SmartAsset, a service for connecting consumers with financial advisors, launched SmartAsset AMP, a service the firm is describing as a new growth platform for financial advisors.
It is meant to help advisors acquire new clients and retain existing ones.
If the AMP acronym already sounds familiar, there are at least two other advisor technology tools on the market with the same acronym, TIFIN’s Asset Management Platform (TIFIN AMP) and Fidelity AMP, which stands for Automated Managed Platform.
In SmartAsset’s case, AMP stands for Advisor Marketing Platform, which the company describes as an “outcome-driven” tool, meaning it is intended to deliver a fixed range of referrals over a six- or 12-month subscription.
There are three plan levels, Discover, Accelerate and Scale, and with the platform, advisors can access referral generation features, nurture and manage their referral campaigns, and are provided automated calling and texting features, all available through a monthly subscription.
The company claims to match over 50,000 U.S. consumers with financial advisors each month.
Advisors can use factors that include a target client’s geographic location and level of assets as part of the filtering or search and matching process.
SmartAsset has long referenced what it calls “high-intent” leads and customers, meaning those potential clients that are most easily converted into paying clients.
The company reached unicorn status in mid-2021 after raising $110 million in a Series D funding round at a valuation of over $1 billion. The RIA aggregator Focus Financial led its 2018 Series C round with a $28 million investment. Founded in 2010, it was launched in 2012 by co-founders Michael Carvin and Philip Camilleri.
From a consumer point of view, SmartAsset can initially serve as a portal for them to access information on mortgage rates and credit cards as well as savings, retirement and other financial planning calculators. As it collects more information from those consumers, that data is fed into the service’s advisor matching algorithms.
SmartAsset announced the acquisition of prospect engagement company DeftSales in April 2023.
Advzyon Hires Kartik Srinivasan
Folks cast off during or after Schwab’s digestion of TD Ameritrade Institutional continue to find new positions in the advisory industry.
Advisory technology provider Advyzon announced this week it hired Kartik Srinivasan as president of Advyzon Institutional.
Srinivasan spent more than a decade at Morningstar, much of that time spent working on the company’s portfolio management system with Hailin Li, who later founded Advyzon.
He spent over seven years at Schwab Advisor Services, working on third-party integrations and partnerships.
This news adds to a busy stretch of announcements during and after Advyzon’s first user conference in February.
Among its recent announcements was the launch of a new mobile app, workflow automation updates, artificial intelligence capabilities, and rebalancing tax optimizations.
Advyzon also announced new integrations with Apex and Nebo Wealth.
F2 Strategy Acquires St. Louis Marketing Firm Sky Marketing Consultants
Wealth management technology consultancy and services company F2 Strategy announced this week it acquired the 10-person marketing firm Sky Marketing Consultants.
Based in St. Louis, Sky specializes in branding and marketing services for advisors and wealth management firms.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition is meant to pair F2’s technology implementation and strategic consulting services with the “high-touch marketing strategies and solutions” provided by Sky.
Sky co-founder Jeremy Jackson will become F2’s chief marketing officer, while F2’s previous head of marketing and co-founder Liz Fritz will remain as a board officer.
Doug Fritz, CEO and co-founder at F2 Strategy, who is also a WealthManagement.com Industry Awards judge, will lead the unified teams under the F2 brand.
This deal follows the June 2023 acquisition of consulting and services provider Oakbrook Solutions.
F2 was founded in 2017 by the Fritzes, both former wealth management executives from major banks.