Mariner's Hugo AI uncovered $22B in client assets, says Marty Bicknell

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Cohen, A. (2026, November 4). Mariner's Hugo AI uncovered $22B in client assets, says Marty Bicknell. InvestmentNews. https://www.investmentnews.com/transformation/mariners-hugo-ai-uncovered-22b-in-client-assets-says-marty-bicknell/268888

Mariner CEO Marty Bicknell said at the Schwab IMPACT conference in Boston that the firm's Hugo AI agent workforce has uncovered $22 billion in client assets its existing advisors were unaware of.
Hugo is the name Mariner gives to the AI agent workforce deployed under its July partnership with Humanity Labs, which put 700 AI agents across the RIA's operations.
Mariner pays Humanity Labs approximately $35 million per year for the AI workforce, or $175 million across the five-year partnership.
Bicknell cited 401(k) plans left behind at clients' former employers, along with the 5,500 closely held businesses inside Mariner's book, as sources of the uncovered opportunity.
He positioned AI as critical to Mariner's goal of scaling from 70,000 households today to 500,000 by the end of 2028, against the more than $632 billion in assets its website lists as advised by the firm and its affiliates.
Bicknell said Hugo consolidates data across the firm's tax, estate planning, investment, and CRM systems and delivers it to advisors so they can focus on the trust element of the relationship.
Eighty of Mariner's 200 client associates have raised their hands to become advisors since the digital workforce was deployed, while a new Schwab survey found only 7% of advisors currently use agentic AI.