A firm that prides itself on offering a "pre-integrated" approach to wealth management talks to FWR about how, it says, it is trying to change the industry.

FusionIQ, a Massachusetts-based wealthtech that works with family offices, RIAs and other groups, has strong growth ambitions after what proved to be a helter-skelter 2024.

As reported, the business recently trumpeted achievements for 2024, including a raft of partnerships and C-suite appointments. 

“We are looking at 60 to 70 per cent growth as a target for 2025. It will be a stretch, but achievable,” Eric Noll (pictured), told Family Wealth Report in an interview. Noll was appointed last October.

The firm has chalked up collaborations with OnPoint Community Credit Union and Kinecta Federal Credit Union, for example. It has expanded access to digital investment services for OnPoint's 581,000-plus members in Oregon and Southwest Washington, and Kinecta's more than 270,000 members in California, New York, New Jersey, and Florida.

It has also launched pre-integrated platforms such as FIQ Journey, aimed at financial institutions and integrating hybrid digital advice and self-directed investing in a single package, and rolled out FIQ Wallet, the digital wealth management solution for wallet companies. There’s more: FusionIQ also achieved SOC 2 Type II compliance (cybersecurity). 

“The firm uses digitalization and technology to provide pre-integrated solutions for private wealth management to other firms, and to the public as well,” Noll said. Clients that can be covered by its services include mass-affluent, retail, as well as those in the HNW end of the wealth spectrum. 

“We are exploring the ability to bring alternatives to that middle [wealth] group through our portals and relationships,” Noll continued. “We are talking to suppliers of alternative investments so that we can package it [the investment] up for people not at the UHNW level. They typically don’t have access.”

Besides the business growth mentioned above, other changes include naming Pete Chiccino as chief operating officer; in December, Sloan Shanahan joined as chief revenue officer.

In Noll’s case, he previously held senior executive positions in leading organizations including Stone Ridge Capital Partners where he was CEO, and served as president and CEO of Convergex, the agency broker-dealer.

FusionIQ works with custodians such as BNY's Pershing, InteractBrokers, Fidelity, DriveWealth and APEX|Clearing.

The firm focuses only on the US market at present, although there are a few clients outside the country. It has 40 staff and is planning to recruit more. Its main office is in Woburn, Massachusetts, and it also has a Pennsylvania office.

A rising tide
“Wealth continues to grow and expand organically; we aren’t competing with traditional wealth managers, per se but most wealth management today is designed for a small amount of customers who have a lot less money. The business model has to accommodate an inversion if it wants to continue to grow. That requires removing frictions, costs and creating access,” Noll said. 

FWR asked Noll about the mass-affluent market – one that can sometimes be a tough segment to get exactly right, given the challenge of mass-customization, although arguably AI and other digital marvels may help with that.

“I think [the mass-affluent space] is massively underdeveloped and I see great opportunities there,” he said. 

At several points, FusionIQ’s “pre-integrated” offering is mentioned. 

Noll said a key point is that FusionIQ is neutral when it comes to the type of custodian that a client might use. This means that as custodians change what they do, wealth managers using FusionIQ don’t – as in the past – have to switch custodians and rebuild relationships. FusionIQ use APIs to be custody-agnostic. 

“This means you can have a digital use experience in about six weeks and you don’t have to pay for new installations,” Noll said. 

FWR concluded by mentioning to Noll how, a decade ago, the air was thick with talk about robo-advisors, and now that’s faded. "One of the lessons in the robo-advisor industry was the ability to own fractional shares in the US," he said. Another benefit from robos, he said, was that the wealth sector realizes it must scale up the use of technology and provide low-cost investment opportunities currently only held by larger clients.