Financial advisors can now access digital asset education through a big name in financial services, thanks to a new fintech partner from north of the border.
Late last week,
One of the ways MeetAmi aims to accomplish that mission is through "
The recently unveiled partnership brings AmiLearn to Morningstar Advisor Workstation, Morningstar's web-based platform for financial professionals. The tool is accessible through the App Hub in Morningstar Advisor Workstation, giving subscribers free and additional paid educational content related to digital assets.
Kevin Reed, the head of strategic platform partnerships at Morningstar, said the pairing is an exciting endeavor, stating that the Morningstar team is ready to "equip wealth management firms and their advisors with the resources they need to navigate this growing asset class and better serve their clients."
MeetAmi CEO Hashim Mitha told Financial Planning that as cryptocurrencies continue to evolve and attract attention, advisors are often asked by clients to help them understand the asset class.
He explained that MeetAmi Innovations got its start about three years ago with the focus to "empower advisors to be able to engage in the world of digital assets." It began with tools to help advisors build portfolios and make direct investments into digital assets.
"But as we rolled that out, we recognized that advisors really needed to build an understanding of the industry first. And there are constantly evolving requirements from regulators," Mitha said before referencing the
In that document, the regulator called attention to advisors' duty of care and warned brokers to carefully consider alternatives before recommending cryptocurrencies, asset-backed securities and other risky and complex products.
"The need and understanding of digital assets is something that is really challenging for a lot of advisors," Mitha said. "For one, there is no single place of aggregated content to be able to get them going on this journey."
But beyond that, Mitha said the industry needs to look at building communities of practice and do a better job of connecting advisors to experts so they can dive deeper into specific areas of interest.
"We actually ledger your learning journey on the blockchain so that compliance within your firm has an immutable record of the learning journey you've been on," he said. "It's a far greater learning challenge than just delivering a course. And our mission was to provide the tools and resources to help advisors and to support their clients.
For advisors who haven't yet been approached by a client with questions, Mitha said that time is coming sooner rather than later.
"Our belief is every advisor has a responsibility to their clients to either get to a qualified yes, that this investment makes sense. Or to a qualified no, this does not make sense for you. But for it to be qualified requires you to have knowledge and understanding," he said. "There are a lot of places on the web where you can get information about what is blockchain or what is Bitcoin. And a lot of advisors are fully justified to say, no, you should not be investing in Bitcoin. It doesn't make sense. But you have to have come to that conclusion through an understanding of the industry and what's happening."
The new MeetAmi and Morningstar deal is the latest effort to bolster the wealth management industry's collective crypto knowledge as the asset class continues to draw headlines, crashes and controversy.
In March, the Ric Edelman-led
Along with a segment that teaches advisors how to integrate digital assets into their practice and explain crypto to clients, the expanded DACFP program includes lessons for financial professionals who aren't client-facing that focus on regulation and operational issues; a industry track for those employed in the digital assets community; and an investor/consumer/student track pitched as a place for enthusiasts and the crypto-curious.
Last June,
Other efforts to bolster digital asset education in wealth management include
Interaxis began in 2019 as a YouTube channel for certified financial planner Adam Blumberg and financial analyst Ron Dixon to explain the world of blockchain and decentralized finance. As the platform grew, Blumberg closed his RIA to work full time on digital asset education.
For Blumberg, the pairing MeetAmi pairing with Morningstar is valuable for advisors.
"Regardless of what the SEC is doing, clients overwhelmingly have invested in crypto," he said. "They have a Coinbase account or something. It's kind of incumbent on the advisor to know something about it to the point that they can have conversations with the clients rather than the clients hiding it from them, or rather than the advisor going 'you should sell that and go to an S&P fund.' Or the advisor going, 'I just can't talk to you about it.
"So whether or not the advisors can advise their clients on crypto or manage it I think is less relevant than asking, do your clients have it? Are they interested? Do you want to have a conversation about it?"
