Advisor Hub talks to our Chairman and CEO Stephen C. Daffron about BetaNXT’s vision and the challenges facing advisors and investors.
BetaNXT launched in July of 2022, the result of a carve out of the BETA post-trade processing, Maxit, and Digital Investor capabilities from the London Stock Exchange Group. Operating now as BetaNXT, we are a leading technology provider of software-, data-, and operations-as-a-service for the wealth management industry, providing solutions that enable wealth management firms and broker dealers to self-clear. Our primary offering includes securities processing, custody, clearing, servicing, tax reconciliation and cost basis reporting, portals, and advisor tools. We provide frictionless wealth management solutions that empower our clients to deliver a comprehensive, end-to-end advisor and investor experience, powering over 50 million investors and 37 million transactions per day.
What is the BetaNXT vision – can you expand on the concept of frictionless wealth management?
Every wealth technology company claims to be revolutionizing the wealth management industry, but few have the proof points to back it up. BetaNXT is building out a leading, end-to-end wealth management set of solutions that helps wealth management firms and broker dealers deliver a better experience, with real-time data visibility, to their advisor clients.
Our proof is in the concept of “connected wealth” – BetaNXT is integrating its solutions into a single tech stack to provide clients a frictionless experience, with the goal of zero reconciliation, to increase efficiency and improve costs.
We are seeing that the demand curve is fundamentally shifting when it comes to how wealth management firms want to serve advisors and clients. More wealth institutions than ever are looking to move away from fully-disclosed servicing models – which can be restrictive and limiting in their ability to provide clients with access to sophisticated, connected products – to a self-clearing model that gives wealth institutions more control over their revenue, their brand, their offerings, and their experience.
BetaNXT provides integrated SaaS capabilities and operational services, which removes friction from processes and enables clients to support their customers’ wealth goals. Examples include our Operations as a Service offering, which enables firms to outsource operational management functions; mutual fund sub-accounting services; digital advisor and investor portal solutions; tax reconciliation and cost basis reporting; investor communication services such as statements, confirms, and prospectuses; and integrated, value-add platforms such as alternative investment capabilities.
What are the top challenges facing wealth advisors and investors that BetaNXT is solving?
In 2022, McKinsey released a study that showed advisors are spending up to 70% of their time on “non-advisor” activities, citing a “lack of unified platforms” and a high degree of manual data processing among the top obstacles. The higher the demand on resources for operational needs, the lower the capacity advisors have to actually service their clients’ needs, resulting in missed opportunities for optimization and higher investment returns.
BetaNXT is providing a service that brings the breadth and depth of a fully-disclosed offering to a more open, flexible self-clearing model. In addition to the financial benefits for firms and advisors in a self-clearing model, our focus on technology as an enabler is more cost-efficient and allows for more control over the advisor experience. Through a combination of build, partnerships, and strategic acquisitions, BetaNXT is developing a true connected wealth ecosystem where capabilities are built across a single tech stack, eliminating reconciliations, and saving advisors time and resources.
What will a wealth advisor be able to do that they couldn’t do yesterday because of BetaNXT?
With the acquisition of Mediant, advisors will now be able to add technology-enabled investor communications and proxy services to their suite of offerings. Integrated data will provide a view of their clients and households that was not available before, offering a greater understanding of the investor communications in play at any given time. Our objective is to offer access to planning, trading, performance, onboarding, tax management, and practice management in one integrated service. Connecting the supplementary, value-add capabilities of investor communications and proxy solutions to our existing offering is the next step in our evolution to become a more comprehensive provider.
What is next for BetaNXT?
Our immediate plans include expanding operations as a service, enabling our clients and prospects to access our expert resources; as well as continued focus on innovation in advisor and investor solutions, including tax optimization and cost basis reporting. We maintain our focus on targeted acquisitions to accelerate delivery and time to market of core, connected wealth management capabilities. And, we will continue to make investments in, and seek partnerships with, other entities that can help us deliver best of breed solutions to solve our clients’ most pressing challenges.
Source: AdvisorHub
