Robos & Wealth

Betterment, the largest independent digital investment advisor in the U.S., announced the acquisition of Rowboat Advisors, a leading provider of portfolio management software with advanced capabilities in direct indexing, tax optimization, and personalized investing. The acquisition strengthens Betterment’s technology platform and accelerates its roadmap for delivering sophisticated tools to RIAs through Betterment Advisor Solutions. Rowboat Advisors developed a suite of portfolio optimization software purpose-built for investors seeking greater control, transparency, and tax efficiency. Its solutions will be integrated into Betterment Advisor Solutions, the company’s all-in-one custodial platform for modern RIAs, beginning in the second half of 2025. The deal reflects Betterment’s strategic focus on expanding product capabilities for advisor clients and follows a series of product launches earlier this year, including Solo 401(k) plans and securities-backed lines of credit (SBLOCs). Following the acquisition, Kourtidis will join Betterment’s engineering leadership team as Vice President of Portfolio Management, reporting to Chief Technology Officer John Mileham. Advisors can expect the following portfolio management enhancements this year, as well as direct indexing in 2026:

• Expanded single stock support: Manage portfolios across a wider range of securities, building on Betterment’s growing ETF and mutual fund universe.
• Tools for more control and transparency: Run sophisticated simulations and use critical data to trade portfolios.
• Powerful automation and tax management: Optimize portfolios with enhanced rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, tax-smart portfolio transitions, asset location and intelligent withdrawals.

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Sidekick, a new UK digital wealth platform built to serve six-figure earners who’ve outgrown basic financial products but don’t have the millions needed to access private banks, has launched. Sidekick is one of a number of entrants targeting the mass affluent market, using technology to offer products and services once reserved for the super rich. Among Sidekick’s offerings is access to private equity-style investing for just £10,000. Eligible individuals can get access to a regulated Long-Term Asset Fund, which allows clients to invest in high-growth private companies through a professionally managed fund without needing the six-figure minimums usually required. Beyond investments, users get access to an account that automatically spreads deposits across a panel of UK-regulated banks behind the scenes, enabling up to £255,000 of FSCS protection – all through a single interface. And, for higher target returns, its Smart Cash product invests short-term funds into actively managed money market instruments, designed to outperform traditional savings rates while keeping funds accessible.

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UBS is using AI models to create video avatars of its analysts to share with clients. Tapping models from OpenAI and Synthesia, UBS has already built virtual versions of around 35 of its 720 analysts, with plans for a wider deployment. The analysts visit a studio where Synthesia captures their likeness and voices. Then, a language model reads the analyst’s reports, generates a script, and turns it into a realistic AI-generated video. The avatars are being deployed to help save analysts time and in response to the rising popularity of short-form videos driven by the likes of TikTok. “There are two drivers for it: the client driver and the efficiency driver…It is helping you scale your video capabilities in a way that clients are asking you for, and ultimately saving you time to do your research and meet with clients,” says Scott Solomon, head, global research technology, UBS. Signing up for an avatar is optional for analysts, while Solomon concedes the technology is not yet perfect, struggling with some accents. However, the bank is looking to ramp up production and put out 5,000 videos a year. “We publish about 50,000 documents a year, [but video production] has been fixed at about 1,000 a year, because that’s basically our studio capacity. But the number of views on those videos has gone up dramatically,” Solomon said.

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BBVA is advising wealthy clients to invest up to 7% of their portfolio into cryptocurrencies, an executive said on Tuesday, in the latest sign some banks are warming to a sector long avoided by mainstream finance because of its risks. BBVA’s private bank advises clients to invest 3% to 7% of their portfolio in cryptocurrencies depending on their risk appetite, Philippe Meyer, head of digital & blockchain solutions at BBVA Switzerland. “With private customers, since September last year, we started advising on bitcoin,” Meyer said. “The riskier profile, we allow up to 7% of (portfolios in) crypto.” Meyer believes BBVA was one of the first large global banks to advise its wealthy clients to buy cryptocurrencies. It had been executing on client requests to buy them since 2021, he said. The 3-7% advice currently applies to bitcoin and ether, but BBVA plans to expand the advice to other cryptocurrencies later this year, he said. Meyer said that clients had been receptive so far to the advice, and dismissed concerns the asset was too risky. “If you look at a balanced portfolio, if you introduce 3% you already boost the performance,” Meyer said. “At 3% you are not taking a huge risk.”

