New York-based Refinitiv announced on Wednesday that it is acquiring strategic assets from Advisor Software Inc. (ASI), which will add several digital functionalities to its wealth management offerings.
The acquisition will bring ASI’s interoperable, cloud-enabled technology to Refinitiv’s Digital Investor wealth management platform.
“The digital capabilities that ASI brings to our existing Refinitiv Digital Investor platform perfectly complement our growing suite of widgets and APIs,” said Joe Mrak, Refinitiv’s head of global wealth management, in released comment. “We remain focused on delivering enhanced digital offerings to the wealth management industry and our clients as the digitalization and personalization of wealth management continues.”
Combined with ASI’s assets, Digital Investor will now include tax-aware rebalancing, Monte Carlo-based progress-to-goal tracking, cash flow and portfolio analyses, investment modeling and proposal generation. ASI also offers APIs that are customizable and can be fully branded to enable firms to construct their own digital advice experiences..
In its announcement, Refinitiv described the acquisition as meeting widespread displeasure with current technology from both consumers and advisors.
The fintech firm cites research showing that Covid-19 has changed the way firms are engaging with clients. In a survey fielded among 1,000 consumers in April 2020, 24% said that they will increase their use of digital channels and 61% said they will use digital and offline channels combined – but 57% of the overall respondents said they were disappointed by the online response of the brands they use and the lack of personalization they were witnessing.
A follow-up study from Refinitiv found that nearly half of advisors, 46%, were unhappy with their firms’ technology offering as well.