EP Wealth Advisors
EP Wealth Advisors, an independent registered investment adviser that specializes in client-centric financial planning and investment management services, has acquired International Research & Asset Management. The acquisition establishes EP Wealth’s presence in Texas and enhances its investment management and strategic wealth planning expertise.

 

 

Grab
Grab has announced that is has acquired Bento, a Singapore-based robo-advisory start-up, that will allow Grab to offer retail wealth management solutions to users, driver-partners and merchant-partners, via the Grab app. Grab Financial Group currently offers financial services across Southeast Asia in payments (GrabPay), rewards (GrabRewards), lending (GrabFinance), and insurance (GrabInsure) to micro-entrepreneurs, small business owners, driver-partners and users across Southeast Asia.

With the acquisition, Bento will be rebranded as GrabInvest with products launched on the Grab app in the first half of the year in Singapore. GrabInvest will be a new core business vertical under Grab’s financial services arm, Grab Financial Group, led by Chandrima Das, Founder and CEO, Bento.

 

AdvisorEngine
New York-based ETF provider WisdomTree Investments has unveiled plans to offload its $58m stake in wealth management technology platform AdvisorEngine.  Notably, last month, WisdomTree made a strategic investment in Securrency, a blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology developer.

 

 

 

Zoe Financial
Zoe Financial, Inc., a technology-driven marketplace that empowers individual investors to make better financial decisions, announced Marie Chandoha, former CEO of Charles Schwab Investment Management, has joined their Advisory Committee.

 

 

 

 

Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab’s updated digital financial planning tools place the firm’s user experience “on par” with leading independent automated advice platforms or so-called roboadvisors Wealthfront and Personal Capital, according to “The Robo Report,” released by Backend Benchmarking.

 

OneDigital
OneDigital, an employee benefits broker for small to midsize employers, announced plans to acquire Resources Investment Advisors, an Overland Park, Kan.-based registered investment advisory and office of supervisory jurisdiction with Triad Advisors. The firm manages $45 billion and works primarily with employer-sponsored retirement plans.

 

 

Riskalyze
Financial professionals at Farm Bureau Financial Services will have access to Riskalyze’s risk assessment features in May, as the wealthtech company continues to use the SEC’s “best interest” standard to sign firms up for its service. The deal will give approximately 1,000 more individuals at the firm, which offers life insurance, annuities and investment products, access to Riskalyze, according to an announcement.

Vasyl Soloshchuk is CEO and co-owner at INSART, a FinTech engineering company. Vasyl is also the author of WealthTech Club, which conducts research into fortune and startup roboadvisor and wealth management companies in terms of the technology ecosystem.