Pershing announced a raft of technology developments at its INSITE conference in Florida.

Pershing, a BNY Mellon company, yesterday unveiled an Alternative Investment Center at its INSITE 2014 conference in Hollywood, FL, at a time when education remains one of the toughest obstacles around alternative investments, the firm said.

At the conference Pershing laid out the innovations that it believes will have a “transformative” impact on advisor and investor technology. The firm is launching new versions of all its major platforms – including NetX360, NetX360 Mobile, NetXInvestor and NetXInvestor Mobile as well as new versions of Albridge Wealth Reporting and a new managed investments portal integrated into NetX360.

“The increased adoption of digital capabilities in the advisory industry is changing how advisors and end-investors are doing business,” said Ram Nagappan, chief investment officer of Pershing. 

The Alternative Investment Center can be accessed through NetX360, the firm’s technology platform, and gives advisors the educational resources, research and tools required to serve their clients seeking alternative investment strategies.

Pershing also announced new alternative investment asset class additions to FundVest 200, the firm’s list of “no-transaction fee” mutual funds, including domestic and international real estate, credit/event-driven, managed futures, absolute return and multi-strategy funds.

The firm noted that investor appetite for alternative investments as a way to diversify holdings and create durable income is growing still. According to a 2013 Natixis Global Asset Management survey, 72 per cent of investors would consider alternative investments if their advisors recommended them and 85 per cent of respondents said they would invest in alternatives if they understood them.

“Not surprisingly, advisors face significant challenges educating clients on alternative investments, integrating them into existing portfolios, finding appropriate investments at the right cost, and managing liquid and illiquid positions,” Pershing said.

“In an increasingly complex investment environment advisors need access to quality resources in order to focus on investor needs as they grow their business, especially as their business model shifts toward advisory,” said Sandra Bolton, managing director of financial solutions at Pershing.

New platform

Also at the INSITE conference, Pershing unveiled its new next generation managed investments platform, available through NetX360.

A key attribute of the new platform is its ability to accommodate firms that custody with Pershing as well as firms that use other custodians, the firm said. The platform also provides tools including client risk profiling, portfolio analytics, model management, wealth reporting and business intelligence.

The main features include: multi-custody capabilities; a proposal generation system; advisor model management; wealth reporting through integration with Albridge, a Pershing affiliate; access to data and business intelligence metrics; and integration.

As the shift to advisory models continues to grow, the firm pointed to a recent Cerulli study, which found that the market opportunity potential represents nearly 118 million households and $27 trillion in total investable assets. At the same time, assets in fee-based managed accounts are growing faster than assets in long-term mutual funds, it added.

A number of market forces have converged to increase the availability of managed investments for investors, Pershing said, including: a shift from commission to fees; scalability made possible by technology advancements; changing service and investment models; the growth of the mutual fund wrap business; and demand for financial advice from investors.

Some 2,300 attendees including investment professionals, independent RIAs, dually-registered and hybrid advisors as well as senior-level product and marketing executives attended INSITE.