iCapital Network has announced a new strategic partnership with UBS Financial Services that will increase iCapital's access to offer more alternative investment vehciles to its clients..
UBS will become an investor in iCapital, the companies announced on Tuesday, and UBS advisors will be able to access iCapital’s alternative investments technology platform.
“UBS has $10 billion to $15 billion in alternatives that their clients have invested in," says Lawrence Calcano, CEO of New York City-based iCapital. "Moving forward, iCapital will be reporting on and managing all of that. Banks are looking to scale their infrastructure, and many banks have low penetration rates of advisors when it comes to alts. This partnership helps UBS accomplish both.”
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Calcano says that iCapital will continue to serve and to focus on the independent channel, even as it turns to serve some of the world’s largest banks and wealth managers.
“For us, the experience is the same whether they’re a wirehouse or an RIA,” says Calcano. “What’s really interesting is that UBS has relationships with some of the largest general partners in the world, and because of this new partnership we’ll be working more closely with many of these GPs and will be able to make them available to the independent channel.”
iCapital will use the infusion of capital from UBS to further develop its platform and to make its capabilities available to more advisors.
UBS will use iCapital’s proprietary technology to automate its alternative investment offerings within its wealth management business.
“Every day, platforms like Google get smarter and smarter about how they provide services because of the amount of traffic that goes through them,” says Calcaono. “Having relationships like UBS will make iCapital smarter and more scaled.”
Last month, iCapital announced an expanded relationship with Boston-based Fidelity Clearing and Custody Solutions to offer iCapital’s alternatives capabilities to advisors using Fidelity’s platform.