BlackRock has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire FutureAdvisor, a digital wealth manager. The company will operate as a business within BlackRock Solutions (BRS), the firm’s investment and risk management platform.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015. The financial impact of the transaction is not material to BlackRock earnings per share. Terms were not disclosed.
The combined offering will enable financial institutions to grow their advisory businesses by leveraging technology to meet a growing consumer trend of engaging with technology to gain insights on their investment portfolios, including when making critical decisions around retirement. This need is particularly acute among the mass-affluent – a large segment accounting for 30% of total U.S. investable assets.
This acquisition helps the company meet the needs of a range of financial institutions including banks, insurers, large and small broker-dealers, 401(k) platforms, and other advisory firms looking for a digital-advice platform to increase customer loyalty and grow advisory assets.
“As demand for digital wealth management grows, we believe that our combined offering will accelerate our partner firms’ abilities to serve the mass affluent in a convenient, scalable way,” said Tom Fortin, Head of Retail Technology for BlackRock.
“BlackRock has dedicated enormous effort over the years to improving financial outcomes through its leading active and passive investment offerings as well as innovative retirement planning tools including its CoRI™ Retirement Indexes. We look forward to integrating and delivering this expertise to investors in partnership with financial institutions in the months to come,” said Bo Lu, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of FutureAdvisor.