Canaccord to roll out unified managed account platform

Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. has struck a deal that will see U.S. wealth technology firm Envestnet Inc. provide the Toronto-based brokerage with a new integrated unified managed account platform (UMA).

The Envestnet UMA platform will provide Canaccord advisors with a view of each client’s investment picture through the tech firm’s Enterprise Portal, and Canaccord clients with a way to view their holdings and assess their performance, the firm said in a release Tuesday.

“Just the client reporting — the consolidated report — is completely different than what the industry has today,” said Stuart Raftus, president of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management in Canada.

The Envestnet UMA will allow advisors to offer a “pension-style managed account” to their clients and will better facilitate rebalancing of investments, among other portfolio management capabilities, added Tim Evans, managing director with Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management. The platform will also help advisors save time on daily account operations through its all-digital workflows, Evans says.

Raftus said that it’s not uncommon for clients to receive monthly or quarterly reporting packages that are “no exaggeration, probably 40 pages thick.” The UMA will allow for reporting that consolidates holdings and performance across a variety of accounts, and for more robust performance reporting. “As a client, that’s all you really care about — your consolidated portfolio,” he said.

The rollout of the new technology, which is already underway, should be completed by the end of this year, with final implementation in January 2021, Raftus said.

Rudy Mezzetta

Rudy is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on tax, estate planning, industry news and more since 2005. Reach him at rudy@newcom.ca.