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Passthrough and Aladdin, BlackRock’s technology business, announced a partnership that integrates Passthrough’s digital subscription technology within the eFront platform to offer a unified investor experience. The collaboration enables common clients – from general partners to asset servicers – to digitize their investor onboarding process and deliver scalable investor relations solutions for their clients. Now live, the integration enables eFront users to streamline and automate onboarding and fund closings for their investors. Using Passthrough’s technology, it’s now easier to distribute and execute subscription documents electronically, accelerating subscription workflow and reporting. Over time, the two companies will collaborate further to embed Passthrough’s full onboarding flow – including subscription agreements, tax forms, and AML requests – within eFront’s investor experience. Through this partnership, BlackRock will also leverage Passthrough’s technology to streamline onboarding for clients in its private markets business. Passthrough automates investor onboarding and compliance workflows for private funds. From subscription documents and tax forms to AML and KYC processes, Passthrough eliminates friction for both investors and fund managers. The platform connects directly to CRMs, investor portals, and fund admin systems to provide a seamless, API-first experience across the investor lifecycle.

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BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has issued a natively digital share class of a money market fund (MMF) on the Allfunds blockchain. The vast majority of tokenized funds are based on existing funds and tend to tokenize current share classes rather than creating a new natively digital share class. The new shares were then used in a cross-border transaction with a French counterparty. BNP Paribas AM acted as transfer agent and dealing services provider, with Allfunds Blockchain as the technology partner. The appeal of the solution is the efficiencies and the ability to move away from batch subscription and redemption to on-demand transactions based on NAV valuations. Plus, there’s potential for faster settlement once the European Central Bank rolls out its wholesale DLT settlement solution. BNP Paribas took part in the ECB’s wholesale DLT trials last year. Currently there’s significant interest around the potential of tokenized money market funds beyond traditional institutional investors to include crypto-native institutions and retail investors. With this step, BNPP AM is exploring that potential as well. However, the retail-focused solutions tend to be on permissionless blockchains, whereas the Allfunds Blockchain appears to be a private permissioned one.

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Silicon Data, a market-intelligence firm that focuses on the cost of GPUs, created what it says is the first daily index to track the specialized chips vital to powering AI. The company’s Silicon Data H100 Rental Index tracks the hourly cost of renting a GPU, according to founder and Chief Executive Officer Carmen Li. “There is zero transparency now for GPU costs,” Li said. “This is the first step, to help market participants gain transparency into the convoluted world of AI costs.” The goal is to turn GPUs into a benchmarked asset class that can be traded like any other financial instrument, Li said. The firm sources its pricing data across markets and technology companies, including so-called hyperscalers and neoclouds, according to Li. The index is normalized based on a variety of factors including GPU types, platforms and hardware configuration. That’s because GPU prices can be affected by a wide range of factors, including their brand, performance metrics, and hardware and software specifications. Silicon Data’s index is also based on historical data. It re-calibrates based on the importance of each factor at the time. The primary users of the index are banks that license and distribute it for internal risk management, hedge funds that license the underlying data, and asset managers or private equity firms that are financing or building out data centers where GPUs are used. Though the index itself can’t be traded yet, it provides a benchmark for traders and others to follow as they would a stock index. It also gives insight into the cost of goods for those building AI products or in need of GPU computing power.

