NFP Securities says it will become the first independent broker-dealer to offer hybrid advisors a single platform with complete open architecture, empowering advisors to ally with any major custodian they choose. This month, the New York City-based firm will roll out a platform called NFP IndeSuite. Advisors will use IndeSuite as part of the AdvisorComplete workstation, which is at the heart of NFP's plans to recruit hybrid advisors and registered independent advisors (RIAs).

Schwab Advisor Services is the first major custodian to sign on to the platform, though NFP insists that other custodians will partner with the firm by the end of the year.

NFP Securities, known for its traditional broker-dealer model, hopes the new platform will open the firm up to a broader market. RIAs can use NFP IndeSuite to run their businesses without having to use the NFP Securities corporate RIA. Hybrid advisors, however, will have to go through the corporate broker-dealer for their commission-based business. The platform will provide competition to similar offerings from Pershing and Fidelity.

"This is all about taking what we do well and extending it to a broader segment," says James Poer, president of NFP Securities. "This is a business that will empower us to take a conversation beyond 'join our B-D, join our RIA.' We view this move as one that starts accommodating a different profile of advisor."

NFP Securities is the ninth largest independent broker-dealer by revenues, having brought in $397.3 million in 2008, according to the Financial Planning's 2009 Independent Broker-Dealer Survey. The firm, which has 1,766 affiliated advisors, hopes to recruit unaffiliated RIAs and hybrids with at least $100 million in assets under management with the new platform.

Not only will the new platform help ensure a more seamless transition to the independent space, says Bernie Clark, senior vice president and head of Schwab Advisor Services, but it will also let advisors manage their businesses by relying on NFP's technology and service, rather than by adding staff.

"There is a trend toward solutions that offer advisors an integrated experience with the benefit of open architecture," Clark says.

THE DASHBOARD

AdvisorComplete will track revenue from all sources, so advisors can see how much they earn from a particular client or family and break that down by commissions and fees. The data can then be exported and presented in any manner the advisor chooses.

NFP Securities cannot avoid competition from-or plenty of comparisons with-two high-profile workstations that have longer track records in the industry: Pershing's NetX360 and Fidelity's Streetscape. NetX360 captivated the industry when it debuted last year, introducing a highly customizable workstation that fully supports broker-dealer and RIA businesses at the same time. The platform allows advisors to use third-party software for asset management and customer relationship management, and offers advanced, built-in compliance tools.

While Poer admits that "certainly any solution other than ours is a competitor," he does point out that IndeSuite actually incorporates some Streetscape components. Advisors who want to join NFP, but who continue to use Streetscape, can do so. IndeSuite can retrieve the necessary data feeds to allow advisors to use both. "Our goal is to understand and significantly simplify a day in the life of an investment advisor and his staff," Poer says.

Although NFP Securities stepped up its investment in the platform over the past 18 months, Poer says NFP has been working on the IndeSuite concept for almost four years.

A DIFFERENT GAME

NFP IndeSuite sets out to fill a crucial role in a pure RIA or dually registered advisor's practice, offering the same set of tools, resources and integrated functions that come with a B-D affiliation. That includes opening customer accounts, maintaining data, analyzing necessary trades and placing orders, generating performance reports and uploading client bills to the custodian.

With the new platform, NFP says it is assembling all of the essential technologies available at Schwab or Fidelity and adding another layer of service. Schwab and other major custodians on the platform will execute trades for RIAs and hybrids submitting orders for their fee-based business.

Meanwhile, National Financial Services, NFP's longtime clearing firm, will continue to process trades and hold custody for NFP's commission-based brokerage accounts. Envestnet, a Chicago-based company that provides platforms for advisors, developed the system's asset management component, using some of the strategies from Envestnet subsidiary Portfolio Management Consultants.

Rick Tsoumas, president and CEO of The Planning Group, and a member of NFP Securities' advisory council, says IndeSuite offers more robust clearing and administrative operations than a company like Schwab Institutional.