This story was updated on April 17 to include comments from Jeff Thorsteinson, chief operating officer of Agora Dealer Services Corp.
Agora Dealer Services Corp., a carrying dealer focused on the independent advisor and dealer channel, launched a cloud-based wealth management platform on Tuesday.
The tool allows independent mutual fund advisors to electronically onboard clients, consolidate client assets into a single account without a fee, select and purchase portfolios, access a portfolio manager and automatically rebalance a portfolio to its benchmark, according to an email from Agora. It also has no transfer-out fees, an accompanying release said.
“We exist to support independent advisors and dealers, and we profoundly believe that independent advice is the best advice,” Jeff Thorsteinson, chief operating officer of Agora, said in an interview.
Thorsteinson said Agora’s goal is to help independent advisors thrive in an environment of increasing regulatory requirements, tighter margins and competition from robo-advisors and large institutions.
“With all the increased compliance and regulatory issues [independent advisors are] facing, they’re really finding themselves with not enough time to service clients the way they’d like to,” Thorsteinson said. “They’re spending a lot more time on administration, and we believe that advisors need to be supported to increase the time they can spend with clients, and we believe [the way to do that] is through technology.”