Technology Brief – Marstone

Technology Brief – Marstone

Last week, Pershing’s Mark Tibergien announced that his firm is adding three B2B robo providers to its list of integration partners. The three are Vanare, SigFig, and Jemstep, which was acquired earlier this year by Invesco. Tibergien also announced that Pershing was moving to a more open platform with the launching of their API store.

There was little mention last week in published reports of Marstone, the B2B robo platform for advisors that Pershing announced was their initial robo partner almost a year ago.

I recently spoke with Margaret Hartigan, CEO of Marstone and Chris LaVine of Marstone to get an update. Hartigan told me that Marstone is finally live on the Pershing platform. Marstone was actually the first firm to make use of the Pershing API store. The Marstone relationship with Pershing is not an exclusive one, but all assets of Pershing clients that Marstone manages will be custodied at Pershing.

According to Hartigan, initial interest in the Marstone offering is very strong. Marstone is already in the process of onboarding clients, and they are engaged with multiple prospects.  She says her firm initially assumed that independent RIA’s would be the early adopters of Marstone within Pershing, but in light of the Department of Labor Fiduciary regulations, a number of large broker-dealers are expressing a keen interest.

Given the lack of availability to advisors over the last year, a review of Marstone’s platform was not a high priority, but now that it has gone live, we hope to have a more comprehensive evaluation of the platform soon.

Stay tuned.

Joel Bruckenstein
Joel Bruckenstein
Joel P. Bruckenstein, CFP®, is Publisher of the T3 Tech Hub (formerly the T3 newsletter) and the producer of the Technology Tools for Today (T3) Advisor Conference, the only annual technology conference for independent advisors, as well as the Technology Tools for Today (T3) Enterprise Conference. He also hosts other technology summits in partnership with thought leaders in the financial services industry (e.g., Brian Hamburger of MarketCounsel) and his own by-invitation-only fintech summit every summer. In 2020, Bruckenstein will produce for the first time a new one-day intensive called T3 Cyber University. Bruckenstein is an internationally acclaimed expert on applied technology as it relates to the financial service industry. He is the co-author of three books: Virtual Office Tools for a High Margin Practice, Tools and Techniques of Practice Management, and Technology Tools for Today’s High Margin Practice. Bruckenstein’s monthly technology columns appeared in Financial Advisor magazine and Financial Planning magazine for many years. In addition, he works in tandem with industry influential Bob Veres, publisher of Inside Information, to produce an annual technology survey for the financial planning community. Bruckenstein accepted the fifth annual Leadership Award bestowed by Bob Veres' Insider's Forum, a conference that brings together the leading figures of the financial planning profession during a main stage presentation at the Insider's Forum held September 6-8, 2017 in Nashville, TN. Bruckenstein has for more than twenty years advised financial service firms of all sizes on improving their technologies, processes and workflows. For more information about Joel Bruckenstein and the services his firm offers, please visit www.JoelBruckenstein.com.

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