LPL Financial Acquires Fintech Firm AdvisoryWorld

Three months ago, LPL Financial Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer Burt White stood on stage at Focus, in front of thousands of LPL Financial advisors, and shared the vision to deliver ClientWorks Connected, a fully integrated technology platform that streamlines processes, drives efficiency and maximizes the power of technology to support advisors’ practices.

Today, LPL demonstrated its commitment to that vision by acquiring technology company AdvisoryWorld, a leading provider of digital solutions serving the wealth management industry. This acquisition will afford LPL Financial advisors no-cost access to the award-winning solutions come January, and, once fully integrated, will provide proposal generation capabilities that seamlessly connect to the other solutions needed to serve investors through ClientWorks Connected.

“Technology, when used to its fullest capacity, can help advisors grow their relationships, grow their business and maximize their success. Most people only use a small fraction of the capabilities their technology solutions provide. That’s why we are investing in the creation of a fully integrated platform that will help advisors get the most out of their technology,” said White. “We shifted our approach, seeking ways to integrate outside expertise and technology with our own solutions. We believe AdvisoryWorld’s suite of products adds value to the technology platform we deliver to power our advisors’ business.”

AdvisoryWorld offers a suite of tools designed to help advisors attract and retain more assets, turning prospects into clients while servicing existing clients with advanced analytics and modeling. Founded in 1987, the company’s products include proposal generation, portfolio and investment analytics and portfolio modeling capabilities. By providing advisors with access to these leading capabilities, LPL Financial will support their ability to grow their business, gain efficiencies and better serve their clients.

“We believe AdvisoryWorld’s industry-leading capabilities will help our advisors grow their business, gain efficiencies and enhance the way they serve their clients,” said Dan Arnold, LPL Financial president and CEO. “This acquisition is another example of our capacity to invest in our advisors’ business as we remain focused on delivering best-in-class capabilities and tools to help them differentiate and win in the marketplace.”

LPL is focused on bringing AdvisoryWorld’s capabilities to all LPL Financial advisors as swiftly as possible. In January, advisors will be able to log into the solution through ClientWorks, using the version that is available today as an out-of-the-box solution. During 2019, the proposal generation capabilities will be fully integrated into LPL’s platform, seamlessly populating client data and making it easier for advisors to onboard clients and open new accounts.

“We built a thriving business with products that are proven in the marketplace. We remain committed to all of our customers, and I am excited about the opportunities this transaction creates for our team and our customers,” said Michael Wilson, who is now LPL Financial executive vice president and president of AdvisoryWorld. “We have a passion and a fresh perspective on fintech, and with LPL behind us, we’ll have more resources to bring those solutions to market.”

LPL will continue to offer AdvisoryWorld’s products as a stand-alone solution to the wealth management industry. The company intends to retain the talented team of employees that will continue to evolve and expand the AdvisoryWorld technology offering. The team will be based in LPL’s San Diego office.

Learn more about LPL Financial’s acquisition of AdvisoryWorld and the firm’s commitment to invest in solutions that support advisor growth.

*WealthManagement.com 2018 Industry Award winner

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Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this article, as well as the linked press release, regarding the Company’s future financial and operating results, growth, business plans and technology strategies, including statements related to the expected benefits of AdvisoryWorld’s services for LPL Financial advisors, the future provision of AdvisoryWorld’s services to LPL Financial advisors and as a stand-alone solution, the Company’s future technology solutions, including plans for ClientWorks Connected, and the future evolution and expansion of AdvisoryWorld’s service offerings, as well as any other statements that are not related to present facts or current conditions or that are not purely historical, constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s historical performance and its plans, estimates and expectations as of Dec. 3, 2018. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees that the future results, plans, intentions or expectations expressed or implied by the Company will be achieved. Matters subject to forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including economic, legislative, regulatory, competitive and other factors, which may cause actual financial or operating results, levels of activity, or the timing of events, to be materially different than those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. In particular, the Company can provide no assurance that the expected strategic benefits, synergies, capabilities, service enhancements and efficiencies expected to result from its acquisition of AdvisoryWorld will be achieved. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include: difficulties or delays in providing AdvisoryWorld’s service offerings to LPL Financial advisors, including the integration of AdvisoryWorld’s service offerings into the ClientWorks technology platform; the attractiveness of AdvisoryWorld’s current and future service offerings to current and future LPL Financial advisors and external clients of AdvisoryWorld; the performance of AdvisoryWorld’s software as designed; the effectiveness of employees and third-party service providers in supporting AdvisoryWorld’s current and future service offerings; the Company’s ability to control operating risks, information technology systems risks and cybersecurity risks; changes in general economic and financial market conditions, including retail investor sentiment; and the other factors set forth in Part I, “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in the Company’s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent SEC filing.  Except as required by law, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release, even if its estimates change, and you should not rely on those statements as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to Dec. 3, 2018.