BNY Mellon's Pershing ("Pershing") today announced integrations with CAIS and iCapital Network, the two most prominent alternative investment platform sponsors, through its enterprise-wide Application Program Interface (API) Store. The move underscores Pershing's commitment to leveraging technology to deliver increased efficiencies and a seamless experience to clients.
Pershing has offered access to alternative investments through its Alternative Investment Network1 for more than 10 years, with registered investment advisor (RIA) balances on the network doubling over the past three years. Integrations with CAIS and iCapital are expected to contribute to that growth by automating document workflows between these providers and the Pershing platform.
CAIS and iCapital Network provide advisors with access to private equity, private credit, hedge funds and other alternative investments by offering a curated menu of select diligenced products, and providing an end-to-end technology platform and automated operational workflows. With minimums starting as low as $25,000, these platforms provide advisors the opportunity to access sophisticated investment solutions to help advisors meet the needs of high-net-worth investors.
"One of the major barriers to investing in alternatives is the manual steps involved in the process," said Rob Cirrotti, managing director, Global Strategy & Product Management at BNY Mellon's Pershing. "As advisors increasingly turn to alternative investments for diversification and uncorrelated returns, we are committed to streamlining the process by making it more digital and more seamless for them so they can drive greater efficiencies."
Moving forward, advisors will only need to pre-populate required documents—including the Pershing Private Investment Form—on the alternative investment platform where the product is offered. These completed, executed documents will then be automatically uploaded to the Pershing platform, eliminating the need for manual uploads and reducing the potential for human errors. Further, advisors will be able to use e-Signature on Pershing's required form as part of these integrations.
"We are all about optimizing the client experience on our platform to be simpler and more efficient for advisors," said Christina Townsend, head of Relationship Management, Consulting, and Platform Strategy for Advisor Solutions at BNY Mellon's Pershing. "Our intelligently open platform offers advisors a highly curated experience, providing them with seamless connectivity to the most sought-after solutions in the marketplace. Recognizing our clients' growing demand for alternatives, we will continue to invest in our platform to make these products even more accessible to advisors."
These integrations with CAIS and iCapital are part of Pershing's ongoing efforts to deepen its capabilities in the alternative investments space and create an important bridge between RIAs and alternative investment managers as the only RIA custodian that serves both audiences.
Both BNY Mellon and Pershing have a strong presence in the alternative investments space. Through its PRIME unit Pershing offers alternative investment managers securities lending, capital introductions, as well as financing solutions. BNY Mellon is a leading fund administrator and custodian of alternative investment assets across credit, hedge, private equity and real estate funds.
"We have a long history of making alternative investments available to advisors on our platform," added Cirrotti. "We will continue to invest in solutions to meet our clients' evolving needs and leverage the broad array of alternatives capabilities across our enterprise to provide clients with unique insights."
