Even in wealth management, APIs are no longer a means to deliver a product; APIs are the product. Digital B2B platforms are not new to wealth management, but it seems that increasingly companies are pivoting to selling their API as a business rather than using APIs as a means to deliver their product.
Third Party Technologies, Tradier, Folio Investing and DriveWealth are registered broker dealers that sell their API to financial institutions. In the last few months, I have also come across wealth management-focused companies pivoting to sell their API as their product. One company, FinFolio, which sells portfolio management software, is now selling its API newly branded as wealthapi.io to small and medium-sized wealth managers. The automated investment advisor, Hedgeable, has created a separate standalone company called Hydrogen to sell its API to enterprises. In my latest report, The Wealth Management API Economy: B2B Platforms and APIs to Extend Reach, I discuss in detail the Hydrogen and wealthapi.io examples, and also look at complementary products to digital B2B platforms, which stand to gain as wealth managers adopt API-powered platforms.