Table Of Content1
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
AND
WEALTH
MANAGERS
How
Mobile
Solutions
Will
Revolutionize
the
Relationship
Between
Financial
Advisors
and
Their
Clients
March
2013
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
|
2
CONTENTS
1
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
4
4
¬ Key
dimensions
of
the
advisor
mobile
solution
market
6
¬ Methodology
6
2
REPORT
FOCUS
8
¬ Apps
and
solutions
that
help
with
meetings
8
¬ Selecting
solutions
on
the
basis
of
core
advisor
functions
8
¬ Breadth
of
Functionality
in
Individual
Solutions
9
¬ Mobile
Technologies
9
¬ The
Wider
Picture
10
3
METHODOLOGY
12
3.1
The
core
of
a
successful
advisor
solution
12
3.2
Mobile
solution
functions
and
general
characteristics
13
3.3
Solution
Characteristics
16
3.4
Evaluation
Procedure
17
3.5
Recommendations
18
4
MARKET
OVERVIEW:
HOW
MOBILE
SOLUTIONS
FOR
ADVISORS
WILL
REVOLUTIONIZE
CLIENT
MEETINGS
19
4.1
The
popularity
of
mobile
devices
among
financial
advisors
19
4.2
A
new
sector
21
4.3
What
advisors
want
from
mobile
solutions
22
4.4
Advisor
Mobile
Solution
Providers
22
4.5
Mobile
solutions
for
advisor/client
meetings
23
4.6
Design
principles
25
4.7
Vendors’
progress
so
far
26
4.8
Coverage
of
regional
markets
27
4.9
Device
coverage
28
4.10
Vendor
platforms
and
back-‐end
system
integration
28
4.11
Solution
marketing
28
5
MOBILE
SOLUTIONS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
–
CHOOSING
THE
RIGHT
SOLUTION
30
5.1
A
potential
advisor
solution
in
outline
30
5.2
Mobile
Solution
Research
32
5.3
Return-‐on-‐investment
analysis
33
5.4
Request
for
proposal
and
vendor
bids
33
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
|
3
6
SUMMARY
OF
FINDINGS:
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
ADVISORS
ON
THE
RIGHT
TRACK
36
6.1
Overall
findings
36
6.2
Origins
of
mobile
solutions
36
6.3
Overview
of
functions
38
6.4
Conclusions
about
advisor
solution
functions
39
¬ Portfolio
management,
presentation
and
performance:
a
core
area
of
strength
39
¬ CRM:
adding
value
for
the
advisor
39
¬ Trading
capabilities:
not
found
in
many
apps
39
¬ Report
publishing
and
client
contacting
remains
disappointing
40
¬ Designing
for
meetings
41
¬ Communication
is
key
42
¬ Devices
supported
42
¬ Native/web-‐enabled
42
¬ Compatibility
constraints
with
back-‐end
systems
43
¬ Customizability/configurability
43
¬ Compliance
43
¬ Security
44
¬ Implementation
44
¬ Matching
client
apps:
vendors
don’t
yet
recognize
the
need
for
them
44
¬ Vendors
must
strengthen
their
marketing
case
45
7
VENDOR
PROFILES
46
7.1
Advent
–
Black
Diamond
/
iPad
App
–
Advanced
App
46
7.2
Appway
/
Mobile
Client
Onboarding
52
7.3
Avaloq/Avaloq
Front
Suite
/
Wealth
Advisory
Solution
57
7.4
Charles
River
Development/Charles
River
Mobile
62
7.5
DST
Systems
Inc.
/
DST
Vision
Mobile
67
7.6
Finantix/Finantix
Wealth
Apps
71
7.7
Kony
Solutions
/
Kony
Mobile
Financial
Advisor
75
7.8
MicroStrategy
/
MicroStrategy
Wealth
Management
Solutions
79
7.9
Polaris
FT
/
Intellect
FABX
for
iPad
83
7.10
SunGard/Mobile
Meeting
for
Portfolio
Management
and
Mobile
Meeting
for
Financial
Planning
88
8
DISCLAIMERS
95
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
|
4
1 EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.1.1.1
—
«
We
are
now
just
three
years
into
a
rapidly
growing
new
mobile
sector:
mobile
solutions
for
financial
advisors.
