WEALTHTECH SAFARI A Guided Tour of WealthTech News Week of July 3, 2026 2026 US Model Portfolio Landscape — Model portfolio market research • Third-party model portfolio assets reached $934 billion at the end of March 2026, up 46% year-over-year and closing in on the $1 trillion mark, per new Morningstar research. • With ETFs now capturing 55% of model allocations and nearly 70% of firms planning private-asset exposure, TAMPs and model providers are increasingly positioned as the gatekeepers of alternatives distribution in wealth management.. Knote: Tremendous growth continues in the model portfolio market but we expect that growth to increase with the democratization of alternatives since we believe TAMPs and model portfolios will be the gatekeepers of alternatives distribution in wealth management. Read More → Oxyfinz Unveils Free Software Initiative to Bridge the UAE Wealth Management Technology Gap • Oxyfinz has launched a free, 12-month enterprise software program giving 20 qualifying UAE boutique wealth managers and EAMs full access to its portfolio management and data infrastructure suite. • The move targets a widening tech gap between large institutions and boutique firms as DIFC and ADGM assets under management continue to surge, positioning Oxyfinz as an infrastructure gateway in a fast-growing regional market. Knote: This is an interesting go-to-market strategy. Probably worth watching if you are a startfup founder. Read More → Maybank Equips Relationship Managers with AI-Driven Advisory Platform • Maybank is rolling out Advisor Assist, an AI-driven advisory platform built by Evooq, giving relationship managers consolidated portfolio insights, risk analytics, and next-best-action recommendations. • The deployment extends Maybank's broader digital push, including a tokenized ringgit pilot, as the bank leans on technology to support advisors amid recent profit pressure. Read More → Orion Among the First in Wealthtech to Earn ISO 42001, the International AI Management System Standard • Orion has become one of the first wealthtech firms, and the first known portfolio accounting provider, to earn ISO/IEC 42001 certification for its AI management systems following an independent audit. • The certification validates governance controls behind Orion's Denali AI layer at a moment when the firm's own survey shows most advisors still lack advanced AI tools, positioning Orion as a trust leader as adoption accelerates. Knote: I thinkn havbing an AI governance certification process is a fantastic idea. I'm not convinced best practices have been fully established yet, but it's too important to put off. Read More → Product Win: WealthFeed × The Mather Group • The Mather Group, a $17 billion RIA with roughly 100 advisors, has named WealthFeed its exclusive enterprise-wide prospecting platform for surfacing money-in-motion opportunities. • The mandate deepens WealthFeed's penetration into large, acquisitive RIAs and builds on its 2025 minority investment from Broadridge, reinforcing its money-in-motion model at enterprise scale. Knote: This is a solid win for WealthFeed and these sorts of exclusive agreements are not as common as one might think. Read More → Thurston Capital Expands Advisor Technology Ecosystem • Thurston Capital has deepened partnerships with technology providers including Wealth.com, Zocks, Jump, and EPIC to strengthen its advisor ecosystem across resources, engagement, and efficiency. • The expansion reinforces Thurston's hybrid model, pairing Wells Fargo's enterprise desktop technology with independent RIA customization as the firm signals further investment in AI-driven advisor productivity. Read More → MDOTM Raises $27M Growth Equity Round Led by Expedition Growth Capital • MDOTM has closed a $27 million growth round led by Expedition Growth Capital, bringing total funding to $36.5 million to expand its AI-driven Sphere platform internationally. • Sphere already supports more than $100 billion in assets across 60-plus institutions, including Morgan Stanley and Amundi, underscoring investor appetite for AI tools that move portfolio orchestration and client commentary out of spreadsheets. Knote: I was on a panel with Adrianna Colombo from MDOTM in London last spring as we are both on a mission to upgrade the managed portfolio market in the UK. They have the tech to help make it happen. In case you were wondering, the name comes from the fact that the two founders both have the last initial "M". Read More → Acorns Establishes "Kids Advisory Board" to (Reportedly) Help Steal Trump Accounts away from Robinhood • Acorns has named four children to a new "Kid Advisory Board" to guide its Acorns Early product as it competes for Trump Account rollovers that default to Robinhood. • Industry reaction is split, with observers calling the family-finance strategy sound but the board itself a largely symbolic move for a company managing $13.4 billion versus Betterment's $70 billion and Wealthfront's $95 billion. Knote: It's not clear to me that this will help attract Trump Accounts away from Robinhood, but I am all for starting financial education early. If anyone wants a copy of the one and only children's book I ever wrote, "Mia Meets the Interest Fairy," let me know. Read More → LemFi Acquires Wealth8 in the UK • LemFi has received approval to acquire UK investing platform Wealth8, extending the remittance and payments company into wealth management for the first time. • The deal reflects a broader pattern of payments and savings platforms using existing customer relationships as a pipeline into higher-value investing products, with LemFi planning to scale Wealth8 across its 2-million-plus user base. Read More → Feel free to reach out if you want to discuss any of the above or if you just want to chat about WealthTech. We love talking WealthTech! Subscribe and receive these insights directly: wealthtechstrategy.com

