Envestnet | Tamarac has teamed up with CAIS to provide independent advisors with access to third-party hedge funds and private equity funds, as well as research on the alternative investment space, through its portfolio and client management platform, Advisor Xi.
More than 800 independent RIA firms rely on Advisor Xi, Tamarac's web-based, custodian-agnostic portfolio and client management technology platform, to collectively manage more than $500 billion in assets and over 1 million client accounts. The first phase of the integration between Tamarac's Advisor Xi and CAIS is now available to advisors.
"Our integration with CAIS will deliver efficient, reliable access to alternative investment products and research from a trusted third-party platform," says Stuart DePina (pictured), Group President of Envestnet | Tamarac. "In keeping with our dedication to helping advisors improve client relationships and outcomes, we are enabling advisors to utilise resources from CAIS to demonstrate their value to clients at a time when investor demand for alternative strategies continues to increase."
Advisors will be able to log into a secure CAIS portal through single-sign-on access within Advisor Xi, enabling them to easily subscribe to hedge funds and private equity funds on the CAIS platform for their clients—and conduct electronic fund transactions related to those products. Advisors will also benefit from enhanced reporting, through Advisor Xi, on alternative investment funds from the CAIS platform.
"Tamarac Advisor Xi enables our financial counselors to provide a more efficient and engaging wealth management experience for clients, and CAIS offers our counselors streamlined access to alternative investment funds and strategies that can help clients reach their financial goals," said Stephen Stelljes, President of Client Services at The Colony Group, a Focus Financial partner firm. "The integration of these two powerful platforms will make it easier for our counselors to leverage a diversified suite of alternative strategies for their clients."
"The alliance between CAIS and Tamarac is a natural partnership because we share a common goal to provide advisors with the products and services they need to deliver more value to clients," said Tim Shannon, President of CAIS. "We continue to build and expand relationships with industry-leading partners to provide as many advisors as possible with streamlined access to previously unavailable alternative investment products and research."
All Funds on the CAIS platform undergo independent due diligence by Mercer, and are typically available through CAIS at lower investment minimums. The integration with Tamarac will enable advisors to obtain Mercer due diligence reports on the hedge funds and private equity funds available on the CAIS platform, along with commentaries and other educational content about the overall alternative investment marketplace. In addition to a diversified menu of private funds and research, CAIS also provides services such as integrated custodial reporting and electronic subscription processing.
CAIS began a similar integration with Envestnet | PMC, the Portfolio Management Consultants group of Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE: ENV), at the end of last year. CAIS member firms, including RIAs, broker-dealers, and family offices, have transacted over $3 billion across the CAIS platform in a wide variety of alternative investment funds and capital markets offerings.
