At FolioDynamix, we believe that a UMA program should encompass five things:

• Top-tier investment options and flexible asset allocation
• Access to a broad selection of pre-screened money managers
• Modern technology to optimize advisor productivity and minimize program administration
• Governance to ensure the UMA program and associated managers are delivering to expectations
• Flexibility to incorporate your own unique value proposition

The FolioDynamix platform meets all five of these must-have UMA program criteria – and more.  Learn what differentiates the FolioDynamix UMA program from other “one-size-fits-all” platforms and discover a fast path to launching your own unique UMA program. 

Receiving the MMI Advisory Solutions Wealth Management Technology Innovation Award was the result of the release of Version 6.1 of our FDx SingleSight technology platform earlier this year. With powerful dashboards and business process management (BPM) workflows for increased visibility and active management of multiple account types, full integration to FDx Connect (the FolioDynamix cloud-based model exchange hub), and enhanced modeling and account program functionality that supports a highly configurable sponsor investment program set, FolioDynamix is leading the industry in enabling flexible, multi-program management in a single, enterprise-wide platform. The release of FolioDynamix FDx SingleSight 6.1 was cited by clients and partners as a major game changer in rep-as-pm and rep-as-advisor trading tools and for providing enhanced unified management account (UMA) overlay management tools – helping many firms in the managed account industry achieve significant growth in assets under management (AUM) in 2011.

I’d also like to congratulate Aaron Schumm, our senior vice president of products, for winning the MMI Advisory Solutions All-Star Achievement Award.  His tireless dedication to defining industry guidelines and helping firms advance their wealth management programs and technology is of great benefit to the wealth management industry.

These awards are a great tribute to the success our clients are realizing through the implementation of our wealth management technology and programs. FolioDynamix clients are truly wealth management innovators.

Designed to help wealth management firms grow their business and improve customer service, FolioDynamix recently announced expanded capabilities for unified managed household (UMH) account onboarding and management. Built on its FDx SingleSight platform, FolioDynamix’ UMH capabilities allow for both extended visibility and the ability to manage all client accounts from a single enterprise platform.

As the dynamics of the market change, so do client needs, and advisors must adapt or risk losing business and/or advisors to other firms. With the FolioDynamix wealth management platform, advisors are better equipped to establish and maintain a comprehensive view of each client’s assets – improving client service and giving them the potential to increase their share of the client’s business.

Key capabilities of the FolioDynamix expanded UMH solution include, multi-level models and risk profiles, household-level performance reporting, rebalancing against defined household model targets and tax-sensitive asset allocation management. With this solution advisors have the ability to:

• Quickly and effortlessly onboard new accounts and create client-ready proposals and investment policy statements at a household level with over 30 different account-type registrations across multiple programs
• Monitor, trade and rebalance accounts against defined model target sets within the household
• Generate performance analytics and reports to easily monitor activity across the entire portfolio, regardless of account location
• Seamlessly scale in real-time as industry and client demands shift

To remain competitive, firms need to invest in a complete UMH offering. The cloud-based architecture of the FolioDynamix wealth management technology platform enables firms to instantly get started with easy connectivity, fast rollout to advisors and minimal overhead. To learn more about these expanded capabilities, take a look at our recent UMH press release and check out our wealth management technology page.

The wealth management industry is already highly competitive, with new client acquisition and advisor retention being top challenges for firms. Mergers and acquisitions have the potential to make those challenges even more difficult. Wealth management firms considering growth through M&A need to evaluate innovative ways to ensure the integration goes quickly and smoothly.

Rather than spending years integrating legacy technologies from two firms or attempting to build a new home-grown technology platform, firms need to consider taking the opportunity to leverage modern, cloud-based wealth management technologies to accelerate the integration and provide the framework for ongoing growth.

One such solution is the FolioDynamix SingleSight™ wealth management platform. It provides the ability to interface to key systems and databases in the background, while providing customers and advisors with a single technology interface and seamless end-to-end process flows across all phases of the wealth management lifecycle. Benefits include:

• A single wealth management platform for all functions
• Seamless integration with existing applications to provide advisors with one interface to manage all accounts
• Native business process management capabilities for automation of key processes
• Multi-custodian connectivity
• Fast deployment with no additional IT overhead
• Easy rollout and accessibility to customers and advisors through a single web interface with configurable privileges
• Built-in governance, operations and audit controls
• Enterprise-wide operational efficiencies that are unmatched in the wealth management industry
• Inherent, flexible scalability to support growth to any number of users, accounts and assets under management

FolioDynamix uniquely allows firms to choose the wealth management capabilities and functions that are most critical to the business, configure the solution to reflect a unique value proposition and gain access to a complete software suite for managing the full wealth management lifecycle.

In developing its newly released turnkey RIA offerings – FDx RIA Basic, Expanded and Premium – FolioDynamix leveraged its deep roster of investment management products, research and pre-negotiated pricing to bundle hosted packages that eliminate the usual costly overhead and lengthy implementation time associated with launching a new wealth management program. The solutions will give firms a fast path to establishing a unified managed account (UMA) program, a must for remaining competitive in today’s industry.

FolioDynamix is giving RIAs a fast path to institutional-quality investment products and technology with virtually no overhead, in a hosted environment that shortens the rollout time to days.

