The digital advice and wealthtech space is booming thanks to the widespread adoption of digital financial tools that benefit the financial industry and its customers alike. This technology-fueled boom also means that many varied and different providers of digital tools are often grouped together under the broad “fintech” umbrella.
At Marstone, we provide a digital platform that is unique in the marketplace and cannot be defined by broad categories. We’re a trusted, independent, digital wealth solution. Let’s dig a little deeper and explore exactly what that means for our technology and the company itself.
Why Our Company Is Different
Culture
Marstone’s team is an ensemble of seasoned financial practitioners, technologists, and creative designers who joined forces with the shared goal of transforming wealth management. We pride ourselves on building innovative technology and having a great workplace culture. Our offices are located in the heart of New York City as well as the Innovation and Design District of Providence, R.I., where we’re surrounded by other technology firms and start-ups that are changing the world. Marstone’s mission includes humanizing finance and making it more inclusive: it’s not just about doing business, it’s about helping people.
Diversity in Leadership
With challenges such as the gender pay gap and a lack of diversity on corporate boards and in leadership positions gaining increased attention, Marstone is proud to have a woman at the helm of our company. Our founder and CEO, Margaret J. Hartigan, spent 10 years as a top financial advisor in Merrill Lynch’s Global Wealth Management Group. She built Marstone from the ground up with the goal of boosting financial literacy and demystifying the often complicated world of finance for everyone. Democratizing access to financial tools is key to our vision.
Why Our Technology Is Different
Marstone has taken the time to integrate its technology with multiple custodians as well as core banking systems, making it immensely flexible and capable of working for financial institutions across the spectrum. Our goal is to enable banks, credit unions, financial advisors, and many others to get up and running with a fully customized digital advice solution in a matter of months, not years. Here’s how we stand out.
Honest Broker
Our platform is able to integrate with most firms’ existing technology. This flexibility is important for institutions that want to offer digital advice to their customers but don’t want to change who they are, or invest heavily in new systems. The fact that we are integrated with multiple custodians means that we are truly an “honest broker,” meaning we don’t have a partner or parent company whose technology we’re trying to push onto our clients. Rather, we meet our clients where they already are and we can be flexible in making further integrations depending on their needs.
Flexible Platform
Our platform can be easily integrated and deployed as an off-the-shelf solution, or fully customized, in a matter of months not years. This is crucial for banks and other financial institutions that want to move quickly into digital wealth management to guard against asset loss and capture additional wallet share. Clients can use any aspect of our platform that fits their needs, as there we have no “one size fits all” approach. Marstone aims to be a true partner: our goal is to innovate through collaboration and partnership with financial institutions of all sizes, enabling them to reach and engage both current and prospective clients.
Digital Engagement
Offering robust digital services is no longer nice to have for financial institutions, it’s table stakes for retaining customers and attracting new ones. A recent survey showed that 70% of banking is now done digitally, while 91% of customers say that receiving valuable financial advice from a financial institution increases their level of trust in that institution. That’s why digital engagement is so critical.
Financial institutions risk losing clients to competitors who are able to provide robust digital solutions, which is why smart companies are looking to tech partners to accelerate their time to market with digital engagement solutions so they can roll out new, modern services efficiently and quickly.
Beyond Robo
Among the biggest trends in fintech during the past decade was the rise of robo-advisors. While these firms didn’t break the traditional wealth management mold, they did shift the paradigm in wealth management by forcing established players to offer digital advice tools of their own.
But the next evolution is bigger, and that’s why Marstone’s offering goes beyond just digital advisory. Our technology is useful for more than just providing “robo advice” to end investors: it provides financial institutions with a digital tool suite to eliminate paper-based workflows, drive operational efficiency and allow them to spend more time engaging with clients. This means that you’ll be seen as more than just a provider of one service or another, but instead viewed as a trusted, holistic advisor who can help clients navigate their entire financial lives.
In the end, it boils down to flexibility, ease-of-use, and the efficient deployment of resources. Marstone can give your firm the ability to quickly roll out the digital tools you need to stay competitive and thrive, both now and in the future.