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Self-directed individual retirement accounts (IRAs) allow investors to put their retirement savings in private market assets like real estate, private equity, venture capital and crypto. The demand for self-directed IRAs has steadily grown as it has become easier for retail investors to open these accounts and tap into alternative markets. Anticipated major economic shifts will likely accelerate this trend in investor preferences. Investors concerned about the 2025 economic trends could benefit in several ways by opening a self-directed IRA (SDIRA) for their retirement savings. Tax Advantages: An SDIRA offers the same tax benefits as a traditional IRA: tax-deferred growth and an upfront tax deduction on contributions. Investors can tap into alternative markets while saving on taxes. Diversification: Investors reduce risk and the chance of significant losses by adding uncorrelated assets to a portfolio. A self-directed IRA with alternative assets does so by not having all eggs in the traditional market basket. Long-Term Growth: Many alternative investments offer higher growth potential. While these investments require a long-term focus, they can outperform the stock market over time. Inflation Protection: Alternative assets perform especially well when inflation is high. An SDIRA provides this protection for retirement investors. The coming months will force investors to manage inflation, uncertainty and interest rate risk, a painful combination. Fortunately, modern investment strategies and capabilities are up to the task. Through an SDIRA, investors can tap into alternative markets previously only available to high-net-worth individuals. These other assets provide further diversification and are another hedge against economic risks.

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Blackstone, Wellington Management and Vanguard Group this month filed to launch a multi-asset interval fund, called the WVB All Markets Fund, aimed at bringing private markets exposure to a wider base of retail investors. The fund now faces the typical scrutiny of alternative investments that offer investors some exposure to investments that don’t trade on a daily basis and cost more than low-priced exchange-traded funds pegged to stock and bond indices. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dated May 7, the WVB Fund will be structured as an interval fund – an investment vehicle that allows limited quarterly redemptions of between 5% and one-fourth of the fund’s net asset value. Wellington will act as the fund’s investment advisor. “Vanguard and Blackstone stand at opposite ends of the asset-management spectrum,” noted Jason Kephart and Bridget Hughes, both senior principals for Morningstar, in a research note. “Vanguard champions low-cost, predominantly passive strategies in public markets, while Blackstone leads in private-market investing, offering access to less liquid, often less transparent opportunities that come with the potential for higher returns, albeit at a much steeper cost than Vanguard’s razor-thin fees,” they wrote. There are benefits to such public and private investment partnerships, the Morningstar analysts noted. “For public-market asset managers, partnering with private-markets specialists, rather than acquiring them or building in-house capabilities, offers several advantages,” according to Morningstar. “First, it‘s faster: Partnerships can be negotiated quickly and come with built-in implied credibility. They’re also typically less expensive upfront and help preserve a firm’s culture and identity. Add potential broader distribution benefits from both sides, and the appeal grows stronger. And if things don’t work out, partnerships are easier to unwind than acquisitions.” But, the Morningstar analysts asked, is any such investment partnership greater than the sum of its parts? The ratings agency noted other high-profile investment managers have recently announced similar funds. “The biggest question for investors is whether these high-profile partnerships deserve a place in their portfolios,” they wrote. “Despite the brand-name pedigree of the asset managers involved, most of these strategies are untested.” “Some have only recently launched; others, like the WVB All Markets Fund, won’t debut until late 2025,” according to Kephart and Hughes. “Even the partnerships themselves are new. Their promise of seamless collaboration is more aspiration than a proven advantage.” “What is known is that private assets bring added complexity, reduced liquidity, and higher fees,” they wrote. “Investors must weigh whether the potential benefits of private-market exposure are enough to clear those hurdles.”

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Crypto prime broker Hidden Road launched a new digital asset swaps prime brokerage offering specifically for the U.S. market. The new service allows U.S.-based institutional clients to trade cash-settled over-the-counter (OTC) swaps across a wide range of prominent digital assets. These transactions will be handled through Hidden Road Partners CIV UK Ltd, the firm’s FCA-regulated entity. In addition to execution, the brokerage will provide cross-margining and financing services, expanding the trading and capital efficiency options available to institutional players. Michael Higgins, Hidden Road’s International CEO and Global Head of Corporate Development, pointed to a persistent gap in the U.S. digital asset market. Hidden Road’s move comes as institutional demand for complex crypto instruments continues to rise. The firm’s entry into the U.S. swaps space signals a broader industry trend toward maturing infrastructure and more sophisticated financial products in crypto markets. Michael Higgins, International CEO and Global Head of Corporate Development for Hidden Road said, “With the launch of our swap prime brokerage capabilities for the United States market, we can provide clients with access to an expanded range of products and solutions. By partnering with Ripple,” he added, “we can immediately solve the supply and demand issue for Hidden Road’s existing clients, expand our capacity to service our pipeline, and continue to scale.”

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