april. (2026, August 27). april expands Integrated Tax Platform with precise tax planning insights, powered by IRS tax data. Business Wire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260827184313/en/april-Expands-Integrated-Tax-Platform-with-Precise-Tax-Planning-Insights-Powered-by-IRS-Tax-Data april announced expanded capabilities within its Integrated Tax Platform that give wealth management firms personalized tax planning insights informed by client-authorized IRS tax data. The company combines tax transcript data with its proprietary, IRS-approved tax engine so firms can gain a more complete view of a client's financial picture and identify tax-optimized planning opportunities. With client consent, april securely retrieves IRS tax data and processes it through a tax engine that filed more than 1.4 million federal and state tax returns in 2026. Access to historical tax data is intended to help advisors uncover planning opportunities tied to equity compensation, concentrated stock positions, Roth conversions, and estimated tax payments. Firms can access the tax data and planning insights directly within their existing software and advisor workflows rather than adding another point solution to the technology stack. The capabilities reflect demand from advisory firms seeking to move beyond traditional tax preparation and incorporate tax intelligence into onboarding, financial planning, and ongoing client management. april states that in 2025 its AI-powered tax engine became the first in 15 years to receive full IRS e-file authorization, and that the company is backed by $80 million in funding from QED Investors, Nyca Partners, and Team8. Knote: It sounds like Intuit and H&R Block need to get their heads off their pillows.

Gronow, C. (2026, August 27). FE fundinfo launches Product Mastering Core fund data platform. IFA Magazine. https://ifamagazine.com/fe-fundinfo-launches-product-mastering-core-fund-data-platform/ FE fundinfo launched Product Mastering Core, a pre-configured, governed data layer that gives firms a trusted source for fund, share class and registration data and sits at the starting point for connected workflows. The platform is built on an Openfunds-aligned data model spanning more than 600 market-ready fields across umbrella, fund, share class and registration data, extensible with a firm's own internal codes and operational attributes. Pre-configured Nexus validation and change-event automation catch errors and flag related data at the point of change before inconsistencies reach downstream systems, with every change validated, approved and logged in a full audit trail. FE fundinfo says the solution goes live in days with no implementation project, and new firms receive 10 hours of consultancy and training plus knowledge base access. Product Mastering Core is built for firms adopting governed product data mastering for the first time and complements Product Mastering, FE fundinfo's configurable solution for firms needing bespoke validation rules, workflow automation or dynamic pricing and holdings data. Data created, validated and approved in the platform flows into connected Nexus for Investment Managers workflows including document production, global funds registration, and data dissemination and distribution, without a new integration for each one. FE fundinfo's Asset Managers Report 2026 found 65% of investment management leaders say fragmentation limits operational efficiency, 69% say the speed and accuracy of fund data shapes which managers distribution partners choose, 33% named vendor consolidation as the second-highest investment priority, and 64% believe AI will only deliver meaningful value once underlying data quality and structure improve. Knote: The big win here is probably ease of AI access. AI is not a computational exercise - it is a data exercise.

Advisor360°. (2026, August 26). Press release: Advisor360°'s new AI capabilities and multi-custodian support. https://www.advisor360.com/press-release-advisor360s-new-ai-capabilities-and-multi-custodian-support Advisor360° announced an August platform release spanning three areas: proactive intelligence, multi-custodian connectivity, and client data collection. The release builds on the company's Unified Data Fabric®, which consolidates reconciled data within a single connected platform. Enhanced Client Intelligence applies AI to generate personalized insights inside reports, summarize client financial pictures, and flag opportunities. Practice Intelligence surfaces criteria such as clients reaching RMD age or policies missing beneficiaries, and VIDA® AI agents answer questions about households and books of business. The company states that its Meeting Prep capability reduces preparation time by 60%. Native Schwab account opening is available through Digital Onboarding, and straight-through trade processing with Fidelity allows advisors to enter, modify, and track trades within Advisor360°. Client Connect, in limited pilot, allows advisors to send digital fact finders to clients through the Investor360° portal, with data syncing to CRM systems.

AssetMark. (2026, August 26). AssetMark launches AI-powered Talk Tracks to strengthen advisor-client conversations. https://www.assetmark.com/resources/blog/press-release/assetmark-launches-ai-powered-talk-tracks/ AssetMark released Talk Tracks, an AI feature in the AssetMark Advisor Portal that converts portfolio information into client-ready insights. The feature synthesizes portfolio data, market context, performance activity, and related news into personalized talking points presented in a side panel. Advisors can review portfolio summaries, market context tied to holdings, sector-level explanations, and tax-savings insights within that panel. More than 100 advisors tested the feature during development. Survey data from AssetMark's 2026 Gold Forum found that 94% of 107 advisors surveyed believe AI could reduce meeting preparation time, while 65% do not use it consistently. Chief Product and Technology Officer Alex Pape said AI creates the most value when it becomes part of how advisors already work rather than another destination to manage. The company reported more than 10,000 financial advisors and more than 340,000 investor households with over $180 billion in assets as of June 30, 2026, and said planned AI work addresses proposal generation and model creation.

