Kingswood U.S. launches digital alternative investments platform

Originally via PRNewswire

Kingswood U.S. has announced the launch of a new platform as part of the firm’s broader strategy for investing in cutting-edge resources that elevate the financial adviser service experience, while enabling its advisers to seamlessly deliver the widest possible array of institutional-quality investment solutions that align with their clients’ needs and goals. The fully digitized platform is powered by WealthForge’s Altigo.

Mike Nessim, president and managing partner of Kingswood U.S., said, “Through our new strategic partnership with WealthForge, we are delivering significant value-add to our financial advisers in the form of our new, fully digitized retail alternative investments platform. With interest rates nearing zero and extreme valuation swings across public equity markets, retail investors are increasingly demanding investment solutions from their financial advisers that generate yield, create increased diversification and drive enhanced risk management. By streamlining access to institutional-quality alternative investments, we are providing advisers with the tools they need to more effectively serve their clients and grow their business on a scalable basis.”

Built by financial technology provider WealthForge, Altigo provides financial advisers and their clients an online portal to enter information and upload required documents that automatically generates customized subscription documents and delivers them via DocuSign to all relevant parties for signature. The all-digital process integrates every aspect of alternative investment procurement and compliance, while significantly reducing the administrative burden associated with initiating subscriptions and mitigating the risk of not-in-good-order (NIGO) errors and related delays.

“Alternative Investments are surging in popularity, and advisers are being asked more and more to include them in client portfolios,” said Douglas Blake, Kingswood U.S. managing director who also leads Benchmark Investments Inc.’s Alternative Investments and Insurance Services arm. “However, the laborious processes that regulators require to participate in these assets can discourage both advisers and investors from considering them, and the extensive due diligence and intricate integration of these products can discourage broker-dealers and RIAs from carrying them. With Altigo, Kingswood U.S. has the technology to reduce the burden on compliance and operations professionals, as well as advisers and investors. This broadens the scope of investments our firm can provide, empowering our advisers to better help their clients attain their financial goals.”

The Kingswood U.S. retail alternative investments platform, with Altigo’s help, includes the following key features:

• The ability to list all of Kingswood U.S.’s approved alternative investments in one place. The lack of a comprehensive list of all available strategies can be one of the barriers to greater participation in alternative investments.
• The technology to incorporate Kingswood U.S.’s operational workflow and internal documents into the subscription process, ensuring the submission of alternative investment business follows all guidelines and procedures
• Tracking tools to monitor the progress of outstanding subscriptions from start to finish and eliminate delays in the workflow.

WealthForge CEO Bill Robbins said, “Our mission is to reduce the friction traditionally associated with alternative investments and connect advisers with a broader range of products and sponsors that can help investors attain their financial goals. We are excited that Kingswood U.S. advisers are now able to help their clients more easily explore the potential of crucial alternative asset classes.”