Envestnet is deepening its partnerships with two of the world’s largest asset managers to help advisors deliver more personalized investment strategies through its Unified Managed Account platform.
At its Elevate 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Envestnet announced new collaborations with BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors, aimed at making custom model portfolios and direct indexing capabilities more accessible to registered investment advisors.
Through its expanded work with BlackRock, Envestnet is now offering RIAs access to custom model portfolios managed within a single account. The strategies integrate traditional mutual funds and ETFs, and are expected to include separately managed accounts and alternative investments in the near future.
The portfolios combine BlackRock’s portfolio construction and risk expertise with Envestnet’s UMA infrastructure to offer personalized, tax-efficient allocations aligned to client-specific goals.
In late March, BlackRock unveiled a new "first of its kind" customized portfolio offering that combines private markets exposure alongside traditional investments.
“By offering BlackRock's custom model portfolios on our platform, we're equipping RIAs with the tools they need to deliver high-quality, customized portfolios with greater efficiency and scale – and without added costs,” said Dana D’Auria, group president of Envestnet Solutions and co-chief investment officer at Envestnet.
The move expands on an existing relationship between the firms, which already supports customized solutions for high-net-worth clients. BlackRock currently manages roughly $300 billion in model portfolios globally. It anticipates that managed model portfolios could grow from $5 trillion today to $10 trillion within the next four years.
In a separate announcement, Envestnet revealed a new direct indexing initiative in collaboration with State Street Global Advisors. The launch brings direct indexing strategies to the UMA platform, offering clients a higher degree of portfolio personalization combined with tax-aware features.
The offering includes over 100 customization options, along with tax overlay services, and is designed for accounts with minimum investments of $100,000. Among the initial lineup are the SSGA Global Equity Direct Index Portfolio and the SSGA US Large Cap Quality Direct Index Portfolio.
“Through direct indexing on our UMA platform, advisors can deliver truly bespoke solutions aligned to each client's goals, values, and tax needs—without sacrificing scale or efficiency,” D’Auria said.
The direct indexing strategies are developed in partnership with QRG Capital Management, Envestnet’s in-house investment group, which has experience implementing direct indexing within the UMA framework.
In a survey released May last year, FTSE Russell found 79 percent of financial advisors were currently not using direct indexing in their practices, but nearly half (48 percent) indicated plans to start using the strategies in the near future. Among other benefits, direct indexing users participating in the study highlighted tax loss harvesting (64 percent), tax efficient transitions (56 percent), and reducing concentration risks (40 percent).
"Direct Indexing has been touted as a sea change in the industry, but it’s important to understand we’re still very early in its wider adoption," Ryan Sullivan, head of buy side, Americas at FTSE Russell, said at the time.
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