MyPrivateBanking
Research
views
this
field
as
one
of
the
most
challenging
and
industry-‐disruptive
that
has
yet
been
touched
by
the
21st
century’s
mobile
device
revolution.
»
Generally
speaking,
our
researchers
were
impressed
by
the
depth
of
information
and
sheer
numbers
of
features
that
vendors
are
providing
in
the
first
generation
of
advisor
mobile
solutions.
It
has
become
clear
that
these
solutions
show
the
potential
to
greatly
improve
the
interaction
between
advisor
and
client
by
supplying
real-‐time
information,
multi-‐media
content
and
new
ways
of
communication.
However,
our
impression
is
that
most
advisor
solutions
still
show
too
many
indications
of
their
origins.
In
other
words,
the
point
of
departure
for
the
developers
of
these
solutions,
the
vendors’
main
wealth
management
platforms,
still
tends
to
dominate
their
design.
Their
potential
for
revolutionizing
advisor/client
interactions
can
often
be
glimpsed
but
is
not
yet
fully
developed.
All
the
solutions
that
we
analysed
have
unique
features
and
strengths.
Depending
on
a
wealth
manager’s
strategic
needs
and
existing
software
solutions,
they
present
a
wide
choice
of
different
tools.
However,
we
would
like
to
point
out
for
recommendation
four
solutions
that
displayed
extraordinary
capabilities:
□ Appway:
a
mobile
solution
focused
on
the
onboarding
process
that
can
give
significant
support
to
wealth
managers
in
gaining
new
clients
and
complying
swiftly
with
KYC
and
other
regulation,
customized
for
specific
jurisdictions.
□ MicroStrategy:
the
ability
to
build
the
most
comprehensive
advisor
solutions
available,
on
a
customized
basis,
leveraging
great
expertise
in
business
intelligence.
□ PolarisFT:
an
advisor
solution
incorporating
excellent
design
features
for
financial
planning
and
performance
viewing,
based
on
thorough
user
experience
testing
methods
□ SunGard:
a
pair
of
solutions
that
cover
the
main
financial
advisor
functions,
targeted
at
the
smaller
wealth
management
businesses
and
exhibiting
attractive
design
and
good
use
of
mobile
visualization
tools
Not
only
is
the
advisor
mobile
solution
sector
new
but
it
faces
a
number
of
fresh
challenges,
ones
that
have
not
arisen
up
until
now
in
the
market
for
mobile
apps
dedicated
solely
to
consumers.
Most
significantly,
advisor
mobile
solutions
have
to
bridge
the
needs
of
two
different
categories
of
user,
the
advisor
or
other
representative
of
the
wealth
management
firm
and
their
clients.
Moreover,
advisor
solutions
have
to
handle
a
level
of
complexity
and
a
depth
of
information
that
is
of
a
completely
different
order
to
that
required
of
most
consumer
apps.
Mobile
solutions
for
financial
advisors
need
to
enable
not
just
single
interactions
but
to
help
to
sustain
relationships
that
can
last
for
many
years.
Yes,
they
must
normally
be
capable
of
a
large
number
of
different
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
|
5
functions
but
they
also
have
to
perform
in
a
way
that
doesn’t
interfere
with
advisor
being
able
to
establish
the
all
-‐important
sense
of
connection
with
the
client.
There
is
no
doubt
that
the
advisor
mobile
solutions
covered
by
this
report
represent
an
impressive
achievement
in
terms
of
delivering
the
vendors’
core
services
via
the
new
medium
of
mobile
devices.
MyPrivateBanking
Research’s
starting
point
in
analyzing
mobile
apps
of
all
kinds
is
their
great
potential
for
revolutionizing
all
forms
of
contact
and
interaction,
whether
that
is
private
individual
to
private
individual,
corporation
to
staff
or
business
to
customer.
In
the
case
of
advisor
solutions,
designed
to
support
complex
client
relationships,
their
key
point
of
relevance
is
in
enhancing
advisor/client
meetings.
