On Wednesday at Schwab IMPACT in Boston, Schwab Advisor Services announced new AI tools for RIAs that are available inside Schwab Advisor Center and through the third-party platforms that connect to it.
Claude for Financial Advisors
Among the expanded tools for RIAs, Claude for Financial Advisors is now available through Schwab Advisor Center, making Schwab the first RIA custodian to bring Anthropic’s advisor-specific AI to independent advisory firms, Schwab said. Claude for Financial Advisors connects advisor tools and supports research, meeting preparation and documentation.
Anthropic announced Claude for Financial Advisors in September. At the time, Anthropic listed several firms that are supporting its offering, including Schwab, Wealth.com, Addepar, BlackRock, Envestnet, iCapital, Orion, SS&C Black Diamond, Vanguard, Wealthbox and Zocks. On Tuesday, the company expanded that list to 22, adding CAIS, Conquest Planning, FactSet, FINNY, Flourish, Franklin Templeton, Invesco, J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s 55ip, Jump, MSCI and Nevis.
Wealth.com’s Ester
Also announced Wednesday is Ester, an AI tax and estate planning tool from Wealth.com now available in Schwab Advisor Center, designed for Schwab’s RIA clients. Schwab said advisors can use Ester to ask tax and estate planning questions, review uploaded documents and follow guided planning workflows.
An introductory version of Ester, available now, gives advisors guided tax and estate workflows and is free for advisors until February, Schwab said. Ester will shift to a paid offering in the first quarter of 2027 and allow advisors to connect Ester to authorized Schwab data and choose which clients Ester can see, according to Schwab. Schwab has been a minority investor in Wealth.com since April 2025.
“Today’s announcement brings specialized tax and estate planning intelligence into a platform serving more than 17,000 independent registered investment advisors,” Tim White, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Wealth.com, told Wealth Solutions Report by email.
“With Ester, advisors can review wills, trusts and tax returns, turn complex documents into clear insights and visual summaries, and prepare for deeper planning conversations,” White said. “Bringing those capabilities directly into the advisor’s workflow, at Schwab’s scale, creates an opportunity to make deeper planning conversations accessible to more families. That’s what makes this more than another AI announcement.”
“An advisor’s most valuable hours should be spent with clients, not buried in their paperwork,” White added. “The focused Ester experience in Schwab Advisor Center helps turn those documents into clear insights and visual summaries, so advisors can spend less time deciphering documents and more time applying their judgment.”
Nevis
Also new, Nevis is an AI operating platform that Schwab said helps RIAs coordinate and complete operational work across their technology stacks. Schwab said it invested in Nevis and entered into a strategic partnership with it.
Schwab said the companies will develop integrations and workflows intended to reduce manual processing, and that their initial work will focus on onboarding, including collecting documents, opening accounts and transferring assets.
The ‘Irreplaceable’ Relationship Between Advisor And Client
“AI can and will play a role in the success of RIAs of all sizes, and we are committed to making sure that every firm we serve has access to a range of options they can tailor to how they work,” Jon Beatty, Managing Director and Head of Schwab Advisor Services, said in a press release. “But the relationship between an advisor and their client is irreplaceable. Everything we’re doing is in service of that.”
“Our job is to bring these tools together, offer them inside Schwab Advisor Center and through the outside platforms firms already use and let each firm adopt them at its own pace, with education and support from us along the way,” Alison Dooher, Managing Director and Head of AI for Schwab Advisor Services, said in the news release.
“Schwab data gives advisors a detailed view of their clients’ accounts, positions, and history,” Peter Nolan, Head of Asset and Wealth Management at Anthropic, said in the Schwab press release. “With that data in Claude, advisors can get answers across their book of business in moments and spend more of their time acting on them.”
“Advisors lose valuable hours every week to operational tasks that could be better spent serving clients and growing their business,” Mark Swan, CEO and Co-Founder of Nevis, said in the release.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jeff.berman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
