Wells Fargo’s Wealth & Investment Management (WIM) division, in collaboration with InvestCloud, now offers alternative investments as an eligible investment in its Personalized Unified Managed Account (Personalized UMA) program. This move demonstrates WIM’s market leadership as one of the first large wire houses to make this option available at scale and provides both advisors and clients with greater choice and convenience by allowing more investment types in a single account.

Amidst ever-increasing demand for alternative investments, this capability — a single account with the broadest array of investments to fulfill clients’ asset allocations — simplifies the advisor and client experience.

“We are committed to providing new technologies that deliver personalized, scalable, and data-driven client experiences,” said Greg Maddox, WIM Investment Solutions product management executive. “We are proud to offer industry-leading investment capabilities and find new and innovative ways to make the company an easier place for advisors and clients to do business.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Wells Fargo to further elevate their investment capabilities with cutting-edge technology, tools, and resources,” said Jeff Yabuki, chairman and CEO of InvestCloud, a wealth technology company. “InvestCloud is delivering innovations which enable an exceptional and personalized wealth management experience to enhance the client-advisor relationship.”

Alternative investments go beyond traditional investments (stocks, bonds, and cash) to provide for qualified clients hedging and arbitrage techniques, derivatives, long and short positions, and investments in private offerings and global markets. These can include alternative mutual funds (liquid alternatives), private funds (hedge funds, managed futures, private equity, and private debt); and certain real assets, such as private real estate. Please review Wells Fargo Investment Institute’s Alternative Thinking report to learn more.

“History shows that diversifying investments or asset classes generally has been an effective strategy to help manage a portfolio’s risk and return profile,” said Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer for WIM. “Investors are looking for ways to build more resilient portfolios, and we are dedicated to developing new strategies and tools to help them reach these goals.”

Now, both traditional and alternative investments can be held within WIM’s Personalized UMA structure where suitable for qualifying clients. This allows its clients and advisors to collaborate more closely and ensure their portfolios are truly tailored to their specific needs.

Source: Wells Fargo