TD Ameritrade Rolls Out Adviser Platform

Advisers with Veo One will be able to bring their existing Veo Integrated applications onto a single platform, gaining a complete view of their clients and their firms. The platform builds on the foundation of Veo Open Access and its integration with 85 technology firms.

TD Ameritrade says Veo One can help boost adviser efficiency by completing account opening, billing, trading, cash management and other workflows with fewer clicks. The platform applies a user’s preferences and adapts to each user’s role at the firm, delivering needed information. 

Starting late last year, a small group of advisers began using an earlier version of Veo One that is integrated with five popular technology applications: DocuSign and Laser App Anywhere for account opening; financial planning software from MoneyGuidePro; Orion Advisor Services for portfolio management; and Redtail Technologies for customer relationship management (CRM). 

Throughout the year, TD Ameritrade will add technology providers and onboard more advisers. By the end of 2015, advisers using Veo One also will have access to Advent’s Black Diamond platform, eMoney Advisor, Finance Logix, Junxure, Laserfiche, Morningstar and Salesforce.com. TD Ameritrade says it will continue adding features and functionality from tech firms.    

The Veo One platform will serve as the launch pad for an adviser’s Veo Integrated applications, from CRM and account opening to financial planning, portfolio management and rebalancing. With multiple data streams flowing through Veo One, advisers can sign in once and navigate easily in and out of different applications while keeping client information in context. When users click over to a new application, they’re taken to the same client record they had been viewing.

Advisers can update information in one program and see the changes made automatically in its other integrated systems. Similarly, the platform collects investor information from different Veo Integrated applications onto one client view screen.

Other features are: one-click access to the adviser’s alerts, tasks and calendars; a summary page with access to CRM support, financial planning and portfolio management; drag-and-drop functionality among applications; and multi-custodial data views through third-party applications. Advisers can access account balances and positions, move money and, later this year, make trades, shift asset allocations and rebalance portfolios.

Accessible on Multiple Devices

Veo One’s responsive design means it can be accessed through desktop computers as well as through mobile devices. The platform is responsive to the habits and preferences of its users, analyzing activity patterns and then, like many popular online retailers, displaying more relevant information to that user. When opening a new client account, for example, the platform can display next steps and require fewer clicks.

Veo One gives the adviser a single point of access, which eliminates the need to switch in and out of different platforms, explains Jon Patullo, managing director of technology solutions at TD Ameritrade Institutional. “Firms can spend less time operating software and more time building their business,” he says.

TD Ameritrade cites the results of a survey in which roughly half the advisers expressed dissatisfaction with their level of technology integration. These advisers were seeking further investments to improve workflows and productivity, to increase their capacity to take on more clients and boost efficiency. 

TD Ameritrade Institutional has also redesigned a client website, AdvisorClient.com, and launched a free, cloud-based version of iRebal. These platforms form a technology ecosystem that can help advisers expand their firms, TD Ameritrade says.  

AdvisorClient lets investors track accounts, follow the markets and research investments. The redesigned site is a high-performance vehicle built on the chassis of TD Ameritrade’s newly redesigned retail brokerage website.

Like Veo One, the site learns the habits and preferences of each client. Users can personalize their screens with a collection of modular windows with information that’s important to them. AdvisorClient, also available as an iPhone application (app), in time will let clients mix and match other modular windows, such as video chat capabilities, many of which will be designed by third-party vendors. 

TD Ameritrade’s cloud-based portfolio rebalancing tool, iRebal, automates the labor-intensive task of rebalancing client portfolios, saving advisers significant amounts of time while letting them offer a higher level of service. Advisers also use the tool to manage cash flows and identify tax loss-harvesting opportunities, and can submit trades directly from iRebal to Veo.

“Advisers tell us it’s great that their applications can talk to each other and share information, but what they really want is for someone to bring their technology together one place,” says Tom Nally, president of TD Ameritrade Institutional. “With Veo One, we’ve answered that call. We’re building an advanced technology ecosystem, one that can help advisers evolve and thrive at the speed of innovation.”