Growhill Wealth. (2026, August 26). Growhill Wealth launches AI workforce to power independent advisors across Asia. PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/growhill-wealth-launches-ai-workforce-to-power-independent-advisors-across-asia-302859499.html Growhill Wealth, previously GROW Digital Wealth, introduced an agentic AI workforce for independent financial advisors across Asia, operating under human oversight. The Hong Kong-based platform reports a network of 200 advisors and $800 million in assets under management and advice. The AI workforce monitors client portfolios continuously, flags priority issues, prepares research and proposals, and handles routine administrative tasks. The firm operates under Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission Type 1, 4, and 9 licenses and an Abu Dhabi Global Market Category 3C license. Prior investors include Julius Baer-backed GROW Investment Group and Animoca Brands. The company plans to open an office at One Peking Road this year and a Central location in the first quarter of 2027. Executive Chairman Alan Lau tied the initiative to structural wealth expansion in Asia, and Chief Investment Officer William Ma said the industry's direction depends on technology, operations, and service delivery.

Scalable Capital. (2026, August 25). Scalable Capital becomes first bank in Europe to open platform to AI assistants via Agentic Investing. https://de.scalable.capital/en/newsroom/scalable-agentic-investing Scalable Capital launched Agentic Investing, which allows clients to interact with their investment accounts through natural-language prompts in AI assistants including ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok. Supported functions cover trading, savings plans, watchlists, price alerts, news, and market data, including real-time quotes and historical pricing. Clients can access Scalable Insights tools through the interface for portfolio analysis, diversification assessment, scenario modeling, and risk evaluation. Connectivity is offered through a CLI option and an MCP server, using the Model Context Protocol supported across major AI assistants. Clients activate the capability under Profile and Security settings, with credential login and two-factor authentication required and existing account permissions preserved. All trades require explicit client confirmation, standard pre-trade documentation and notifications apply, and deposits and withdrawals remain limited to the web and app interfaces. The company positions the release as a successor to its August 2025 Insights AI chatbot and reports more than one million clients and 60 billion euros on its platform.

Flanks. (2026, August 26). Flanks partners with Perplexity to power AI-driven financial advisory. https://www.flanks.io/articles/flanks-partners-with-perplexity-to-power-ai-driven-financial-advisory Flanks joined Perplexity's connector ecosystem, making regulated portfolio data available within Perplexity's answer engine and Computer agent. The connector aggregates data from more than 700 financial institutions across 33 countries. Flanks reports processing 8.2 million portfolios monthly, representing 43 billion euros in assets. Advisors can query holdings, positions, and transaction history in natural language within workflows for client reporting, portfolio monitoring, meeting preparation, and ETF overlap analysis. The stated problem addressed is the absence of a unified source of truth for portfolio data spread across multiple custodians and legacy systems in Europe's fragmented banking market. Flanks operates as an Account Information Service Provider regulated by the Bank of Spain under European Central Bank supervision. The company holds SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 certifications.

Practifi. (2026, August 25). Practifi launches Sentir, an AI-native intelligent CRM built for the future of wealth management. Business Wire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260825428543/en/Practifi-Launches-Sentir-An-AI-Native-Intelligent-CRM-Built-for-the-Future-of-Wealth-Management Practifi launched Practifi Sentir, an intelligent CRM designed with AI as a core component rather than an addition, built on the company's existing enterprise infrastructure. Sentir includes 16 named AI agents that provide expert-level analysis across tax strategy, financial planning, and client sentiment assessment. Named capabilities include a Meeting Prep Workspace, daily briefings compiled from firm data and CRM records, an AI Notetaker that captures video and in-person meetings, a Universal Timeline consolidating meetings, emails, service requests, and life events, a built-in chat interface, and an MCP server providing a secure and permissioned connection. The platform's knowledge base covers more than 200 primary sources spanning industry guidance, academic research, and legislation. Sentir runs within Practifi's existing enterprise-grade security and permissions framework, eliminating separate configuration or compliance review. Practifi's existing configurable CRM is now designated Practifi Naya, remains available to current and new customers, and supports transition to Sentir without workflow disruption. CEO Adrian Johnstone stated that with Sentir ingrained in operations, client service, and account management, advisors can view their CRM as a giver rather than a system requiring constant data entry. Knote: It will be interesting to see how this stacks-up against the AI native challengers.

Vanguard announced on August 26, 2026 that it has agreed to acquire Altruist, an AI-forward wealth technology and custody platform built for financial advisors. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the deal is expected to close later this year, pending regulatory approvals. Founded in 1975, Vanguard is one of the world's largest investment management firms, offering investments, advice and retirement services to millions of investors globally. Altruist, led by founder and chief executive Jason Wenk, provides an integrated digital platform that combines self-clearing brokerage with software for account opening, trading, portfolio management, billing and reporting. Vanguard chief executive Salim Ramji said technology can help close the advice gap by enabling advisors to serve more people and serve them better, while Wenk said Vanguard's investment expertise and resources will let Altruist pursue that mission with greater speed and reach. Following the close, Altruist will continue to operate as a standalone business, retaining its leadership, brand and operating model. For independent advisors, the deal signals continued momentum toward integrated custody and technology platforms, pairing Vanguard's institutional scale with Altruist's advisor-facing infrastructure at a moment when the industry is racing to modernize the tools advisors use to serve clients. Knote: We are hearing they paid $4.6B, up from a reported $1.9B valuation in April of last year. That is the power of modern technology for you. https://altruist.com/news/vanguard-to-acquire-altruist-expanding-the-reach-and-impact-of-financial-advice/

