The annual Future Proof Festival returned to Huntington Beach, California, this week from Sept. 15 to Sept. 18, where it drew approximately 4,200 attendees from across the wealth management, asset management and fintech industries.
In addition to several companies making major announcements onstage and in tandem with the event, Future Proof itself shook things up a bit this year with enhancements to the format of its massive setup for attendee meetings and side events.
“We’ve introduced a new layer to our Breakthru networking platforms,” Matt Middleton, Founder and CEO of Future Proof, told WSR regarding its new technology-enabled Breakthru Talks, Breakthru Experiences and group activities that were launched in addition to the pre-existing Breakthru Meetings program. “How we’re evolving the Future Proof brand sits at the intersection of humans and interests, plus profession.”
Breakthru Talks consisted of more than 120 roundtable discussions. Approximately 1,200 advisors opted in to topics that they might have interest with, occurring along the morning breakfast sessions. People were paired based on job level and firm size, with the goal of maximizing meeting usefulness due to career similarities.
Breakthru Experiences were group engagements where exhibitors had the ability to promote specific events at their respective booths, and have attendees opt-in to scheduled time slots. More than 55 experiences were offered on the platform, ranging from advisor networking dinners outside at the event to a Vanguard custom indexing demonstration.
Future Proof also introduced activities where attendees broke off into organized groups for 30 minutes to a couple hours for learning sessions such as soft skills and photography lessons, instead of just financial information, in order to build a deeper rapport with each other.
Now here’s a quick roundup of some of the biggest industry announcements made onstage or in connection with Future Proof.
BNY Launches Alts Bridge To Expand Access To Alternative Investments
BNY launched Alts Bridge, its new end-to-end data, software and services solution for wealth intermediaries seeking to access alternative and private market investment products. It uses AI and analytics tools, and will integrate with intermediaries’ existing desktops, starting with Pershing X’s Wove advisory platform and NetX360+.
Alts Bridge will have an advisor education and fund discovery center, home office and asset manager tools, product overviews, automated document preparation, simplified order entry, and integrated reporting and investment management capabilities. It will provide access to a curated suite of managers, including Franklin Templeton, Apollo, Carlyle, Goldman Sachs, Invesco, KKR, Partners Group and many others.
“We’re combining the breadth and depth of BNY’s distribution team with our expertise across investment management, advisory, securities services, wealth technology, and wealth custody and clearing, enabling Alts Bridge to provide a comprehensive solution to find, access, and custody alternative and private market assets,” said Akash Shah, Chief Growth Officer and Head of Growth Ventures at BNY.
Orion Survey Reveals 33% Of Advisors Use AI, 46% Will Use AI On Firm Strategy
Orion released the findings of its quarterly financial advisor pulse survey, which was administered to more than 206 advisors. CEO Natalie Wolfsen shared actionable insights from the stage at Future Proof.
The survey found that 33% of Orion advisors surveyed use AI, with 46% saying they will leverage AI as part of the strategic direction of their firm in the next three years; 55% prefer a mix of both bundled and unbundled advisor technology solutions; 84% said high net worth clients are essential to their firm’s future business growth, and 80% are actively pursuing strategies to upscale their client base.
“Orion advisors report an average growth rate of 33% over the past three years, well above the 21% average reported by their external counterparts,” Wolfsen said. “Of note, Orion advisors using the Advantage Stack are growing three times faster than those who don’t use the bundled offering. By investing 19% of our technology revenue back into research and development in 2024, Orion is committed to powering advisors’ success.”
Envestnet Demos New Order Blotter, Fund Strategy And Retirement Plan Features
Envestnet demonstrated a series of new features for RIAs on its wealth management platform, while onsite at Future Proof. A new order blotter tool aims to simplify fixed-income trade management with centralized order oversight, customizable data views and automated reconciliation.
The RIA Marketplace provides access to fund strategist portfolios by Envestnet | PMC, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton and State Street Global Advisers. The Retirement Marketplace aims to help advisors in the retirement plan space by combining recordkeeping with a fiduciary proposal offering. Envestnet Retire Complete is a retirement solution built with Empower that aims to help advisors work with small- to medium-sized businesses.
“Supporting the growth and productivity of RIAs with our Envestnet | Tamarac and wealth technology solutions remains a strategic area of focus for our business, and these new features address the critical needs expressed by our clients,” said Molly Weiss, Group President of Wealth Management Platform for Envestnet. “Our goal is to help streamline and optimize advisor workflows through advanced technology and insights, to enable them to focus more on client relationships and less on the administrative tasks that take up their valuable time.”
Wealth.com Closes $30 Million Funding Round Led By GV (Google Ventures)
Wealth.com completed a $30 million Series A funding round led by venture capital firm and Alphabet subsidiary GV (formerly Google Ventures). It included investments from Citi Ventures, Outpost Ventures (an investment platform of Neuberger Berman), 53 Stations and Firebolt Ventures.
The new capital will be deployed for ongoing expansion and product innovation to advance its estate planning platform for financial advisors and wealth management firms. The firm said the funds will support the enhancement of its technology and integration capabilities and develop new features for advisors and their clients, including artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.
“We are on a mission to modernize estate planning through innovative technology,” said Rafael Loureiro, CEO at Wealth.com. “Accompanied by this extraordinary group of investors, we’re not only prepared to achieve this vision – we’re already delivering results.”
Chris Latham, Managing Editor at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at clatham@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
