EP Wealth Advisors acquired International Research & Asset Management. Grab Financial Group acquired Bento to offer retail wealth management solutions to users. OneDigital acquires Resources Investment Advisors. Riskalyze is rolling out its risk metrics to professionals at Farm Bureau Financial Services. WisdomTree Investments plans to offload its stake in AdvisorEngine. Marie Chandoha, former CEO of Charles Schwab Investment Management, joined Zoe Financial’s Advisory Committee. Charles Schwab catches up to Wealthfront and Personal Capital.
EP Wealth Advisors, an independent registered investment adviser that specialises in client-centric financial planning and investment management services, has acquired International Research & Asset Management (International Research). The acquisition establishes EP Wealth’s presence in Texas and enhances its investment management and strategic wealth planning expertise.
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Grab has announced that is has acquired Bento, a Singapore-based robo-advisory start-up, that will allow Grab to offer retail wealth management solutions to users, driver-partners and merchant-partners, via the Grab app. Grab Financial Group currently offers financial services across Southeast Asia in payments (GrabPay), rewards (GrabRewards), lending (GrabFinance), and insurance (GrabInsure) to micro-entrepreneurs, small business owners, driver-partners and users across Southeast Asia.
With the acquisition, Bento will be rebranded as GrabInvest with products launched on the Grab app in the first half of the year in Singapore. GrabInvest will be a new core business vertical under Grab’s financial services arm, Grab Financial Group, led by Chandrima Das, Founder and CEO, Bento.
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New York-based ETF provider WisdomTree Investments has unveiled plans to offload its $58m stake in wealth management technology platform AdvisorEngine. Notably, last month, WisdomTree made a strategic investment in Securrency, a blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology developer.
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Zoe Financial, Inc., a technology-driven marketplace that empowers individual investors to make better financial decisions, announced Marie Chandoha, former CEO of Charles Schwab Investment Management, has joined their Advisory Committee
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Charles Schwab’s improved digital financial planning tools place the firm’s user experience “on par” with leading independent automated advice platforms or so-called robo advisors Wealthfront and Personal Capital, according to “The Robo Report,” released by Backend Benchmarking.
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OneDigital, an employee benefits broker for small to midsize employers, announced plans to acquire Resources Investment Advisors, an Overland Park, Kan.-based registered investment advisory and super office of supervisory jurisdiction with Triad Advisors. The firm manages $45 billion and works primarily with employer-sponsored retirement plans.
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Financial professionals at Farm Bureau Financial Services will have access to Riskalyze’s risk assessment features in May, as the wealthtech company continues to use regulators’ “best interest” standard to sign firms up for its service. The deal will give approximately 1,000 more individuals at the financial services firm, which offers life insurance, annuities and investment products, access to Riskalyze, according to an announcement.
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