With
meeting
facilitation
capabilities
as
our
main
yardstick,
our
conclusion
was
that,
while
these
advisor
solutions
are
generally
rich
in
content
and
functionality,
there
is
plenty
of
scope
for
developing
their
relevance
to
client
meetings.
For
instance,
six
out
of
10
vendors
provide
a
comprehensive
and
detailed
portfolio
management
system
and
five
had
good
performance
reporting
capabilities
but
only
four
allowed
an
advisor
to
produce
ad
hoc
reports
on
the
spur
of
the
moment.
Although
almost
all
the
vendors
we
researched
certainly
intend
their
solutions
to
be
taken
to
advisor/client
meetings,
as
a
group,
they
are
only
just
beginning
to
pay
attention
to
making
meetings
more
satisfactory
for
all
concerned,
let
alone
more
enjoyable.
To
give
an
idea
of
the
scale
of
the
challenge
facing
advisor
solution
vendors
and
their
wealth
management
customers,
just
one
of
the
solutions
researched
evidenced
a
well
thought
out
meeting
preparation
component.
Solutions
do
an
excellent
job
in
helping
advisors
to
carry
lots
of
information
into
meetings
but
do
less
well
when
it
comes
to
meeting
dynamics.
Our
research
found
that
all
of
the
advisor
mobile
solutions
demonstrated
different
aspects
of
good
practice
in
solution
design
and
four
of
the
solutions
were
well
designed
throughout.
However,
collectively,
good
mobile
app
features
were
too
infrequent.
Generally
speaking,
so
far,
vendors
don’t
appear
to
be
doing
enough
yet
to
enable
advisor/client
interactions
that
are
either
memorable,
effective
or
convenient.
When
it
comes
to
particular
areas
where
solutions
disappoint,
report
publishing
and
client
contacting
are
functions
capabilities
are
unnecessarily
limited.
None
of
the
solutions
covered
in
the
report
provided
the
kind
of
full
and
flexible
report
publishing
options,
both
for
standard
and
ad
hoc
reports,
that
we
would
hope
to
see
available
to
advisors
in
client
meetings.
In
the
area
of
contact
options,
which
are
essential
to
good
client
relationships,
only
three
vendors
provided
the
full
range
of
phone,
e-‐mail
and
geolocation
that
we
checked
for.
In
terms
of
solution
branding
and
promotion
via
vendor
websites,
there
was
a
serious
information
deficit
in
relation
to
all
but
four
of
the
vendors’
products
and
none
of
the
websites
did
full
justice
to
their
advisor
solutions.
Particular
problems
included
confusing
product
names,
lack
of
background
information
about
solution
versions,
a
dearth
of
data
relating
to
security
matters
and
an
absence
of
high
quality
video
material
specifically
about
advisor
solution
offerings.
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
|
6
Key
dimensions
of
the
advisor
mobile
solution
market
In
this
report,
MyPrivateBanking
Research
has
taken
a
long,
hard
look
at
the
available
solutions
to
bring
clarity
to
a
number
of
important
issues
and
trends:
□ We
have
examined
who
the
advisor
solution
vendors
are
(in
terms
of
their
product
roots
and
established
areas
of
expertise)
and
what
significance
this
has
had
for
the
solutions
in
the
market.
□ We
look
at
the
breadth
of
functionality
of
the
solutions
and
the
main
target
groups:
solutions
for
advisor
brokers,
ones
for
regulated
advisors
and
ones
mainly
for
larger
wealth
management
institutions.
□ The
report
identifies
some
key
patterns
in
product
construction.
This
enables
us
to
gauge
the
significance
of
different
approaches
to
the
typically
heavy
function
load
of
an
advisor
solution,
such
as
pairs
of
advisor
apps
or
a
completely
modular
strategy.
□ We
show
how
advisor
mobile
solutions
can
relate
to
the
real
life
work
of
financial
advisors
both
currently
and
in
the
future.
In
particular,
we
demonstrate
how
all
the
core
goals
of
advisor/client
meetings
could
be
taken
to
a
different
level
by
advisor
apps.
