WisdomTree woos more advisors with portfolio solutions offering

The firm is doubling down on its $3.5B model portfolios business with a fresh push to help enhance investment advisors’ practices.

WisdomTree is building on the momentum in its model portfolios business by rolling out a new suite of solutions for investment advisors.

The firm’s new portfolio solutions shelf, offered through its subsidiary, WisdomTree Asset Management, aims to enhance its collaboration with investment advisors with a structured framework for delivering portfolios, allowing them to either utilize WisdomTree’s model portfolios or select third-party providers.

“More and more, advisors are seeking help regarding their portfolios, and WisdomTree’s goal is to be their strongest partner in the delivery and management of their portfolios and growing their business,” Thomas Skrobe, head of product solutions at WisdomTree, said in a statement Tuesday.

Portfolio Solutions is designed with three key offerings. The first, Portfolio Consultations, provides a detailed evaluation of advisor-built model portfolios, including analysis of portfolio composition, stress testing, and assessment of holdings and overlaps.

The second offering, CIO-Managed Model Portfolios, gives advisors access to model portfolios managed by WisdomTree that are aimed at meeting various client investment goals. These can be implemented via model market centers or third-party platforms.

The third service, Shared CIO, allows advisors to collaborate with WisdomTree’s Model Investment Team to build and manage client portfolios, including the ability to delegate trading, rebalancing, and tax optimization.

As the first enhancement under its Portfolio Solutions offering, WisdomTree has rolled out a model portfolio filtering tool to help advisors find a WisdomTree CIO-managed model portfolio that suits their clients’ needs based on investment objective, risk profile, single- or multi-asset class exposure, regional exposure, or platform.

“We’re excited to provide an offering that enables advisors to collaborate with WisdomTree to help deliver portfolios for their clients so they could spend more time building their businesses and deepening client relationships,” added Skrobe.

WisdomTree’s Portfolio Solutions is designed to assist advisors in managing asset allocation decisions, maintaining consistent investment and client communication processes, and optimizing their time and resources in order to enhance the value of their practices.

The company recently hit a milestone achievement in its models business, with a reported $3.5 billion in AUM as of April 26, 2024. The number of advisors utilizing WisdomTree’s managed models in the US doubled in to approximately 2,000, according to the firm, and it plans to add another 1,000 by the end of the year.

“We believe that providing a full range of portfolio services is a growth opportunity for the advisors we serve and well-positions us to provide timely insights and drive incremental flows,” Skrobe said.

More broadly, the model portfolio industry could grow at brushfire pace in the near to medium term, particularly within the SMA space.

According to one piece of research by the Money Management Institute and Dover Financial Research, more than 200 out of 900 money managers offering SMAs are using model portfolios, with the leader of the project expecting models to represent over half of separate account assets within five years.