in assets, and d1g1t, a Canadian fintech whose technology offers analytics and risk management tools to North American wealth managers, announced a deepening of their strategic partnership today.
“Our existing relationship was premised on the existing business that we have in Canada,” said Darie Urbanky, president and COO of CI Financial. “We are now at an inflection point that requires an acceleration of our relationship with d1g1t, primarily because of our extension into the U.S. We’re seeing a lot of demand and interest from the companies we’re acquiring in the RIA space for the platforms and technology that d1g1t provides.”
Currently, Assante Wealth Management, a CI Financial RIA subsidiary with $46 billion in client assets and 900 advisors, can access a d1g1t trading module customized for its advisors. Moving forward, CI Financial will make d1g1t’s technology, including its broader wealth management platform, available to advisors and clients of its broker-dealer, CI Investment Services.
For d1g1t, the partnership gives it an opportunity to work more directly with the advisors using its tools, said founder and CEO Dan Rosen.
“We’ve thought about how pieces of technology could help bring advisors business and bring the relationships between the advisor and client to the front of the discussion,” said Rosen. “Having the opportunity to work with CI is really testing this technology and allowing us to see how technology is making an impact on the growth of their advisor base and their organization. It’s really exciting.”
CI, which took a minority stake in d1g1t last year, has acquired several U.S.-based RIAs over the past 12 months, with a total of $11 billion in assets. These RIAs will also be able to access d1g1t’s platforms.
The hope is that the new expanded partnership with d1g1t will enable more seamless mergers and acquisitions, allowing CI to accelerate its RIA roll-up business.
“We’re already seeing an acceleration in demand from advisors around building the client experience and the advisor experience,” said Urbanky. “A lot of firms are struggling with integrations, understanding the landscape and putting together solutions that make sense. This is only going to become more important, pairing up business expertise with technology and operational expertise. Not everyone can tick every box, which means that companies like CI and d1g1t, who have built those platforms together, are an area of focus.
“We hear advisors talk about technology all the time – they’re becoming more informed, and they’re keeping an eye on what’s happening. If you ask most advisors today, they would rank technology as one of the most important parts of their business.”