Caddi. (2026, August 24). Caddi launches an AI agent that builds and governs a firm's back-office agents [Press release]. PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/caddi-launches-an-ai-agent-that-builds-and-governs-a-firms-back-office-agents-302857872.html Caddi has launched an AI agent that builds and governs a firm's other AI agents, targeting wealth management firms, law firms, and insurance companies. The agent reads a firm's existing systems and surfaces processes that repeat, ranked by frequency and cost, so the choice of what to automate is based on observed activity. In Caddi's Loop Studio design canvas, the employee who performs a task demonstrates it on screen while the agent asks clarifying questions, with each answer becoming a rule inside the resulting agent. Caddi says its agents call AI models only where judgment is required and run deterministic code elsewhere, taking the same path on every run and producing a replayable record of each execution. The company argues this design avoids compounding model error, noting that 95 percent per-step accuracy falls to roughly three quarters across six steps when a model decides every step. Caddi states it is SOC 2 Type II compliant, connects to more than 100 business applications, and gives leadership a single view of every agent in production. Customers cited by the company include a Barron's Top 10 RIA scaling from 1,500 toward 5,000 advisors without expanding its transitions team, independent RIA The Planning Center, Palace Law, and an Am Law 100 firm automating 150 conflict checks a day; Caddi is backed by Ubiquity Ventures, Founders' Co-op, and the AI2 Incubator. Knote: I have been arguing for a while that we need to take a lot of the AI out of AI. If it is a process that needs to do things the exact same way each time, built in something deterministic, like Python (potentially using AI to build it).

Henry-Moreland, B., & Kitces, M. (2026, August 21). 'What does this agent actually do?' InvestmentNews. https://www.investmentnews.com/advisor-tech/what-does-this-agent-actually-do/267865 Technology consultancy Ezra Group has launched a directory of "AI Agents for Advisors" currently listing 51 financial advisor-specific AI agents, organized by category such as Workflow Support, Financial Planning, Tax, and Client Meeting Support. Directory entries include the type of firms served and pricing structure, and will eventually carry an "Autonomy Score" rating on a 0-5 scale of how much human input each agent needs to do its job. The authors define an AI agent as a system trained to perform a narrow, specialized task, distinguishing it from agentic AI, which coordinates higher-level multistep workflows that often involve managing multiple individual agents. Because few advisors build their own agents, most AI agents in the advisor market ship out-of-the-box within software platforms, with some products built around a single agent and others running multiple agents for different functions. The authors argue that the directory can help advisory firms cut past marketing language to evaluate what agent tools actually do, at a more granular level than the Kitces AdvisorTech Map since many listed agents are sub-components of mapped software providers. The article notes open structural questions for the industry, including whether providers will sell single agents, a la carte collections, or agents under broader platforms, and whether some platforms will become agent marketplaces while others build agent infrastructure. The authors observe that as interest in AI notetakers and other generative tools has settled, industry focus is shifting to AI that performs tasks, with the winning use cases and market-leading vendors still undetermined. Knote: I have always admired, and continue to admire, Craig's courage. With the sheer number of agents coming online, I think this will be very valuable but not easy...more like Air Traffic Control than anything else. Put me down as a subscriber.

Towner, L. (2026, August 24). Marloo enters US market with AI platform designed to replace traditional financial advice workflows. FF News. https://ffnews.com/news/marloo-launches-in-the-us-to-give-financial-advisers-the-software-they-actually--77885251 Marloo has officially launched its AI-driven platform in the United States, positioning itself as a successor to the traditional CRM by automating advisory workflows rather than simply recording them. The platform handles meeting preparation, advice document production, letter reviews, client communications, and compliance workflow management, reducing tasks that previously took hours to under sixty minutes. The US launch includes SOC 2 Type II certification, US data residency on AWS infrastructure, and a policy of zero retention of customer data for AI model training. Marloo has onboarded more than 900 advisory firms across eight countries in the past year, with month-on-month revenue growth exceeding 40% and customer churn remaining near zero. Advisers use the system an average of 25 times per week, and under the company's "Forward Deployed Adviser" model a third of the total team, including the entire US commercial team, have direct professional experience as financial advisers. Co-founders Hardy Michel and Shakeel Lala said advisers spend enormous amounts of time maintaining CRM systems that are supposed to help them, calling the approach well and truly outdated. The launch places Marloo, which offers a "Review Mode" audit trail, in direct competition with legacy CRM providers and emerging AI tools in wealth management. Knote: It seems to us that the only real advantage of the incumbent CRMs is that it is a pain to migrate off of them. That won't last forever, so they need to get a lot more aggressive at defensive building...and fast.