Morningstar's Retirement Advisory Biz Drops ByAllAccounts for Plaid

Velati, A. (2026, August 31). Morningstar's retirement advisory biz drops ByAllAccounts for Plaid. Financial Advisor IQ. https://www.financialadvisoriq.com/c/5240934/752664

• Morningstar Investment Management will move account aggregation services for its retirement advisory clients from its own ByAllAccounts unit to Plaid next month, according to an Aug. 18 regulatory filing.

• Managed accounts and advisor-managed accounts are part of the transition, and Morningstar Retirement's managed accounts held $19.4 billion in assets under management and administration as of June 30.

• A Morningstar spokesperson said the retirement group planned the change in part based on connectivity practices of recordkeeper networks in that specific segment.

• The spokesperson said the change is limited to those retirement advisory services and unrelated to discussions regarding ByAllAccounts ownership, and that ByAllAccounts continues to serve Morningstar Investor and Direct Advisory Suite.

• Morningstar announced in April that it intended to sell ByAllAccounts to fintech investor Pello Companies, and those plans halted when the deal fell through in July.

• ByAllAccounts, formed in 1999 and sold to Morningstar by State Street in 2014 for $28 million, services over 6,000 advisory firms and over 70 wealth platforms including Addepar, Advyzon and Halo.

• Craig Kilgallen of Fuse Research said Plaid's aggregation capabilities appear strong for retirement accounts and could provide a proof point before Morningstar transitions other parts of its business.

Knote: I wish the US would adopt an open banking standard like the UK has except extend it to cover investment accounts. It would make holistic advice a lot easier (and more accurate).