I took advantage of the typical summer slowdown and spent most of the week on vacation. I’m back at FPPad headquarters for the next week and then off to Portland, OR to speak to the FPA of Oregon & SW Washington chapter on July 20. Drop on by if you can!
Now, on to this week’s stories of interest.
Fiserv purchase of CashEdge could affect account aggregation space from RIABiz.com
[CashEdge is one of those names that pops up every so often when discussing account aggregation. However, it’s an incomplete solution for advisers seeking reconciliation-ready data for held-away accounts. So I don’t see Fiserv’s acquisition of CashEdge for $465 million dramatically altering the account aggregation space] $465 million deal is mostly a payment processing technology-grab, according to ByAllAccounts.
Envestnet unbundles portfolio management software for RIAs and it won’t be a sideshow from RIABiz.com
[Envestnet is competing in the portfolio management software market with its Vantage product. Will it be powerful enough to compete with market dominators Advent and Schwab?] Envestnet has long been the undisputed leading platform for separate account managers, used by tens of thousands of advisors. The portfolio management software capability it provided, on the other hand, was always viewed as an add-on service.
The Relationship Manager from AdvisorOne.com
[Actifi’s Spenser Segal identifies the Achilles heel of poor CRM software implementation: people] Even though CRM systems have matured, with many systems built specifically for financial advisors, most firms are only scratching the surface when it comes to taking advantage of key features that are designed to help advisors grow their practices.
On my radar this week is a Schwab Institutional Webcast on the recent enhancements to their Portfolio Rebalancer utility. After viewing an excellent demo of 
Earlier today, 