FolioDynamix’ new RIA offerings include:

• FDx RIA Basic – Turnkey access to FDx Connect, FolioDynamix’ cloud-based model exchange hub, populated with over 125 institutional investment manager models. FolioDynamix has contracted with some of the most highly regarded investment managers in the industry, giving its clients on-demand access to specifically tailored model-only investment products, instantly accessible to all of a RIA firm’s advisors.
• FDx RIA Expanded – Turnkey access the FDx Connect model exchange hub with pre-populated models, plus unlimited access to the FDx Research portal. The FDx Research portal provides access to insights from investment managers and the FDx Advisors team on investment strategies, mutual funds and ETF’s, in easy-to-consume formatted reports to help RIAs make better decisions and offer more informed guidance to clients.
• FDx RIA Premium – A comprehensive RIA business package that includes the FDx Connect model exchange hub with prepopulated models and unlimited access to the FDx Research portal, plus hosted access to FDx Propose – a state-of-the-art client household-level proposal generation tool with configurable RIA-specific branding elements including logo and disclaimers. FDx RIA Premium enables registered investment advisor firms to quickly modernize and grow their wealth management business with state-of-the-art proposal generation technology and institutional-grade investment programs.

We continue to strive for innovation in the industry, putting models and research that were once only available to wirehouse advisors in the hands of the quickly expanding independent RIA channel. FolioDynamix is empowering RIAs with turnkey packages to grow their business, while still enabling them to apply their own unique value proposition to how they manage client assets.

The program allows advisors to assemble portfolios of investments from three diverse strategists – Wilshire Associates, Sage Advisory Services, and UBS Global Asset Management – unified in a single customer account. It places retail clients on a level playing field with institutional investors, giving advisors access to institutional-level advice and active portfolio rebalancing. It also helps advisors address clients’ tax, income and growth objectives while controlling investment risk and dramatically reducing paperwork, giving advisors unprecedented control in managing their fee-based business.

Powered by Cetera’s advisory technology platform and designed by FolioDynamix, the MF/ETF advisory program is available through Cetera’s SmartWorks® advisor workstation. It was the first of two major enhancements recently made to its wealth management offering. The company launched its Next Generation Managed Accounts (xMA^sm) Program, an evolution of a traditional separately managed account in January of this year. That program is also powered by FolioDynamix technology.

Read the full Cetera press release.

When making the announcement, our CEO noted that these significant scalability milestones demonstrate how the FolioDynamix platform architecture has allowed our clients to place all of their fee-based programs into a single solution with a single vendor, which in turn helps them create greater efficiencies, streamline business processes, improve transparency and lower overall costs. In other words – platform scalability directly impacts business results.

How quickly and effectively you can take on more clients, grow assets and deliver on client service level agreements all depend on the scalability of your technology. Important scalability features you should consider when planning your wealth management technology upgrades include:

• Both horizontal and vertical scalability that give you a variety of deployment and expansion options
• Seamless integration with your existing applications to provide your advisors with a single interface to manage all accounts
• Software-as-a-service and Cloud deployment models that provide automatic scalability – as the business grows, so does the capacity of the technology platform without you or your IT group having to do anything
• Inherent, flexible scalability that with allow you to grow to any number of users and accounts

FolioDynamix is a modern, web-based solution that can be deployed in-house or accessed in a hosted software-as-a-service solution. FolioDynamix is unique in that it allows you to choose the wealth management capabilities and functions that are most critical to you, configure the solution to your unique needs, and gain access to a complete software suite for managing the full wealth management lifecycle – all on a single integrated platform with a single code base. Its modern, open architecture was designed with ease-of-use and scalability as key factors.

As pressures to increase advisor productivity and drive new business growth continue, you and your wealth management business need to consider the scalability factor of your technology infrastructure – or risk losing agility and competitiveness.

* Note: “Assets under Administration” represents assets currently utilizing the FolioDynamix technology platform – not to be confused with “Assets under Management” which is a defined regulatory term that represents the dollar amounts of assets over which a registered investment adviser provides investment supervisory services. FolioDynamix does not provide investment supervisory services for the referenced assets under administration.

Investment proposal generation is critical to the first impression wealth management firms make with clients, and it sets the stage for the client relationship and investment strategy over the life of the account. FDx Propose is one of the most comprehensive solutions on the market. You can learn more by reading our recent 2-part blog series − proposal generation methodology and proposal generation technology.

Innovations in technology, governance and reporting have made rep-as-PM programs less risky for wealth management firms and more empowering for financial advisors who want more control over client performance. With the right controls in place, rep-as-PM programs can be a winning strategy for everyone.

Among what we believe will be the most positive outcomes are:

• By deploying a rep-as-PM program to qualified advisors, the home office can attract and retain top-tier talent by empowering advisors to play a stronger role in client portfolio management, while still effectively managing risk.
• Rep-as-PM programs give advisors an opportunity to grow and showcase their talents, expand their career potential and more directly affect client performance – thus shaping their value and reputation in the industry.
• Rep-as-PM programs can serve as a catalyst for clients to build a closer relationship with their advisor, take a more active role in defining their goals, and keep the advisor accountable and on point to deliver results.

At the end of the day, the rep knows the client the best. Therefore, wealth management firms should put the technology and programs in place to enable advisors to deliver the best client results possible. Innovation is critical to the success of any industry, and the wealth management industry is no exception.

FolioDynamix has established itself as the modern solution of choice for top wealth management firms, and today it announced the release of Version 6.1 of its FDx SingleSight^SM wealth management software platform. The new release features enhanced business process management workflows, wealth monitoring and management dashboards, and complete integration to the FDx Connect model exchange hub for seamless access to research and third-party money managers.

This product launch represents a continuation of the innovation that has enabled FolioDynamix to emerge as a leader in wealth management technology. Read more about the FDx SingleSight 6.1 Wealth Management platform enhancements. 

Learn how FolioDynamix can help your grow your wealth management business by addressing the complete wealth management lifecycle.