Objectway, a global WealthTech provider serving banking, wealth, and asset management firms, has agreed to acquire the Swiss private banking technology business of FNZ, known as FNZ Switzerland SA and formerly operating as New Access. The unit will run under the Objectway Switzerland brand and brings more than 160 professionals and over 40 private-bank clients into the group. Vincent Jeunet, who led FNZ's Swiss operations for over five years, will become CEO of Objectway Switzerland. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquired suite combines portfolio management, client relationship management, and back-office banking systems built for mid-sized to large private banks running cross-border and offshore operations. The deal extends Objectway's core-to-digital platform and adds an operational footprint across Switzerland, Singapore, and Tunisia, while broadening its reach into wealth hubs including Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, and the Bahamas. For advisors and private banks, the combination promises a more unified relationship management and digital banking offering, with a fuller client view spanning advisory and operations. The transaction underscores the consolidation reshaping WealthTech platform providers, who are pursuing scale to lower costs and differentiate through technology. As private banks face rising regulatory expectations, legacy constraints, and operational complexity, standardized core-to-digital platforms have become a competitive necessity, prompting providers to combine capabilities. Objectway, which reported roughly $148 million in revenue for fiscal 2025 and serves 250-plus institutions, frames the deal as another step in its pan-European expansion. https://ffnews.com/news/objectway-expands-european-wealthtech-footprint-with-acquisition-of-fnz-switzerland

Barstein, F. (2026, June 29). Why convergence of wealth and retirement is heating up now. Wealth Management. https://www.wealthmanagement.com/rpa-news/why-convergence-of-wealth-and-retirement-is-heating-up-now Creative Planning CEO Peter Mallouk called the convergence of wealth and retirement at the workplace his firm's biggest opportunity over the next couple of years. LPL retirement leader Michael Doshier noted that advisors who also handle retirement plans grow 2.1 times faster than those who focus on retirement plans alone. Edward Jones is investing in a tech-first TPA, Aboon, and expanding its roster of record keepers to include JPMorgan Chase and T. Rowe Price to help small business owners access both wealth and retirement services. A recent NMG Consulting survey found that 70% of retirement plan advisors and aggregators now offer wealth services, though Captrust maintains a 10-year head start in the space. Creative Planning's acquisitions of Lockton's retirement division, with over $100 billion in assets, and Sageview, with $285 billion, have drawn competitor attention alongside Hightower's purchase of NEPC, Cerity's acquisition of Veras, and Mariner's purchase of Andco. Wealth assets total $74 trillion, more than five times the size of defined contribution assets, giving wealth management revenue opportunities that can be up to 40 times greater than retirement plan fees. Morgan Stanley captured $300 billion in wealth from the workplace between 2020 and 2025, and Edelman Financial Engines is revisiting workplace opportunities under new CEO Ralph Haberli.

FactSet. (2026, June 29). FactSet expands wealth management workflow AI capabilities through partnership with TIFIN.AI. FactSet. https://investor.factset.com/news-releases/news-release-details/factset-expands-wealth-management-workflow-ai-capabilities FactSet announced a partnership with TIFIN.AI to accelerate the delivery of next-generation, AI-powered workflows for wealth management firms. FactSet has made a strategic investment in TIFIN.AI to reinforce the long-term collaboration and support broader adoption of AI-powered advisor workflows. The initial offering includes a Meeting Prep Agent that generates client-ready summaries, action items, portfolio insights, and personalized talking points in minutes. The offering also includes a Book Intelligence Agent that surfaces actionable insights across an advisor's book of business to identify opportunities and prioritize outreach. The solutions combine FactSet's institutional-grade market data and analytics with TIFIN.AI's agentic workflow technology and embed directly into existing advisor workflows. TIFIN.AI's engine operates entirely within FactSet's infrastructure, ensuring client portfolio data remains inside FactSet's environment. The solution uses FactSet's domain-specific answers engine and auditable workflows to provide traceability and mitigate the hallucination risks associated with generic large language models.

