The finance industry briefing

Standard Chartered has joined forces with BlackRock to deliver integrated front-to-back office investment management solutions to mutual clients through the latter’s Aladdin platform.

The partnership will serve the two companies’ customers across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

The British banking group is now part of BlackRock’s Aladdin Provider Network. This is said to offer additional value for asset managers and asset owners by offering to real-time data and streamlined operational workflows across the investment management lifecycle.

The bank further stated that the tie-up boosts efficiencies and manages operational risks and costs.

Standard Chartered said that the alliance marks the first time for some of its clients that an integrated end-to-end solution is present in several of the emerging and frontier markets across its footprint.

BlackRock Solutions Asia-Pacific head Akiyoshi Takeuchi said: “We place tremendous value on Standard Chartered’s adoption of Aladdin Provider Network. It symbolises a strong partnership based on our shared commitment to helping clients.”

Standard Chartered Financing & Securities Services co-head Margaret Harwood-Jones said: “This collaboration strengthens Standard Chartered’s deep roots throughout rapidly developing markets across our footprint, by expanding the range of solutions we can deliver through a single, unified investment management platform.

Digital financial platform MoneyLion has purchased Wealth Technologies (WTI), which specialises in algorithmic financial planning technology, for an unknown sum.

Concurrent with the deal, WTI co-founder Rohit D’Souza has been named as executive chairman of the board of directors at MoneyLion.

MoneyLion co-founder and CEO Dee Choubey said: “Our acquisition of WTI adds significant new capabilities to MoneyLion by enhancing our suite of financial tools with precision-guided financial advice to help our members see the interconnectivity of short- and long-term financial decisions across their entire financial portfolio.

“With fGPS guidance, MoneyLion will bring the previously exclusive experience of private banking with personalized advice to every hardworking American.”

WTI’s proprietary fGPS Financial Goals Positioning System, which is said to be a dynamic course-correcting, comprehensive financial planning and advice system, will power the MoneyLion platform.

With this integration, MoneyLion’s new analytical framework will offer the intelligent turn-by-turn guidance its members regarding spending, credit and investing by analysing their personal assets, liabilities, incomes and expenses.

Commenting on the deal, D’Souza said: “WTI’s innovative technology, coupled with MoneyLion’s proven ability to deliver comprehensive AI-powered financial solutions to millions of hardworking Americans, can revolutionise the way the personal finance industry functions by leveraging technology to put the client’s needs and goals at the center – refocusing the business processes from product-centric, sales-oriented verticals to client-centric, outcome-oriented solutions.”

Royal London has agreed to acquire Wealth Wizards, a financial guidance and advice provider, from Liverpool Victoria.

The acquisition is aligned with Royal London’s plan to make guidance and financial advice more accessible and affordable for the customers.

Established in 2009, Wealth Wizards leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to offer financial advice.

The company’s portfolio includes digital financial advice platform, a digital financial guidance and advice platform and a digital financial adviser.

The addition of Wealth Wizards is expected to automate key parts of the advice process as well as enable Royal London to support employers and advisers who intend to help employees make better financial decisions.

Royal London CEO Barry O’Dwyer said: “We are impressed by the innovative technology offered by Wealth Wizards and are delighted they are joining our business. We see the positive impact of advice on customers’ lives every day and will work with advisers to help to overcome the advice gap in the UK.

“This acquisition provides us with an opportunity to enhance the leading support and service we already provide with market leading technology and processes that can help advisers become more efficient and broaden the offering we have for our workplace clients.”

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has selected software firm FactSet as the primary market data and technology provider for its entire wealth management organisation.

Under a multi-year agreement, FactSet will virtually deploy an array of web and digital solutions to more than 8,000 RBC wealth management professionals. The programme, slated to start early this year, will begin with those in Canada and the US.

The solutions that will be delivered include FactSet’s web-based workstation for wealth advisors and a suite of leading content sets.

It will also include FactSet’s Advisor Dashboard that will offer personalised insights to each financial advisor in accordance with individual portfolios to improve client engagement.

FactSet Wealth Management Solutions executive vice-president Goran Skoko said: “High net worth individuals and retail investors are demanding more sophisticated data and technology to support how they manage their portfolios.

“We are seeing that demand intensify as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and are working with our clients to help them provide the high service levels required.

“RBC is taking a market-leading approach to adopting new technologies that will improve communication and efficiency and drive better results for customers.”

Orion Advisor Solutions has acquired HiddenLevers, which specialises in risk analysis, investment process, and executive oversight in the wealth and asset management space.

Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.

HiddenLevers, which was founded in 2009, manages nearly $600bn in platform assets. It is headquartered in Atlanta and its entire workforce is based in the US.

The deal will add HiddenLevers’ portfolio stress-testing to Orion’s platform.

Orion will also get access to the acquired company’s investment proposals and workflows on model construction and improvement.

Commenting on the deal, Orion founder and CEO Eric Clarke said that the acquisition of HiddenLevers adds significant value for investment committees looking to improve allocation models, and also for advisors looking to mitigate panic selling.

Clarke added: “HiddenLevers goes beyond a single-number risk analysis approach and instead, builds applications that consider a broad palette of potential economic events – essential for protecting the fiduciary sensibility of Orion customers.”