As the AIR market continues to relentlessly expand, customer service will become more personalized, Charles Schwab executives told advisors at their annual IMPACT conference this week.

These are two trends from an opening keynote with Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger and Head of Consulting Services Bernard Clark to kick off the conference. Direct indexing, thematic portfolios and tailor-made investment products “are coming like a freight train,” Bettinger said.

“I know RIAs have seen this before and you’ve been personalizing for many of your clients for a long time, but many investors today are looking for an even higher level of personalization,” Bettinger said from Step IMPACT, which was broadcast continuously. To a fully digital audience for the second year in a row. “We all want to be part of this freight train that crisscrosses the market. “

However, executives shared few details on how the firm is helping advisers get on board. Although Schwab acquired technology from the late thematic investment startup Motif Investing To create a direct indexing offering, IMPACT did not provide an update on how and when these capabilities would be in the hands of advisers.

In order to provide more personalized service to clients, advisors are adapting their practices, standardizing workflows and improving operational efficiency, Clark said. To that end, Andrew Salesky, Managing Director of Digital Advisor Solutions at Schwab, presented a number of Custodian’s technology updates and offered a preview of what’s to come.

Schwab’s technology strategy has three parts, Salesky said. The first is about streamlining processes and reducing labor by making Schwab Advisor Center easier to use and leveraging the capabilities of Veo One, the advisor technology platform acquired from TD Ameritrade. Second, Schwab is working to modernize its trading and investment management capabilities by integrating TD technology like thinkpipes and iRebal. The company hopes to complete the integration and make all of these features available to advisors in early 2023.

Finally, Schwab wants to make the RIA platform itself more customizable through deeper integrations with third-party financial technology companies, more dashboards, and an improved portal for software developers.

Forty percent of RIAs use enterprise digital integration introduced during the summer, according to Alison Dooher, head of digital integration consulting. Over the next few months, the company is looking to expand account types to include managed accounts and IRAs, allow multiple accounts to be opened simultaneously, and add support for bulk transactions.

The company is also taking an in-depth look at institutional smart portfolios, the version of its digital advisory product designed for financial advisers, Salesky said. The technology has a bit of an overlap with iRebal, especially when it comes to automated rebalancing, and Schwab would like to expand smart institutional portfolios to include some of the model portfolios available on the Model Market Center.

RIA growth
Echoing the comments of his recent quarterly results report, Clark and Bettinger discussed the opportunity for growth among independent financial advisers. Even with around $ 3.5 trillion in assets in its RIA custody business, Schwab still only has a small share of the market, Bettinger said.

“We have just scratched the surface,” he said. “We have before us a lot of market shares that we can win together. “

Executives also reiterated that Schwab is dedicated to meeting the needs of all RIAs, regardless of their size. Since acquiring TD Ameritrade, which was a popular custodial platform for small advisers, the company has been skeptical of its interest in supporting the lower end of the market.

“The growth of the RIA community strengthens every business,” said Clark.

“No single consulting firm can recreate for itself all the benefits of our collective action,” added Bettinger.