Fiserv announces industry’s first unified managed household
technology strategy and milestones
Brookfield, wis.--(business wire)--fiserv, inc. (nasdaq: fisv), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, announced today its strategy to introduce the industry’s first true unified managed household (umh) capability. the road to a comprehensive, efficient umh solution from investment services at fiserv will involve key milestones, and leverages the marketplace leadership, technology infrastructure and superior capabilities fiserv has built over three decades serving the investment services industry. one milestone was achieved in june 2010 when fiserv acquired adviceamerica, a best-in-class provider of integrated financial advice solutions to broker-dealers, independent advisors and insurance companies. this transaction extended fiserv capabilities into front-office applications, such as financial planning, retirement income planning, crm, proposal-generation and plan-monitoring tools. as of today, adviceamerica’s solutions will be marketed as financial advice solutions from fiserv. a second milestone is planned for this summer. fiserv is implementing a solution that will move additional managed account programs—mutual fund advisory (mfa), and exchange-traded (etf) funds—onto the unified managed account (uma) platform from fiserv. its current uma solution supports third party managers, and, with the addition of mfa capabilities, fiserv will now have more functionality in the uma that meet the needs of mutual fund wrap programs such as rebalancing across multiple asset classes and systematic contributions and withdrawals. with an integrated solution from fiserv, the uma platform will operate as a product-agnostic platform or chassis. multi-sleeve accounts will continue to work as they do today. traditional smas, etfs, and mfas will be set up as a sleeve. clients will now have the ability to seamlessly transition from single- to multi-sleeve products. another critical phase of the investment services strategy at fiserv is planned for later this year, when fiserv will converge its front-office tools with its middle- and back-office technology. this initiative will integrate its financial advice solutions, portfolio management and trading solutions and performance reporting solutions onto the company’s unified wealth management platform, where advisors will be able to plan, trade and report on a single system. this convergence is an essential step toward realizing the promise of a true umh solution that offers financial advisors holistic financial management capabilities for all assets and liabilities of multiple individuals within a household. for example, advisors will be able to integrate and illustrate household investment strategies that take into account the assets of both spouses, across multiple accounts, financial institutions and asset types, such as 401ks, iras, savings and real estate. this will enable a new standard for advisory services for helping the household plan and achieve its financial goals. the umh platform encompasses user-friendly interfaces and seamless workflows with the uma platform from fiserv as the chassis. the broad range of umh capabilities would include multi-vehicle, product- agnostic solutions; an aggregated view of accounts; qualified and non-qualified account types; household-level planning and portfolio management; goal-based portfolio construction and performance reporting; and household trading and execution. “for years, our industry has been envisioning the benefits and efficiencies that a unified management household capability would offer advisors, managers, sponsors and investors. fiserv’s technology currently supports the first phase of delivering a umh— household reporting, we are now executing our strategy to deliver on the vision of the total umh solution the industry has been asking for,” said cheryl nash, senior vice president of strategic marketing and product development, investment services, fiserv. “with industry-leading solutions across the front-, middle- and back-office, we are well positioned to lead the industry in creating a powerful, unified solution that will help advisors plan, trade, measure and report on a single system. the time for a true umh is approaching, and fiserv is taking the action and making the necessary investments to meet this emerging industry capability.” about fiserv fiserv, inc. (nasdaq: fisv) is the leading global provider of information management and electronic commerce systems for the financial services industry, driving innovation that transforms experiences for financial institutions and their customers. fiserv is ranked no. 1 on the fintech 100 survey of top technology partners to the financial services industry. for more information, visit www.fiserv.com. fisv-g
