Product Partnerships – 1/24/24

Pontera Announces Partnership With Commonwealth Financial Network  

Pontera announced it has signed an agreement with Commonwealth Financial Network, allowing Commonwealth’s affiliated advisers to manage clients’ retirement plan assets via Pontera. 

The partnership follows Pontera’s announcement of its latest funding round led by ICONIQ Growth, the venture capital firm that also backed Zoom, Uber, and Airbnb. According to a statement from the New York-based firm, the partnership is Pontera’s largest publicly-announced agreement with a national registered investment advisory. 

“We are thrilled about this partnership with Commonwealth, a real titan in the wealth management industry,” David Goldman, chief business officer of Pontera, said in a statement. “We look forward to equipping Commonwealth advisers with the tools to integrate 401(k) and 403(b) assets into custom financial strategies for their clients.” 

SELAX Brokerage Enhances Annuity Transaction Efficiency With Luma Financial Technologies 

SELAX Brokerage Agency LLC, the brokerage of ECA Marketing, and its subsidiaries have engaged Luma Financial Technologies, an alternatives and annuities platform, to provide resources for advisers transacting in annuities on behalf of their clients. With the addition of Luma’s technology to SELAX’s platform, advisers benefit from a more efficient annuity transaction process, according to the firms. 

Luma gives financial advisers specializing in annuities tools such as the Annuity Product Configuration and Luma Compare features, in one location. Advisers can also customize product features for clients, according to the announcement.

“By expanding our offerings to SELAX, advisers will gain access to our advanced tools, enhancing the ease of learning, transacting, and managing annuities,” Steve Acosta, director of National Sales at Luma Financial Technologies, said in a statement.  

Ritholtz Wealth Management and AdvisorEngine Partner On Digital-First Wealth Advisement 

AdvisorEngine, a wealth management platform, and Ritholtz Wealth Management, a national registered investment adviser, detailed their recent partnership on a digital-first wealth management offering last week.

The collaboration follows Ritholtz Wealth’s acquisition of BlackRock Inc.’s digital advice service, FutureAdvisor, in 2023, and the selection of AdvisorEngine’s Wealth Management Platform as the foundation for its Good Advice offering. The solution combines digital and human-driven financial planning to “mass affluent” households with $250,000 to $1,000,000 million in assets.  

 AdvisorEngine CEO Rich Cancro provided support in the technological integration while also overseeing the transition of thousands of accounts onto the new platform, according to the announcement. The process involved comprehensive data validation and migration, including historical performance, transactions, billing schedules and investment models. 

“We’re using technology where technology is warranted but it’s a human-driven advisory service that I think represents the future of this industry,” Joshua Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, said in a statement.