□ We
pay
careful
attention
to
the
main
areas
of
uncertainty
in
the
advisor
solution
market
including,
iOS
dominance
as
an
operating
system
and
speed
at
which
mobile
solutions
for
financial
advisors
will
be
adopted
across
the
industry.
The
insights
and
overall
analysis
of
the
sector
provide
a
timely
means
for
wealth
managers
and
vendors
alike
to
see
what’s
around
the
corner
in
relation
to
advisor
mobile
solutions.
Methodology
In
a
first
step,
we’ve
identified
10
vendors
whose
mobile
solutions
for
wealth
management
and
financial
advisors
met
our
carefully
crafted
selection
criteria.
Each
vendor’s
solution
or
solutions
is
covered
in
a
comprehensive
individual
profile,
consistently
presented
to
facilitate
easy
comparison.
Our
analysis
of
advisor
mobile
solutions
is
based
on
identifying
a
number
of
headline
functions,
each
of
which
is
available
to
some
extent
in
several
of
the
solutions
covered
in
the
report.
These
top
level
functions
include
CRM,
onboarding
financial
planning,
portfolio
management,
reporting
and
client
communication
(including,
of
course
the
vital
area
of
client
meetings).
With
a
keen
awareness
of
the
main
concerns
of
wealth
management
firms
considering
equipping
advisors
with
mobile
solutions,
our
researchers
have
also
looked
at
important
solution
characteristics
such
as
3rd
party
system
integration
potential,
regulatory
compliance
capabilities,
security
measures
,
the
operating
systems
supported
and
vendors’
strategies
in
terms
of
building
native
apps
or
providing
mobile
compatible
websites.
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
|
7
Based
on
the
research
that
has
gone
into
the
factual
solution
descriptions
in
the
vendor
profiles,
this
report
gathers
together
a
wealth
of
sector-‐wide
factual
information
and
interpretation
in
chapters
covering
the
current
state
of
the
advisor
solution
market,
detailed
findings
relating
to
all
solutions
covered
and
the
required
components
of
a
successful
advisor
mobile
solution
project
from
the
wealth
manager’s
point
of
view.
All
our
findings
were
carefully
collated
and,
to
ensure
objectivity,
checked
by
other
analysts
in
the
MyPrivateBanking
Research
team.
In
order
to
guarantee
the
accuracy
of
our
fact
finding,
each
vendor
was
invited
to
verify
all
the
factual
material
collected
about
their
solution.
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
|
8
2 REPORT
FOCUS
In
this
chapter
we
look
firstly
at
the
solution
features
that
meant
that
a
solution
deserved
inclusion
in
the
detailed
coverage
of
the
report.
Secondly,
having
looked
at
those
solutions
that
have
been
included
and
why,
we
explain
why
some
solutions
have
not
been
included.
Apps
and
solutions
that
help
with
meetings
The
basic
criterion
that
we
were
looking
to
be
met
in
deciding
which
apps/solutions
to
include
was
whether
it
had
potential
to
assist
financial
advisors
directly
in
interfacing
with
their
wealth
clients,
especially
in
face
to
face
meetings.
We
would
like
to
make
very
clear,
from
the
beginning,
that
the
criteria
for
excellence
in
this
report
is
not
“technical”
but
is
driven
entirely
from
the
advisor’s
perspective
and
ultimately
by
the
perspective
and
needs
of
the
(end)-‐client.
It
is
the
process
and
interaction
between
advisor
and
client
that
we
focus
on.
This
process
can
be
improved,
enriched
and
made
much
more
effective
through
mobile
solutions
for
advisors.
It’s
the
aim
of
this
report
to
help
vendors
and
technology
purchasers
such
as
wealth
managers
and
private
banks
to
optimize
mobile
solutions
for
advisors.
The
rationale
for
this
basic
approach
was
our
belief
that
mobile
apps/solutions
come
into
their
own
in
giving
professionals
support
in
these
types
of
scenario.
That
is
to
say
that
mobile
is
most
effective
in
helping
with
specific
–
and
often
critical
–
tasks
and
in
helping
financial
organizations
engage
with
their
customers
and
prospective
customers.
