On Thursday, FolioDynamix announced its partnership with Apex Clearing to usher in a new wave of customer-centric investment technology in the wake of the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule. The collaboration of the two fintech companies reportedly combines turnkey investment technology from FolioDynamix with automated and expedited account opening and verification from Apex.
As previously reported, Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule deals with the conduct of investment advisors and broker dealers. It will also impact the growing sector of Robo-Advisors that provide more automated types of financial guidance. These platforms compete with more analog advisors. The rule was notably crafted to require financial advisors to only recommend financial investments that are suitable for the investor. The advisor must act as your fiduciary and look out for interests instead of someone else’s (like their own).
While sharing details about the partnership, the duo revealed:
“Whether or not the DOL Fiduciary Rule ultimately emerges from its political quagmire to force compliance and enforce the Rule, wealth industry experts recognize the need to reform their mindset, approach and products for the best interest of investors. The FolioDynamix-Apex partnership allows the two financial service leaders to spearhead that process by innovating the next generation of automated investment tools.”
FolioDynamix President and COO Steve Dunlap, stated:
“Rather than debate the pros and cons of regulation, we believe the more compelling and productive focus for our industry and the people we serve is simply, how to best serve the investor, or end customer, period. We should be looking at ways to change the current narrative about financial advisors and frankly, what threatens the advancement of financial services. It is incumbent upon us all to meet the quickly evolving needs and expectations of our customers.”
Apex Clearing CEO Bill Capuzzi, also commented:
“Apex Clearing has been at the forefront of financial innovation for years, with our technology able to eliminate the paper-laden onboarding process and reduce the time it takes to open, verify and fund an account from days to literally minutes. Our exciting partnership with FolioDynamix allows us to help usher even more investment advisors into the digital age and provide their clients with the kind of efficient, responsive experience they have come to expect and demand in all aspects of their lives.”
Dunlap further explained:
“The account opening and onboarding process needs to be improved and automated across the industry. Apex has committed its resouces to digitizing the entire custodial experience, placing itself on the leading edge of transforming this archaic, cumbersome and paper-driven process. We’re thrilled to partner with this team to scale that process and deliver the delightful user experience that our customers are looking for.”
He went on to add:
“This partnership is part of a necessary industry transformation where we consider the entire investment process and re-imagine it in a digital construct, so we can determine how to facilitate investor-advisor interaction and development of trust and rapport. We think this effort to deliver a digital experience by which the investor considers, creates and consumes financial advice in new ways, makes the advisor more relevant, not less.”