Kwanti, a San Francisco-based portfolio analytics and presentation platform, has recently integrated with Schwab, Fidelity, Riskalyze, and Orion Advisor Services, expanding its potential user base of advisors looking to compare and contrast different portfolios with clients and prospects.
While the tool has been used with a small base of clients, the firm’s founder says it can be used as a way for advisors to differentiate themselves with prospects in the face of commoditized advice around robo portfolios. “Advisors need to find ways to distinguish themselves from other advisors and from these low-cost offerings,” Gauthron said. “If you have a prospect coming in, they can quickly get a lot of data about the prospect’s portfolio and explain to them what’s wrong with their current portfolio and show them something that’s better.
Using Kwanti, advisors can drill down into the numbers and charts to explain what’s in the portfolio, the investment choices, its risk and performance. It can be used via video conferencing, or many advisors project it onto a big screen in their office.
Larger prospects—especially those with $1 million or $2 million in investable assets—expect advisors to show their work and the details of the changes they want to make, Gauthron said, and have specific points of contrast with those prospect’s current portfolios.
“Those meetings are critical with prospects, to explain that you have some good investment decisions for this client and explain as an advisor what you can add and give confidence to the client that you are the right person for them,” he said.
The platform had existing integrations with TD Ameritrade Institutional, Advyzon, Black Diamond, Blueleaf, LSA, Portfolio Pathway, Redtail and TradePMR. It currently has about 600 users, primarily independent registered investment advisors.
The tool can also help advisors filter through the growing number of model portfolios, which are becoming increasingly popular. Kwanti’s system can pull up some model portfolios automatically, but the company plans to add more in the coming months. Advisors can enter the model manually or export it from Excel.
“The problem is, there are so many,” Gauthron said. “It’s a new way of active management. You don’t have to worry about choosing the fund. You need to worry about choosing the right model.”