Having
said
that,
we
need
to
add
that
the
solutions
we
were
interested
in
were
ones
that
fulfilled
core
advisor
functions.
Selecting
solutions
on
the
basis
of
core
advisor
functions
As
already
explained,
our
methodology
was
to
identify
over
thirty
separate
attributes
that
financial
advisor
mobile
solutions
might
assist
users
with
in
interacting
with
their
clients.
Most
of
these
attributes
could
be
grouped
under
just
one
headline
function,
though
there
were
some
capabilities,
such
as
helping
a
wealth
manager
business
with
compliance,
that
are
relevant
to
several
of
these
headline
functions.
It
is
important
to
understand
that
one
advisor
mobile
solution
can
have
very
different
scope
from
another.
For
instance,
while
one
solution
or
app
covers
just
one
of
these
functional
areas,
another
solution
might
have
a
much
broader
scope.
The
latter
is
not
necessarily
better
or
worse
than
the
former.
The
headline
functions
covered
by
‘Mobile
Solutions
for
Financial
Advisors’
are
as
follows:
□ Onboarding:
functions
that
enable
the
advisor
to
transform
a
prospect
into
a
client
while
fully
complying
with
regulatory
requirements,
including
providing
documentation
and
obtaining
signatures
etc.
□ Financial
Planning:
creation
of
a
financial
plan
that
corresponds
to
the
client’s
goals,
circumstances
and
preferences,
explaining
this
to
the
client,
initial
portfolio
construction
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
|
9
□ Trading:
securities
trading
on
the
client’s
behalf
□ Portfolio
analysis
and
management:
analyzing
a
portfolio
to
identify
possible
improvements,
maintaining,
modifying
the
portfolio
of
an
existing
client
□ Reporting:
explaining
the
performance
of
portfolio
either
for
compliance
reasons
or
more
generally
for
the
benefit
of
the
client’s
understanding
□ Report
Publishing:
providing
any
report
via
e-‐mail,
electronic
vault
or
in
print
□ Contacting:
contacting
the
client
by
phone,
e-‐mail,
social
media;
also
using
geolocation
for
the
purpose
of
meeting
or
visiting
the
client
In
addition
to
these
functions,
there
are
a
number
of
peripheral
ones
which
may
be
present
on
a
financial
advisor
solution
but
are
not
really
core
functions
for
the
individual
advisor
interacting
with
their
client.
For
instance,
some
solutions
will
have
business
intelligence
functions
that
relate
primarily
to
the
wealth
management
business
rather
than
assisting
the
advisor
with
client
meetings
or
interfacing
with
clients
in
a
more
general
sense.
CRM
is
a
borderline
area
and,
while
CRM
activities
need
not
necessarily
be
considered
as
core
for
the
purposes
of
this
report,
we
have
endeavored
to
include
information
about
them
in
the
profiles
for
the
individual
vendors.
Although
pure
CRM
solutions
are
not
included,
the
way
in
which
an
advisor
might
use
a
particular
solution
to
add
client
data
to
a
wealth
manager’s
CRM
system
using
a
mobile
solution
is
clearly
relevant.
Finally,
although
we
included
securities
trading
as
a
core
function
for
an
advisor
mobile
solution,
we
decided
that
solutions
that
focused
on
trading
exclusively
should
not
be
included.
The
reason
being
that
circumstances
where
“live-‐trading”
goes
on
while
the
advisor
interacts
with
the
client
will
be
rare.
Typically
trades
will
be
executed
after
the
meeting,
though
there
may
be
occasional
exceptions.
Breadth
of
Functionality
in
Individual
Solutions
We
emphasize
that
none
of
the
non-‐bespoke
solutions
that
we
looked
at
in
detail
covered
all
of
the
core
functions
that
an
advisor
mobile
solution
might
cover.
Moreover,
solutions
were
not
necessarily
favored
for
covering
a
lot
of
different
functions.
