Though Schwab has traditionally fulfilled its role as a technology curator by pursuing a limited number of partnerships and integrations with third-party firms, Wilkinson says the company is actively pursuing additional integrations now and opening up its APIs to a larger set of third-party software providers.
“We’ve gone the selective route in the past because we want to make sure we’re carefully vetting these providers,” says Wilkinson. “In areas where we’re pursuing deep integrations, we still want to make sure we’re carefully vetting.”
TD Ameritrade
Jersey City, N.J.-based TD Ameritrade, on the other hand, has built its open-architecture RIA platform on a foundation of collaboration and openness between itself, its affiliated advisors and third-party providers.
“This makes it easy for advisors to see information across multiple pieces of software so they can do their job as efficiently as possible,” says Jon Patullo, the company’s managing director for technology product development. “Advisors want to pick and choose the systems that best meet their needs. Open access has been a huge success for us.”
Originally, “Veo” was TD Ameritrade’s hub technology for independent advisors and the company’s core account management platform, but it’s been supplanted by Veo One, now TD’s primary advisor workstation. Veo One offers advisors the ability to launch applications from multiple software providers on one platform, with a single log-in and user experience.
“It’s really to help them more efficiently manage their clients,” says Patullo. “So they’re out there spending their time developing client relationships or gathering new client relationships. As advisors grow, we grow. It’s a success for both of us.”
Veo One’s ClientCenter, summary page and data views give advisors multiple ways to segment and analyze their books of business. The platform boasts dozens of integrations, including deep dives with Black Diamond, DocuSign, eMoney, Envestnet/Finance Logix, iRebal, Junxure, Laser App Anywhere, Laserfiche, MoneyGuidePro, Morningstar, Orion, Redtail and Salesforce. In addition, more than 100 integrations are available through Veo Open Access.
The iRebal rebalancing system offers automated rebalancing—including tax-loss harvesting—at no cost within TD Ameritrade accounts and on a fee-for-service basis within multi-custodian accounts. TD Ameritrade’s AdvisorClient.com portal allows advisors’ clients to view balances, positions and transactions on a secure, personalized website.
Moving forward, Patullo says the company will launch new advancements around data analytics and AI, leveraging its purchase of FA Insight to give advisors real-time business intelligence on the Veo One platform.