Breen, O. (2026, July 2). Vestmark strikes 'standalone-RIA' black gold as (TAMP) AUM leaps past $50-billion -- a five-fold increase -- after critical upgrade triggers T. Rowe Price, BlackRock, Capital Group, and VanEck referral gusher. RIABiz. https://riabiz.com/a/2026/7/3/vestmark-strikes-standalone-ria-black-gold-as-tamp-aum-leaps-past-50-billion-a-five-fold-increase-after-critical-upgrade-triggers-t-rowe-price-blackrock-capital-group-and-vaneck-referral-gusher Vestmark Advisory Services now manages $50 billion of RIA portfolios, up from $10 billion 18 months ago, a five-fold increase the firm attributes largely to referral relationships with major asset managers. Executive vice president Rob Battista credits rising standalone-RIA demand and work with leading asset managers, which created a meaningful referral channel bringing more individual RIA relationships into the business. The deal-clinching feature was tax management, delivered through the firm's 2023-launched customizable UMA tax overlay and direct-indexing tool VAST, whose assets grew from under $100 million in early 2025 to more than $10 billion today. Vestmark administers over $2 trillion, has run LPL's SMA platform since 2005 and UBS's similar program since 2008, and supports six of the 10 largest managed account program providers in the country. Scott MacKillop, WealthTech Strategy Partners advisor and former CEO of First Ascent, argues the acceleration is explained by new relationships with large asset managers rather than any unique competitive technology advantage. Cerulli's Scott Smith says improving tax management has been the top platform development priority over the last two years, cited by 76% of platforms in 2026, and that UMAs received the plurality of managed account platform inflows in 2024 and 2025. Vestmark expects approximately $10 billion more in assets to move onto the VAS platform by year-end 2026, with the vast majority of flows coming from RIAs and roughly half of the pipeline from new RIA relationships. Knote: Third-party models grew 46% last year, which is excellent growth. But, it seems Vestmark is growing even faster with smart technology use, courting relationships with the asset managers, and good targeting.

LemFi has received approval to acquire Wealth8, a UK-based investment platform, in a move that extends the company from payments into wealth management. Founded in 2021, LemFi began as a remittance provider and has since expanded into credit and savings, with the Wealth8 deal adding investing to its lineup. LemFi has been backed by investors including Highland Europe, Left Lane Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, Palm Drive Capital, and Y Combinator. Wealth8 was built to make investing accessible to underserved customers, offering account minimums as low as roughly $10 and an app-based service that provides access to funds and ETFs through partnerships with established financial firms. LemFi says it plans to scale Wealth8's offering across its user base of more than 2 million people, spanning the UK, US, Europe, and Australia, with remittance services reaching customers in Africa and Asia. The acquisition reflects a wider WealthTech pattern in which platforms holding large, non-advisory customer bases treat those relationships as a pipeline into investment services. As users of payments and savings tools build wealth, their need for advice and structured investing grows, and firms that already hold the account relationship are positioned to capture that demand. For advisors, platforms, and integrators, LemFi's expansion shows how everyday financial tools increasingly serve as lead generation for higher-value wealth offerings. https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2026/07/288840-wealthtech-lemfi-acquires-wealth8-in-the-uk/

Product — WealthFeed: An AI-powered prospecting and organic-growth platform for financial advisors that surfaces real-time "money-in-motion" intelligence (inheritances, liquidity events, business sales, promotions, retirements), warm-introduction paths, data enrichment, compliant outreach, and inbound web-lead capture. Customer — The Mather Group (TMG): A Chicago-based, fee-only, planning-led national RIA (founded 2011) serving high- and ultra-high-net-worth families, which has named WealthFeed its exclusive enterprise prospecting platform. Customer scale metrics: ~$17 billion in client assets under advisement ~100 advisors across 14 offices nationally More than 20 acquisitions completed since 2018 Recognized on Barron's Top 100 RIA Firms list Significance of the transaction: TMG is standardizing prospecting firm-wide, giving both legacy and newly acquired advisor teams a single, consistent process for identifying high-intent prospects — making WealthFeed the backbone of TMG's organic growth strategy across a rapidly consolidating RIA. The exclusive, enterprise-wide mandate (sole approved platform) is a meaningful competitive win that deepens WealthFeed's penetration in the enterprise RIA segment rather than just serving individual advisors. It builds on WealthFeed's 2025 strategic partnership and minority investment from Broadridge Financial Solutions, signaling continued enterprise momentum and validating its money-in-motion model at scale. Knote: This is a solid win for WealthFeed and these sorts of exclusive agreements are not as common as one might think. Sources: WealthFeed Selected by The Mather Group as Exclusive Prospecting Platform

