Randy Cass, Founder and CEO The door to wealth management has historically only been accessible by the society’s privileged who had already accumulated assets and hit the “rich” threshold. This selected access to expert wealth advice and guidance stemmed from the inherent nature of the industry services that made it economically unviable for the larger sections of the population.
Randy Cass, an industry veteran who wears many hats—fintech innovator, portfolio manager, founder and CEO of Nest Wealth—understood that technology and digitalized processes are the keys to making wealth management services accessible for everyone. Investors, when offered expert guidance, end up achieving greater wealth over their investment horizon than others. In this regard, he put forth the crucial question to investment and wealth management firms for changing the status quo.
“If we give the technology that can streamline back-office operations, making it more efficient and cost-effective, would you be willing to open the doors to more potential clients?” asked Cass. The answer was an overwhelming ‘yes.’
We understand that firms know their clients best and have methodologies that are well-suited for that customer base. That is why we are focused on providing tools that complement their workflow with greater transparency, better user experience, and lower operational cost
Having received positive responses from the industry, Nest Wealth was built from the ground up by wealth management experts to offer a suite of cutting-edge SaaS solutions for myriad use cases including online customer onboarding, risk management, life insurance, and exchange-traded fund (ETF) portfolios.
Established with the goal of increasing investor access to expert wealth management advice, the company’s digital wealth solutions can be leveraged by financial institutions and advisors to provide and manage investments for investors in any distribution channel.
For individual investors, Nest Wealth has solutions that give automated, low-fee, transparent direct-to-investor wealth advice tailored to their unique goals and objectives. Individuals looking to invest or save money for their retirement can leverage the company’s specialized investment strategy building platform that democratizes the access to quality wealth management services. Nest Wealth’s products also come with augmented intelligence that enables firms to recognize customer needs like retirement plans and proactively engage with them to plan their financial growth.
Nest Wealth is a staunch advocate that technology should accommodate users’ intentions rather than molding processes around solutions.
“We understand that firms know their clients best and have methodologies that are well-suited for that customer base. That is why we are focused on providing tools that complement their workflow with greater transparency, better user experience, and lower operational cost,” says Cass.
To elaborate, Cass shares the success story of their first client, who was looking to extend services to the younger generation in a way that wouldn’t be financially crippling for the organization. The firm predominantly served a client base of well-established individuals and relied on traditional wealth management processes, which amounted to a minimum of a quarter million for reaching the break-even point on a single account. However, younger clients typically started with a lower asset under management (AUM). To make their offerings more palatable, the firm approached Nest Wealth to effectively digitize their wealth management practice.
Nest Wealth set up an end-to-end software solution for every process, including onboarding, account opening, and custodian integration with BI analytics tools to help the client gain complete visibility over the processes’ efficacies. All the solutions were up and running in six months, eliminating inefficient and error-prone processes. This novel approach enabled the firm to cater to the next generation at a much lowered price with about 90 percent reduced service charge. The entire solution enhanced the overall enterprise experience while allowing the firm to offer better customer satisfaction at reduced operational costs and simplified record-keeping.
Nest Wealth’s customer-centric approach is the driver behind all their customer success stories. The company recently expanded into the U.S. market with embedded technology into CRMs like Salesforce typically leveraged by financial advisors today. The company affirms all its accomplishments to a team of experts with extensive experience in wealth management and the industry know-how. This league of industry veterans and technology-driven solutions continue to propel Nest Wealth’s purpose-built solutions for the heavily regulated wealth management industry.
The acquisition will see the Milan-headquartered fintech take ownership of Nest Wealth’s onboarding, account opening and financial planning offerings built for banks, custodians and asset managers.
It will also take charge of the wealthtech’s client portfolio, which includes wealth management firms Raymond James and Manulife Securities, and half of Canada’s six largest banks, including National Bank of Canada and National Bank Independent Network.
Recognising Canada as “one of the top ten most important wealth markets”, Objectway says it will leverage its latest acquisition to further establish its wealth and investment management offerings in the country and in the neighbouring market of the USA in an ‘as-a-Service’ capacity.
Over the pond in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), it adds that the addition of Nest Wealth’s tech will enable the company to expand its offering with digital client onboarding and planning solutions, in addition to its existing proposition of advisory, discretionary portfolio management and back-office services.
Luigi Marciano, founder and group CEO of Objectway, says the acquisition marks “a significant milestone” in the fintech’s expansion strategy.
Nest Wealth founder and CEO Randy Cass adds that the deal with Objectway will “accelerate our expansion across the North American region, and open up additional market opportunities in EMEA”.