It looks like a major theme of Pershing's annual INSITE conference, which begins Tuesday morning in Orlando, will be the new semi-open-architecture approach to technology it's taking.
The company plans to reveal more about the integrations it announced in May with Jemstep, SigFig and Vanare (in addition to an existing integration with Marstone) for advisors looking to implement a digital advice service into their firm.
Advisors can access these companies through a new online, self-service marketplace Pershing is calling the NetXServices API (application program interface) store. The idea is to make integration easier, and the NetXServices store will have documentation and a test environment in addition to the “best-in-breed” APIs. At launch, advisors will only have access to the four digital advice providers named above, but will eventually have access to digital services to manage everything from account opening and funding to asset allocation and automated rebalancing.
Pershing is also opening up its own API to facilitate firms looking to integrate tools they already use.
“Our clients are asking for us to help facilitate two different approaches to digitizing their business—some clients have told us they want to create their own unique technology experiences, while others tell us that they want solutions already integrated with Pershing’s platform,” Ram Nagappan, chief information officer at Pershing, said in statement. “By taking an open-architecture approach, we’ve put our clients in the driver’s seat to choose and co-create a digital wealth management experience that best meets their advisors’ and their investor clients’ needs.”
For advisors who prefer more “off-the-shelf” technology instead of shopping around for the best third-party products, Pershing said it will continue to focus on improving its proprietary technology. At the INSITE conference, the company plans to unveil a redesign of its Albridge Wealth Reporting, which includes a new user experience, reports and help for advisors trying talk to clients about the performance of accounts and individual holdings.
Pershing is also integrating the fourth generation of MoneyGuidePro with NetX360 to provide advisors with a client portal and goals-based planning.
Pershing is just the latest wealth management company warming up to the open-architecture approach. Fidelity is using its eMoney acquisition to let advisors choose between Fidelity technology or a third party that integrates with emX, and Envestnet announced would open up its API.
More details will be made available at the INSITE conference.