Advisor Onboarding Specialist

Altruist adds donor-advised funds to platform. The custodian's new offering features no account minimums, lower fees than competitors and flexible investment options for advisors managing client philanthropy. Davis Janowski, Senior Technology Editor, Wealth Management October 5, 2026 Want a quick summary? Custodian Altruist has added donor-advised funds to its platform, allowing advisors to open, fund, invest and manage those charitable vehicles for clients in minutes without a separate system, the company said. Advisors can transfer an existing fund in two steps: contribute cash or appreciated securities and see the fund appear alongside other holdings in the household view, according to Altruist. "Giving is one of the most personal things a client does with their advisor. We want to support advisors and their clients through that process by making donor-advised funds easy to navigate and access," said Jason Wenk, founder and CEO of Altruist, in a prepared statement. According to Altruist, assets in the new donor-advised fund can be invested in any model in the marketplace, including custom portfolios and personalized indexing strategies, unlike most DAF platforms that restrict investment choices to a fixed menu. The platform has no account-opening, balance or grant minimums, and fees start at 50 basis points annually, below the 60 to 65 basis points typical among other donor-advised fund sponsors, according to Altruist. Clients can recommend grants directly from their Altruist account or mobile app, choosing from more than 1.8 million eligible charities without waiting for their advisor to initiate the transaction. Donor-advised fund accounts created on the Altruist platform will be sponsored by Endaoment, a 501(c)(3) public charity that is the legal owner of DAF assets and the customer of record on the account, according to Altruist. It has been a busy few months for the custody, clearing, and technology provider to RIAs. In late August, news came that the company had agreed to be acquired by Vanguard for $4.6 billion. Senior Technology Editor, Wealth Management Davis Janowski is a New York-based technology journalist whose work spans consumer, business and the FinTech sectors. Prior to his six years with WM, Janowski worked for Forrester Research as an analyst covering Digital Wealth Management. In edition, he has worked for two FinTech startups, Wealthfront and New York-based FeeX, Inc. (now Pontera). His work covering the advisor tech space began in 2007 when he joined InvestmentNews as the advisor industry's first dedicated technology reporter. His start in tech journalism began as an editor with PC Magazine in 1999 where he later served as an analyst and reviewer. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Wealth Management., Financial Planning, RIABiz, InvestmentNews, PC Magazine, numerous blogs and several books, including Technology Tools for Today's High Margin Practice. He has also been a speaker and moderator at numerous industry conferences. Outside his day-to-day he is a senior guide for Manhattan Kayak Company in New York City.

Q&A: State Street goes live with custody offering. 3 hours ago Britton, D. (2026, September 17). Q&A: State Street goes live with custody offering. WealthManagement.com. https://www.wealthmanagement.com/ria-news/state-street-launches-new-ria-custody-business * State Street went live this week with State Street Wealth Services, a new RIA clearing and custody business that the firm is now actively marketing to wealth managers. * The firm intends to bring on its first anchor client, a top U.S.-based RIA, within the next couple of months, and has approximately 40 additional RIA firms in the pipeline. * The offering is built on the digital clearing and custody platform of Apex Fintech Solutions, in which State Street took a minority interest last October, with State Street acting as introducing broker and adding its own layer of data, services and AI capabilities around Apex's APIs. * State Street sold a majority stake in its Wealth Manager Services business to FNZ about five years ago and continues to hold a minority stake in that business. * The unit hired Jennifer Stokes, former head of clearing operations at Altruist, as head of wealth custody and clearing, and Pete Dorsey, previously of LPL Financial, Altruist and TD Ameritrade, as chief revenue officer for wealth custody and clearing. * John Plansky, executive vice president and head of State Street Wealth Services, said the offering targets RIAs with $1 billion or more in assets rather than smaller firms, and that State Street has decided not to operate as a wealth manager itself. * Plansky cited legacy custodian practices such as charging ETF providers for platform placement, an issue analysts raised in connection with Vanguard's decision to buy Altruist, as an opening for a new entrant.

Arca, an AI-native wealth management firm that emerged from stealth in June 2026 with $64 million in funding, has partnered with Altruist as its preferred custodian and technology partner. Despite being recently launched, Arca already manages over $1 billion in client assets. The company has embedded Altruist's Realtime Custodial API into its proprietary platform. This integration enables Arca's AI agents to streamline operational workflows, allowing human advisors to focus on delivering personalised guidance to clients. Arca combines expert advisors with purpose-built AI to automate operational complexity in wealth management. The firm scales through acquisition and proprietary software rather than traditional growth methods. Arca is the first firm building on Altruist's real-time API, with additional tech-forward advisory firms expected to follow later this year.