Impartial advisors wanting at custody platform choices past the large three (Schwab, Constancy and Pershing) ought to be aware the newest addition to Apex Fintech Options.
Apex introduced the agency acquired AdvisorArch, a portfolio administration firm with its personal rebalancer.
The custodian introduced its integration with AdvisorArch in August 2023. Along with easy portfolio rebalancing, AdvisorArch’s platform is supposed to assist advisors in supporting tax loss harvesting, direct indexing, fractional share buying and selling and managing concentrated inventory positions. AdvisorArch launched in 2022 and is the newest creation of RobustWealth co-founders Michael Kerins and Robert Cavallaro and a small group.
In January, Apex launched a new consumer interface for advisors referred to as Astra, and extra lately, it introduced integrations with Advyzon in February. Apex has additionally lately constructed out new capabilities, together with fractional buying and selling, direct indexing, digital account opening, and digital funding utilizing ACATS, amongst others.
In October 2023, Apex launched a brand new fixed-income investing platform.
Alois Pirker, founder and CEO of Pirker Companions, mentioned the acquisition of AdvisorArch represented a change in path for Apex, which was beforehand extra targeted on integrations than acquisitions.
“They’re getting extra into that advisor area the place you’ll want to have extra performance to ship to them to win that enterprise,” he mentioned.
Apex might want to put in additional work to construct out AdvisorArch now that the acquisition has taken place, Pirker mentioned.
“(This) will be a bonus as … you may construct right into a path that works … and make it extra becoming to your setting,” he mentioned. “It’s on the cash. That is the place this sort of platform ought to be going.”
Pirker mentioned Apex’s acquisition reminded him of when TD Ameritrade acquired portfolio rebalancer iRebal in 2007.
“They personal the piece,” he mentioned. “That has a bonus. … It’s an analogous technique that TDA had again within the day.”
William Trout, director of securities and investments practices at Datos Insights, mentioned with the custody enterprise evolving, the wants of unbiased advisors are “a lot broader and deeper than they had been even just a few years in the past.”
“Companies attempt to purchase that entire toolkit for the monetary advisor to allow cradle-to-grave help for these advisors who’re unbiased and those that are considering of breaking away,” he mentioned.
Consolidation among the many large three has opened the door to custodians like Apex to supply the next stage of service to smaller advisors who could in any other case really feel misplaced within the shuffle, mentioned Trout.
“They simply received’t get that kind of consideration from the bigger custodians,” he mentioned. “They received’t get the help for his or her development trajectory {that a} smaller custodian can present. There may be a gap.”
Regardless that Apex desires to “unfold its wings,” Trout mentioned he didn’t see Apex placing any bigger custodians out of enterprise. As a substitute, it will present extra alternative.
“For smaller practices that want end-to-end digital help, together with for issues like customization and rebalancing, it’s an important mixture,” he mentioned.
