Schwab RIA Custody Data Added to Morningstar Office

By joining the Schwab OpenView Gateway platform, Morningstar now has direct access to Schwab systems and those of other participating technology providers. The integration will make real-time custodial data from Charles Schwab available within Morningstar Office—a scalable practice and portfolio management platform that facilitates advanced research, performance reporting and secure client communications.

Schwab says the new technology enhancements are part of its ongoing effort to integrate with new platforms and technology systems tailored for independent registered investment advisers (RIAs). This particular integration should help RIAs make more informed investing decisions and provide better client service through improved efficiency in their practices, Schwab says.

“Morningstar Office is a popular solution among the advisers we serve, and we currently have more than 1,000 shared clients who could benefit from our new working relationship,” explains Neesha Hathi, senior vice president for adviser technology solutions, Schwab Advisor Services. “Working with Morningstar underscores our continued commitment to a flexible, open architecture technology platform for better business outcomes.”

Currently, more than 2,000 independent advisers on Schwab’s platform use some facet of Morningstar’s data and research offerings, Hathi explains, highlighting the opportunity for wide scale integration between the companies.

“This agreement allows Morningstar to deliver more value to independent RIAs,” adds Tricia Rothschild, head of global adviser solutions for Morningstar.

In a related announcement, Schwab provided additional updates on its Client Experience Transformed initiative. After a successful pilot, Schwab will proceed with the phased launch of new electronic approval tools allowing clients of RIAs to easily and securely approve forms and wires on the go. Schwab says the new tools help advisers drive efficiency and deliver a better client experience by streamlining paperwork and speeding up transaction processing.

Schwab also announced that Project PM2 (pronounced “PM squared”) will be in beta testing later this year and will be launched in 2015. Project PM2 will allow advisers to use Schwab data to create customized dashboards, reports and presentations.

In addition to these announcements, Schwab also provided details on a number of other integration updates impacting the Schwab OpenView Gateway platform. These include the following:

• MoneyGuidePro – The full integration with Gateway has now launched, enabling advisers to link client profiles and account information back to MoneyGuidePro’s financial planning software system. This can help advisers save time on data entry and create more precise snapshots of assets and future investment scenarios.

• Naviplan by Advicent – Integration with the Naviplan financial planning tool is now available for independent advisers. This integration will allow advisers to directly transfer client profiles, accounts, holdings, balances and fees to increase the speed and accuracy of financial plans. The integration can also help advisers reduce manual data entry.

• Salentica Inc. – Schwab has initiated the second phase of integration with Salentica CRM Advisor Edition. This increases data accessibility and enables unified client service processing from within the Salentica client relationship management (CRM) system, Schwab says. The offering will be made generally available late July.

• Advisor Rebalancing by Envestnet / Tamarac – Now in a pilot program stage with trade integration capabilities, Advisor Rebalancing allows advisers to submit trade files they produce directly to Schwab via Schwab OpenView Gateway.

• Junxure – Following Junxure’s comprehensive desktop integration with Gateway, Junxure and Schwab are moving into pilot with integration of Junxure’s cloud-based CRM solution, Junxure Cloud.

“The continued evolution of added capabilities and integration with participants further enhances the technology solutions available to advisers, helping to not only improve client service, but to save time and drive efficiency,” Hathi says. “Combined with hands-on consultative guidance from Schwab on how to optimize this technology, advisers can put themselves in a position to serve clients better, now and in the future.”

More information about Schwab technology programs is available here.