Schwab Advisor Services upgrade aims to simplify onboarding multiple clients

July 14, 2022 4:45 PM

Charles Schwab custodian storefront Bloomberg April 22, 2019

Schwab Advisor Services is rolling out new tools to take some of the pain out of client onboarding.

The brokerage unveiled this week platform improvements that enable independent advisors to open and fund up to 10 new client accounts in a single “digital envelope” that clients can authorize on their desktop or mobile device.

Schwab said that the upgrade to the digital account open tool, introduced in 2018, fulfills a big ask from advisors who frequently need to open multiple accounts when bringing on a new household.

When the tool was first launched, more than half of new account-opening transactions involved multiple accounts, with some including as many as eight accounts. The upgrades simplify the onboarding process by letting advisors open multiple accounts, tailor them to their clients’ needs and fund them in one digital workflow. The process is then completed with one email to their clients.

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Alison Dooher, head of digital advisor solutions for Schwab Advisor Services, said that most clients don’t just have one account. Instead, their portfolios are held in an array of investment, retirement, trust and other accounts.

The digital onboarding workflow also now gives advisors the option to upload up to 16 firm documents, including welcome letters, advisory agreements and regulatory disclosures for new clients to view, edit, acknowledge and approve.

“With the ability to open and fund multiple accounts with just a few clicks, our enhanced digital onboarding tool solves a big pain point for advisors,” Dooher said. “We have led the way in developing innovative digital tools, and we’re extending that lead by making client onboarding a simpler, more secure experience.”

Since the digital tool was introduced, Schwab said that the percentage of documents not in good order has dropped to 4% from 30% for paper-based transactions due to its ability to validate input data.

In addition to being a key component of Schwab Advisor Center, the enhanced onboarding capabilities are available through third-party technology tools via Schwab’s third-party integrations.

Schwab’s open-architecture capabilities means that advisors can open and fund multiple accounts through their preferred customer relationship management software or financial planning tool.

“Advisors don't serve accounts — they serve individuals and families,” Dooher said. “Our 100% digital onboarding capabilities let advisors streamline their workdays while delivering a more convenient and safer client experience.”

The company said that future upgrades will accommodate more account types and registrations, including separately managed accounts. Additional digital capabilities that will enable firms to manage their existing client accounts, such as supporting a wider range of asset transfers and adding IRA beneficiaries, are coming later this year.

Scroll down to get caught up on more recent fintech news you might have missed in our Wealthtech Weekly recap. And check out last week’s recap here.

iCapital goes international with a pair of new partnerships

Fresh off celebrating a strategic investment from Bank of America, alternative investment platform iCapital is heading to Europe.

The New York-based company made two announcements this week with a focus on bolstering their international business.

On Monday, Mediobanca Private Banking announced a partnership with iCapital that will grant its clients in Italy access to a broad range of private markets initiatives within private equity, private debt and real assets.

In addition, iCapital will provide Mediobanca Private Banking with a full suite of research, due diligence and educational materials to support the growing interest of its clients in alternative investing.

“Wealth Managers are increasingly looking to alternative investments as a way of helping their clients improve their financial outcomes. We are extremely pleased to partner with Mediobanca Private Banking in its ambition to be at the forefront of expanding access to private markets,” Marco Bizzozero, head of international at iCapital, said in a statement. “This partnership demonstrates that iCapital is the partner of choice for wealth managers as they make private markets a strategic priority and a key component in diversifying clients’ portfolios.”

On Tuesday AXA IM Alts, a global alternative investments leader with $200 billion in assets under management, also announced a strategic partnership with iCapital to increase wealth managers’ access to private market investing opportunities in France.

The partnership will start with AXA IM Alts’ $500 million Global Health Private Equity strategy, the first fund of its kind on the iCapital platform.

AXA IM Alts’ Global Health Private Equity strategy launched in March 2022 and provides investors with access to private healthcare companies aiming to deliver healthcare solutions at accessible price points for global markets.

The strategy is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. Also known as the Global Goals, the SDGs were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

The 17 SDGs are integrated and recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, officials said. Development of these goals must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.

AXA IM Alts leaders say the Global Health Private Equity strategy directly addresses SDG 3: Good Health & Well-being; SDG 5: Gender Equality; and SDG 10: Reduced Inequality.

“This partnership is an important step in our strategy to significantly expand our private client base and provide a broader pool of investors with access to diversified, impact-driven alternative solutions,” Florence Dard, global head of client group at AXA IM Alts, said in a statement. “Demand for alternative and private market investments amongst wealth managers and their clients is growing, as they seek return drivers beyond the traditional investment universe. In alignment to these demand trends, this partnership further supports our long-term, strategic ambition to expand into the private wealth market.”

Study: CFOs are feeling the pressure to invest in automation

A new study examining the challenges and opportunities chief financial officers face in the current environment finds they are feeling the heat when it comes to automation.

The study from Vic.ai, an artificial intelligence platform for autonomous accounting and real-time insights, was done in partnership with StrategicCFO360. Titled “The Future of Automation and Intelligence within Enterprise Finance,” the research revealed that a majority of finance leaders are increasing their automation investments to stay competitive amid a tight labor market and rising operational costs.

The report, based on a May 2022 survey of 145 CFOs and other finance leaders across all industries, also found that 81% of CFOs recognize the potential of automation to optimize processes and capture data.

About 58% of CFOs plan to increase their investment in automation over the next 12 months, with nearly half expecting to achieve their goals within the next two years. Meanwhile, a quarter of CFOs report having already fully automated their payroll and invoice management processes, and another 45% say it’s underway in both.

The most common challenge faced by CFOs when automating the finance function is integration with their current systems, according to 61% of CFOs. While increasing efficiency and productivity is by far the leading objective for CFOs to use automation, more than half of CFOs are also seeking to generate more insights.

“This report revealed that finance leaders are ready to capitalize on the opportunities offered by AI and automation,” Vic.ai CEO Alexander Hagerup said in a statement. “Enterprise finance is at an inflection point, driven in part by the maturity and reliability of automation technologies. With rising operational costs and specialized talent becoming increasingly difficult to hire, the benefits of automation are clear. And the pressure to adopt intelligent, insightful technology is mounting.

“Those finance leaders who are going beyond digitization and adopting AI-powered automation are on the path to true autonomy, breaking away from the pack and positioning themselves to win.”

The study is the latest showing enthusiasm and support for AI in the world of financial and professional services. Last month, consulting firm Accenture published research after polling 500 financial advisors in the United States and Canada earlier this year to assess their feelings on artificial intelligence.

What they found was an overwhelming enthusiasm and readiness for the tech as almost all of the surveyed advisors crave AI solutions. About 83% of advisors interviewed said they believe AI will have a direct, measurable and consistent impact on the client-advisor relationship in the next 18 months.

That same percentage of advisors also said they believe AI can achieve a level of sophisticated advice and planning that will ultimately leave them competing with an algorithm for clients in the next 18 months.