Just as consumers want access to multiple television streaming platforms on one device, financial advisors are driving their technology providers to create a single platform that provides them the ability to manage different transactions across a portfolio in one digital place.
In the last four years, the percentage of platform sponsors who reported moving to a single platform architecture for their managed accounts more than doubled from 14% to 30%, according to a report by Cerulli Associates. Conversely, the number of respondents who said they work in a multiplatform environment fell from 32% in 2020 to 20% in 2024.
"The evolution of the industry is moving away from these individual, product-focused platforms toward this UMA [unified managed accounts] that can basically do everything," said Scott Smith, a director of advice relationships at Cerulli. "With unified managed accounts (UMA) "you can hold any type of security, from an individual stock to an individual bond, to ETFs to mutual funds — all in this one account. So you can treat the account as a portfolio, instead of having separate buckets where you were using separate products."
The shift toward unified managed accounts also speaks to a larger trend of advisor platforms and tech providers consolidating or partnering to create a single entry point for advisors to handle transactions and everyday workflows.
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"It is very early innings in the RIA channel" who've long managed portfolios internally but "I think that dynamic is changing," said Brendan Falls, executive vice president and chief growth officer at GeoWealth, a turnkey asset-management platform for RIAs based in Chicago. "There's certainly an appetite for more UMAs. I think our asset management partners have felt that, and that's all going to lead to more of a consolidation of all model portfolio needs in UMA platforms."
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In late June, GeoWealth and BlackRock announced a partnership launching new custom model portfolios so users can access fixed income, direct indexing, semi-liquid alternative products and other offerings on a single UMA platform. That same month, Asset-Map, a digital tool for portfolio management, joined tax-planning software provider Holistiplan to offer more tax services through a single sign-on platform.
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And more recently, RIA custodian TradePMR announced on July 17 an integration with advisory platform Advyzon so advisors can have more streamlined workflows like a single sign-on capability and direct access to client documents, billing and trade orders.
"As we continue to offer the resources advisors need to serve their clients, the partners we integrate with represent a critical access point to delivering on our promise," John Mackowiak, chief revenue officer of Advyzon, said in the announcement. "These new enhancements with TradePMR reflect that commitment to continually improving our solutions, supporting advisors as effectively and efficiently as possible."
While tech platforms are moving to a single entry point architecture, there is still a long way to go. The Cerulli report said that 60% of respondents expected at least two years to reach a platform consolidation process. Part of that, Smith said, is due to the "stalwart hold-outs," or the older advisors who are content with their traditional operating systems with little intention to adopt change.
"The best technology is going to be an elusive goal for everyone. And making advisors more efficient, giving them more time to spend in front of their clients, to spend more time prospecting and spend less time distracted by the annoyances of technology is everyone's goal," Smith said. "But how do we get there? And the problem is that with every advancement, the acceptance of new technology is going to look like a bell curve."
