FPA partnership gives advisors access to online alts education platform: Wealthtech Weekly

July 20, 2023 10:41 AM

The Financial Planning Association has entered a new partnership with the goal of helping its members level up their alternative investment knowledge.

This week, the FPA announced a partnership with the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association to give all FPA members discounted access to UniFi by CAIA, an online series of educational offerings geared toward the needs of client- and advisor-facing financial professionals.

CAIA Association describes UniFi as a specialized learning platform designed to provide education for professionals across the private wealth management industry. The first certificate available on UniFi is "The Fundamentals of Alternative Investments."

The program offers a foundation of core concepts in alternative investments and fills an education gap when advisors need to understand the fast-moving alts landscape.

UniFi by CAIA also offers microcredentials focused on private debt and digital assets with additional credentials coming in 2024.

According to the CAIA Association, certificates will require 10-20 hours of commitment. And depending on the microcredential, mastering the material will require a commitment of between four and six hours.

"We're thrilled to be partnering with an organization the size and stature of FPA and look forward to helping their members stay ahead of the latest trends and developments across the full spectrum of alternative investments," said Aaron Filbeck, head of UniFi by CAIA. "At CAIA Association, we are constantly striving to solve the greatest educational challenges facing practitioners in the asset and wealth worlds, while always advocating for a client-first mindset. With FPA, we have found an outstanding partner who shares that mission and those values."

This partnership follows the release of the latest iteration of FPA's annual Trends in Investing Survey report, which suggested a growing interest among financial professionals in putting alternative approaches to work in client portfolios.

This year's survey found that 28% of investment professionals actively invest in or search for alternative investments suitable for their clients. In comparison, 30% are familiar with alternative investments but do not intend to invest in them or recommend them to their clients.

Half of investment professionals are investing in or recommending that clients invest in funds that provide access to alternative investment classes or strategies (50%), while 1 in 5 are making direct investments in a product, project or company.

The CAIA Association is a global professional body representing nearly 13,000 professionals in 100 countries.

"Our research shows that the use or recommendation of alternative investments has doubled in some cases since the start of the pandemic. Those numbers could be even higher if more professionals had access to quality education, which is why we are working with UniFi by CAIA," Patrick D. Mahoney, FPA CEO, said in a statement. "Access to this platform will help FPA members educate themselves, enabling them to assist their clients in understanding this increasingly trending asset class."

Scroll down to get caught up on other recent fintech news you might have missed in our Wealthtech Weekly recap. And check out the previous edition here.

Future Proof announces fintech demo drop finalists.

The second annual Future Proof Festival is returning to Huntington Beach in just a couple months, and the seven fintechs who will take the stage to present their latest innovations in Surf City have been decided.

Participants in the Future Proof Fintech Demo Drop were announced on Wednesday, representing firms focused on AI, data management, storytelling and more.

The seven presenters were selected by an independent committee of industry experts from a field of nearly 100 applicants. Applicants were assessed on creativity, outside-the-box thinking and the ability to create a real impact for the industry as a whole.

"We couldn't be more excited to highlight these seven innovative fintech companies at this year's Future Proof Festival," Matt Middleton, CEO of Advisor Circle, said in a statement. "The Fintech Demo Drop was created to spotlight the latest tools and solutions that help wealth management executives and financial advisors operate their businesses more effectively and serve their clients better. We congratulate each finalist on their unique and compelling solutions, all of which hold transformative potential for the industry."

Here are the seven fintechs that will take part in the show.

Wealth.com: Known for its visualization suite, including Ester the AI legal assistant, which aims to solve efficiency problems in estate planning for financial advisors and their clients.
Uptiq: Recognized for its advisor lending platform, which uses artificial intelligence to determine the right loan product and lender for any liquidity need or risk profile.
Alphathena: Known for its turnkey SaaS platform, which provides technology infrastructure for personalization, direct indexing and tax loss harvesting for RIAs, wealth managers, fintech platforms and TAMPs.
Conquest Planning: Selected for its financial advice platform, which helps financial advisors provide access to personalized financial advice to more clients who want it.
Opto Investments: Recognized for its custom private allocation builder, which allows independent RIAs to access private markets in a scalable and customized way.
InvestSuite: Chosen for its StoryTeller tool, which enables wealth managers and institutions to create personalized portfolio performance reports for their clients.
Pershing X: Recognized for its Wove wealth advisory platform, which provides data integration and workflows to help financial advisors to spend less time on repetitive tasks.

"The fintech tools presented on stage last year sparked our collective imagination, reshaping our perceptions of what our industry could be, and most importantly, where it is headed next," Michael Batnick, managing partner at Ritholtz Wealth Management, said in a statement. "The Fintech Demo Drop series serves as a catalyst for innovation, fueling our collective drive to shape the future and push the boundaries of what our industry considers possible."

The inaugural Future Proof event attracted more than 2,200 people to the event. Future Proof 2023 will return to the beach Sept. 10-13.

RFG Advisory weaves AI into platform via FP Alpha

Hybrid RIA RFG Advisory is teaming up with FP Alpha to inject AI into its suite of offerings for advisors.

Announced on Tuesday but initially launched in June, the partnership adds additional capability to RFG's Advisor Tech Stack platform.

FP Alpha's technology can quickly decipher client tax, insurance and estate paperwork and summarizes key opportunities for advisors.

The Birmingham, Alabama-based RFG Advisory also recently brought on behavioral finance professional and industry veteran Jordan A. Huchison to enhance the firm's technology stack as vice president of technology.

"At RFG, we are cognizant of the one-way trends in the industry where the advisor-client relationship is changing, turning advisors into more holistic coaches or guides," Hutchison said. "To adapt to this change, advisors need to be able to create both more comprehensive plans and more time in an already time-scarce day."

Huchison believes advisors can become more effective by properly leveraging technology — and more specifically, AI.

Understanding that many advisors have expressed concern that AI will negatively impact their roles, RFG calls AI as "a force multiplier for advisors seeking to do more for their clients without an additional demand on their time."

"With our innovative lens, we are applying AI in various facets to create more time in advisors' days and increase the speed, depth, and breadth of advanced planning to create the optimal advisor," Bobby White, RFG Advisory founder and CEO, said in a statement.