MDOTM, a London-founded provider of AI-driven investment solutions for asset and wealth managers, has closed a $27 million growth equity round led by Expedition Growth Capital, bringing its total funding to $36.5 million. The round adds two new board members: Steve Twomey, a Partner at Expedition, and James Hays, chairman of IFC Advisors and former CEO of Wells Fargo Advisors, joining founders Tommaso Migliore, Federico Mazzorin and Federico Invernizzi. The capital will fund international expansion and hiring across AI research, engineering, product, sales and client solutions. The money follows real traction. MDOTM's platform, Sphere, now supports more than $100 billion in assets across more than 60 financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, Amundi and Zurich Bank, spanning the US, UK and Europe. Sphere is built for human-AI collaboration: it reads market and macro data to flag regime shifts, lets investment teams layer in their own views, then pushes those inputs into portfolio construction and rebalancing tools, with a generative AI layer (StoryFolio) that drafts personalized portfolio commentary and client reporting. Behind it sits a team of more than 60 data scientists, engineers and finance professionals, backed by the MDOTM LAB, an academic network of 20-plus professors and PhDs. The raise lands squarely in a trend line wealth managers know well: fee compression on one side, rising demand for personalization on the other, with neither solvable by simply hiring more advisors. As portfolio orchestration grows more complex, with more inputs, more constraints and thousands of portfolios to manage at once, firms are looking to AI to handle the scale rather than adding headcount. CEO Tommaso Migliore framed it directly: the question institutions are asking is no longer whether to use AI in investment decisions, but how to deploy it across thousands of portfolios while keeping control, which is why Sphere is already running in production at major firms. Expedition's Steve Twomey put the opportunity in infrastructure terms, arguing that while financial institutions have spent a decade buying front-end and back-office software, the middle, rebalancing, house-view alignment and client commentary, has stayed stuck in spreadsheets. Knote: I was on a panel with Arianna Colombo from MDOTM in London last spring as we are both on a mission to upgrade the managed portfolio market in the UK. They have the tech to help make it happen. In case you were wondering, the name comes from the fact that the two founders both have the last initial "M". https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260630510937/en/MDOTM-Raises-%2427M-Growth-Equity-Round-Led-by-Expedition-Growth-Capital-as-AI-Adoption-Permeates-the-Asset-and-Wealth-Management-Industry

Breen, O. (2026, July 1). Trump accounts touch off rush to siphon rollovers from Trump-favored Robinhood, including Acorns' new ploy -- a kiddie advisory board – which draws analysts' scoffs and plaudits as the micro-niche heats up. RIABiz. https://riabiz.com/a/2026/7/2/trump-accounts-touch-off-rush-to-siphon-rollovers-from-trump-favored-robinhood-including-acorns-new-ploy-a-kiddie-advisory-board-which-draws-analysts-scoffs-and-plaudits-as-the-micro-niche-heats-up Acorns named four children aged seven to 15 to a new "Kid Advisory Board" that will review its software and advise on its Acorns Early product as it competes for Gen-Alpha investors. The board launch follows the US Treasury Department's April 6 confirmation that Robinhood will serve as the default brokerage for the tax-advantaged "Trump Accounts" seeded with $1,000 for eligible newborns. Acorns is locked out of direct Trump account custody because its fixed subscription fees, when translated into basis points, often far exceed the federal 10 basis point cap. Acorns will pay its new child advisors as much as $82,000 in total, with the seven-year-old member eligible for up to $50,000. Former Betterment CEO Jon Stein said the strategic direction toward family finance is sound even though the "kid advisory board" packaging is easy to poke fun at. Cerulli Associates senior director Scott Smith called such programs a defensive play that supports an overpriced product and is largely unimpactful to the business overall. Acorns now serves 8.2 million investors with an average balance of $1,637 and manages $13.4 billion, well below similarly aged rivals Betterment and Wealthfront, which manage $70 billion and $95 billion respectively. Knote: It's not clear to me that this will help attract Trump Accounts away from Robinhood, but I am all for starting financial education early. If anyone wants a copy of the one and only children's book I ever wrote, "Mia Meets the Interest Fairy", let me know.

