Global Wealth Manager New Investor Gateway Portal Represents First Phase of Digital Wealth Management Experience Buildout
Oppenheimer & Co., the New York-based global investment bank and wealth manager, recently announced the launch of a new client and financial advisor-facing digital wealth management platform.
The platform encompasses a suite of tools that deliver an “interconnected and intuitive wealth management technology” that further enables the development of the client-advisor relationship, according to a press release shared by Oppenheimer.
Investor Gateway Portal
The technology, called Investor Gateway, allows clients to open new accounts and for advisors to gather critical data and process it through a streamlined workflow. According to the company, the platform uses behavioral science to inform a “client journey,” which the firm believes will improve digital engagement and the advisor-client relationship.
“We now offer some of the most powerful digital tools available in the wealth management space,” said Ed Harrington, Oppenheimer executive vice president and head of the Private Client Division, in an email interview with Wealth Solutions Report.
But these tech-enabled solutions should not be seen as replacing the vital interpersonal relationships between advisors and clients, Harrington further explained.
“It’s essential to remember that wealth management is still a human business,” he said. “Technology can and should make an advisor’s job easier, completing repetitive, mundane and administrative tasks or making sense out of massive data sets in real-time to inform decisions. However, nothing can replace the trust and understanding born of a well-established and maintained relationship.”
Striking the Right Balance
Oppenheimer’s digital experience platform aims to find the right balance of technology-enabled processing and human interaction, Harrington added.
“We will continue to identify tools and solutions that enable advisors to focus on and enhance client relationships. From embedding marketing and communications tools…to digitizing all aspects of account openings and financial planning [within our advisor platform], our investments aim to allow advisors to focus on building meaningful relationships with clients.”
Oppenheimer developed this platform in partnership with InvestCloud, a fintech firm focused on digital transformation and automation within the financial services industry.
The platform allows prospective clients to review firm-specific and personal content and product-related information, a simplified and digital client onboarding process, and a “bi-direction document vault” for advisors and clients to share important information and forms.
According to Harrington, “Automation of middle and back-office capabilities will drive significant efficiencies into the future and likely will see additional investment from major players in the industry.”
“We will apply these advances to our ecosystem, where we believe it will best support the advisor’s relationship with clients.”
James Miller, Contributing Editor & Research Analyst, can be reached at ContributingEd@wealthsolutionsreport.com
