Wall Street’s $300 Billion Middleman Rides Model-Portfolio Boom
- Envestnet connects advisers to thousands of customized trades
- Platform overseer Friederich says investors are trimming tech
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Brooks Friederich is a little-known figure in the world of investment advisory, even among the Wall Street cognoscenti. Yet every year, the 39-year old — and his Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based employer Envestnet — helps steer billions of dollars into tailor-made strategies for financial advisers, part of what’s known as the model-portfolio boom.
By providing a platform that offers around 2,000 customized products from some 150 asset managers, Envestnet is tapping into rising demand from retirement accounts and the like for bespoke portfolios — combining stocks, Treasuries, credit and more. As such, Friederich is becoming an intermediary in a multi-trillion-dollar business opportunity for titans such as BlackRock Inc. and Vanguard Group.