A
number
of
advisor
solutions
do
indeed
cover
an
impressive
array
of
functions
but
we
believe
that
it
is
equally
important
how
much
help
mobile
apps
and
solutions
provide
for
doing
individual
tasks
more
effectively.
So
this
report
covers
multi-‐functional
solutions
mainly
but
also
considers
solutions
that
enable
advisors
to
accomplish
just
one
or
two
tasks.
Mobile
Technologies
The
mobile
solutions
covered
in
this
report
include
native
apps
for
one
or
more
of
the
main
mobile
devices
available
together
with
solutions
that
are
mobile
compatible
or
mobile
web
applications.
In
most
cases
these
are
based
on
iOS.
In
some
cases
vendors
have
a
web-‐based
service,
a
mobile
web
application
plus
a
genuine
native
app
with
significant
overlaps
in
capabilities
in
their
product
range.
Solution
descriptions
in
the
MOBILE
APPS
FOR
FINANCIAL
ADVISORS
|
10
individual
profiles
include
details
of
these
product
‘relationships’.
Likewise,
we’ve
included
information
about
any
sister
applications
from
a
vendor
for
the
end-‐user
wealth
client.
The
mobile
solutions
covered
in
this
report
cover
a
wide
range
of
customization
capabilities
from
products
that
are
exclusively
‘off-‐the-‐shelf’
to
ones
where
customization
potential
is
a
key
or
dominant
characteristic
of
the
vendor’s
offering.
In
the
case
of
two
vendors,
MicroStrategy
and
Appway,
their
mobile
offerings
are
exclusively
bespoke
ones.
In
the
case
of
the
majority
vendors
covered,
where
there
is
a
product
with
a
fixed
or
mainly
fixed
set
of
attributes,
we
have
focused
on
that
‘off
the
shelf’
offering
rather
than
any
bespoke
solutions.
The
Wider
Picture
In
addition
to
the
mobile
solutions
that
we
have
covered
in
detail
in
our
Solution
Profiles,
there
are
a
number
of
other
categories
of
solutions
that
it’s
worth
to
bear
in
mind.
Firstly
there
are
organizations
currently
providing
systems
to
the
wealth
management
industry
that
haven’t
yet
launched
any
mobile
solutions
of
their
own.
Given
the
rapid
growth
of
the
numbers
and
capabilities
of
mobile
applications,
we
would
expect
most
of
these
to
enter
their
own
advisor
mobile
applications
of
one
sort
or
another
in
the
next
six
to
24
months.
Some
of
these,
such
as
Temenos
and
its
subsidiary
Odyssey,
already
have
mobile
solutions
for
related
industries
such
as
banking.
In
the
course
of
our
research
we
also
became
aware
of
some
mobile
solutions,
such
as
Fiserv’s
mobile
application,
that
are
due
to
be
launched
in
the
next
few
months.
These
were
excluded
from
this
report
but
will
clearly
have
a
role
in
the
future
of
this
industry.
(One
advisor
solution,
SunGard’s
Mobile
Meeting
for
Financial
Planning
was
launched
while
our
research
was
taking
place
and
this
is
included
in
the
report.)
One
type
of
solution
provider
that
are
not
covered
in
this
report
are
fund
management
companies
that
have
launched
mobile
solutions
such
as
WealthCentral
from
Fidelity
or
Vanguard
for
Advisors.
The
rationale
for
excluding
this
type
of
solution
is
that,
by
the
fact
that
they
are
provided
by
fund
management
companies,
they
necessarily
only
provide
data
on
a
proportion
of
the
total
funds
available
to
investors,
even
in
the
US
market.
Apps
like
Veo
®Mobile
from
TD
Ameritrade
were
excluded
not
because
it
is
a
trading
app
(it
is
but
performs
a
number
of
other
important
functions
as
well)
but
because
the
app
is
only
available
to
advisors
who
use
TD
Ameritrade
Institutional
as
custodian
and
Veo®
as
their
trading
platform.
Also
in
this
category
of
solution
is
the
NetX360
mobile
app
from
Pershing.
Description:4.1 The popularity of mobile devices among financial advisors . SunGard: a pair of solutions that cover the main financial advisor functions, targeted.