Peluso, J. (2026, June 26). Thurston Capital expands advisor technology ecosystem. AdvisorHub. https://www.advisorhub.com/resources/thurston-capital-expands-advisor-technology-ecosystem/ Thurston Capital has expanded its advisor technology ecosystem through a series of strategic investments aimed at strengthening advisor resources, enhancing client engagement, and improving operational efficiency. Chief Experience Officer Regina Rudnick said the additions reflect the firm's commitment to giving independent financial advisors the tools, support, and flexibility they need to grow their businesses and deliver client service. The firm has added and deepened relationships with technology providers including Wealth.com, Zocks, Jump, EPIC, and other strategic partners. EVP and Partner John Peluso said Thurston Capital evaluates technology across four lenses: building technology around advisor needs, enhancing the client relationship, commitment to security and compliance, and simplifying through integration. CEO Rick Parker said the firm will continue to evaluate emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to enhance advisor productivity in areas such as workflow automation, meeting preparation, documentation, communication, and operational support. The platform combines Wells Fargo's enterprise-level desktop technology with the customization, optionality, and personalized support typical of an independent RIA. Thurston Capital is the parent company of a platform that includes Bristal Lane Group, TruEdge Asset Management, Thurston Springer Financial, Thurston Springer Advisors, PEAK Brokerage Services, Blackridge Asset Management, Top Advisors Group, and RIA Services Exchange, serving independent financial advisors nationally from its Indianapolis base.

Orion. (2026, June 29). Orion among the first in wealthtech to earn ISO 42001, the international AI management system standard. Business Wire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260629832926/en/Orion-Among-the-First-in-Wealthtech-to-Earn-ISO-42001-the-International-AI-Management-System-Standard Orion announced it has achieved ISO/IEC 42001 certification, the first international standard for artificial intelligence management systems, following an independent third-party audit. The certification validates the AI Management System that governs the Denali AI intelligence layer embedded across Orion's workflows, placing Orion among the first in wealthtech and the first known portfolio accounting provider to meet the standard. ISO 42001 sets requirements for how organizations establish, maintain, and continually improve AI governance across its lifecycle, including risk assessment, transparency, data governance, oversight of third-party AI providers, and human oversight. CEO Natalie Wolfsen said the certification is independent validation that Orion has the right policies for using AI, a rigorous process for vetting AI providers, and the controls to ensure AI-produced materials meet a high standard of quality. In Orion's 2026 Advisor Wealthtech Survey, advisors named AI and automation the number one force multiplier for firm growth, while only one in ten reported using advanced AI capabilities and nearly a quarter had no AI tools in place. Reed Colley, President of Orion Advisor Technology, said 2026 represents the company's largest R&D investment ever, focused squarely on AI embedded directly into the workflows advisors use every day. As of March 31, 2026, Orion services USD 5.9 trillion in assets under administration and USD 185 billion of wealth management platform assets, supports more than 8.3 million technology accounts, and reports that 17 of the top 20 Barron's RIA firms rely on its technology. Knote: I think having an AI governance certification process is a fantastic idea. I'm not convinced best practices have been fully established yet, but it's too important to put off.

Hubbis. (2026, June 29). Maybank equips relationship managers with AI-driven advisory platform. Hubbis. https://www.hubbis.com/news/maybank-equips-relationship-managers-with-ai-driven-advisory-platform Maybank is introducing new AI-powered advisory tools to enhance its wealth management offering and support relationship managers with more data-led client engagement. The Malaysian banking group is rolling out Advisor Assist, a wealth advisory platform developed by wealth technology provider Evooq. The platform gives relationship managers access to portfolio insights, risk analytics, and recommended next steps for client conversations. Advisor Assist consolidates client portfolio information, investment opportunities, and actionable intelligence into a single advisory view. The deployment continues Maybank's broader exploration of digital innovation across the business. Earlier in 2026, the bank announced a pilot involving tokenised ringgit for cross-border payments. The move follows Maybank's recent results, in which profit declined by 4.2%, partly due to weaker trading income.