Holistic Wealth Management Technology

Challenges to the Wealth Management Process
Whether accommodating self directed investors or providing full service advice, most firms follow a common process around wealth management. From new client acquisition to data consolidation to execution to reporting, this process is the foundation for best practices within the firm.

How well firms implement this process from technology to personnel has significant impact on success in the increasingly competitive wealth management space. A well-implemented wealth management process can increase the differentiating factors of the firm to the market by:

•	Improving client service, from reporting to call centers.
•	Retaining and attracting top advisor and/or customer service talent.
•	Reducing operational and administrative inefficiencies.

Traditionally, different technologies have been used at each step in the wealth management process. For example, a firm might have a particular brokerage processing provider, but use a different application for performance reporting and yet another for proposal generation. Each of these applications, in turn, has its own data model and notion of the client, advisor and firm.

While the original intent of assembling best-of-breed functionality as point solutions seemed the right choice, the result of co-mingled technology generally disappoints all those it affects. The two biggest shortcomings of this approach are:

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Data continuity. Disparate technology results in little or no data continuity across systems, perpetuating the swivel chair environment of reading data from one screen to key into another. Errors and inconsistencies take a significant toll on administrative efficiency and customer satisfaction. While some firms are still in pursuit of external aggregation, most cannot consolidate their own systems to a common household view.

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Workflow continuity. An advisor often has seven or more applications to manage a client, rather than a single, cohesive desktop. Scalability is often limited to the time the advisor has to load information from multiple systems into Excel to answer the inevitable How am I doing? question from clients. Collaboration is limited, as most of these point solutions are desktop based and not readily distributed via the Internet.

Finaplex Wealth^TM
Finaplex Wealth is a true platform solution that embodies portfolio management, relationship management and customer administration, delivering on a unique value proposition of integrated applications leveraging a common, holistic data set. Finaplex Wealth is designed to support wealth management and investment processes across the front and mid office for firms ranging in size from large investment banks to independent advisory shops.

Based on the premise that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, Finaplex Wealth is a composition of four distinct, yet highly synergetic, application tiers: the Boundary Layer, the Data Model, the Application Layer and the Interface Layer.

The Boundary Layer abstracts Finaplex Wealth from third party data providers and systems, providing our customers with unparalleled flexibility in vendor choice for brokerage and trust processing, market data, etc. Features include:

•	Full interface support for most brokerage, OMS, trust, banking, market data and third party aggregation platforms.
•	Data normalization rules and logic to manage replicant data across disparate systems.

The Data Model provides a comprehensive view of the client, the advisor and the firm(s). Features include:

•	Multi-org, entity based model with entitlement and capability features and inheritance.
•	Tuned by experience and application, and built to scale linearly with hardware.

The Application Layer is the container that consolidates business applications, including the Finaplex Business Components. Features include:

•	Easy integration of the full suite of Finaplex Business Components comprehensive enough to provide a turn-key solution while flexible enough to use opportunistically as part of a larger feature set. Finaplex Business Components include:

	- Account Admin	- Client Admin/RM	- Firm Admin	- Reporting
	- Alerts	- Communication	- Performance	- Tax
	- Analysis	- Entitlement / Grouping	- Port Accounting	- Transactions
	- Boundary Interface	- Family Office	- Proposal Generation	- Trust and Estate

•	Modular framework to allow incorporation of third party and proprietary business components including portfolio accounting systems, performance systems, etc. without sacrificing data and workflow continuity.

The Interface Layer is how a user interacts with the Finaplex Wealth platform. Features include:

•	Out-of-the-box admin, client, firm and advisor portals along with a full API set (including XML) for driving alternative delivery channels such as wireless and IVR.
•	Abstraction of the interface from the application, allowing each firm to maintain and/or customize their end user look and feel without high cost.

A Proven Solution
Finaplex solutions are behind integrated advisor, client and administrator desktops at some of the leading financial institutions in the world including three of the top five U.S. brokers. Finaplex customers use Finaplex Wealth to power businesses ranging from front private banking to self-directed brokerage to correspondent services, including:

•	The private client services group of a leading investment bank uses Finaplex Wealth to build a household view of their clients, overhaul their client reporting and deploy an integrated advisor desktop as a precursor for their transition to a fee-based business model.
•	A high volume self directed broker/dealer uses Finaplex Wealth to abstract their front and mid office from their brokerage processor while replacing their legacy, proprietary technology without sacrificing scope or performance.
•	A regional bank uses Finaplex Wealth as an ASP service to deliver high end, high touch service to their clients without the overhead of operating a data center.
•	The high net worth banking group of a leading commercial bank uses Finaplex Wealth to consolidate client information across disparate systems while leveraging new analytics to facilitate enhanced reporting, customer management and product distribution.

Founded in March of 2000 and based in New York and San Francisco, Finaplex is a leading provider of wealth management and investment technology to the retail financial services space. Mike Cagney is a co-founder of Finaplex and is actively involved in defining the role of technology in the wealth management industry.

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Finaplex
333 Bush Street, 11th Floor
San Francisco, CA 941081
(415) 490-2200

New York Office
37 Lispenard, Suite 4A
New York, NY 10013
(917)-903-2062

Contact: Doug Mehne, VP of Sales and Business Development
[email protected]
www.finaplex.com