Coming into 2025, most financial services firms, financial professionals and investors expected artificial intelligence to continue garnering the lion’s share of media attention within the wealth management industry. While AI remains newsworthy and continues to transform how the industry conducts business, it has new cabinmates: headlines indicate economic uncertainty, market volatility and continued geopolitical unrest are weighing on investors and the advisors who serve them.
Tariff talk, trade imbalances, DOGE, and public policy shifts dominate the news as investors become increasingly anxious and businesses — from small Main Street shops to multinational conglomerates — try to forge a way forward amid many uncertainties. In this environment, wealth management firms and advisors are exploring — and in some cases, expanding — relationships with third-party tech-based platforms to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
What do these relationships offer, and how should wealth management firms engage them? We spoke with four fintech leaders representing data governance, crypto custody, trading solutions and digital investment platforms to learn more about how firms and advisors are adapting to the current environment, the challenges and opportunities these relationships offer, and how potential clients should approach the due diligence process.
Sid Yenamandra
Founder & CEO at Surge Ventures, a SaaS venture studio targeting the financial services and wealth management industries
Q: As wealth management enterprises increasingly seek partnerships with digitally-enabled investment management providers, what data governance best practices should firms prioritize?
A: Strong data governance is critical to ensuring security, compliance and operational efficiency. Its complexities can be addressed by adhering to process and procedural best practices such as:
Centralized Data Management: Consolidate disparate systems to ensure a single source of truth across investment, client and compliance data.
Granular Access Controls: Enforce role-based permissions and the principle of least privilege (POLP) to protect sensitive information.
Transparent Audit Trails: Implement immutable logging and real-time monitoring to track data access and activity — key for regulatory audits.
Data Quality and AI Readiness: Standardize, cleanse and enrich data to support advanced analytics and responsible AI deployment.
Ongoing Vendor Oversight: Conduct continuous due diligence on third-party partners, not just during onboarding, but throughout the lifecycle of the relationship.
By embedding these practices into both internal systems and external partnerships, firms can reduce risk exposure and build the trust needed to innovate responsibly.
Miguel Kudry
Co-founder and CEO of L1 Advisors, a Miami-based provider of SMA solutions that align RIA firms with crypto investors who self-custody their assets
Q: As wealth management enterprises cautiously explore digital assets amid economic uncertainty, how is L1’s Onchain SMA model reshaping advisor-client engagement?
A: Onchain SMAs let clients keep custody while advisors gain programmable discretion. They run on crypto rails that never close; stablecoins alone settled $27 trillion in Q1 2025 without a single halt. Because there is no account transfer or custodian setup, onboarding drops from weeks to minutes. Clients connect an existing wallet, and the advisor can begin managing portfolios immediately.
Advisors often juggle data feeds from several custodians. As more assets move onchain, they can retire brittle pipelines and focus on guidance, not plumbing. Every onchain vehicle shares the same transparent ledger of assets, market data, and transaction history, making reconciliation instant.
Crypto is still labeled a niche asset class, yet its infrastructure already clears volumes that dwarf many national payment systems. Soon, these rails will carry every asset class, from treasuries to equities, with the same settlement speed and auditability. Advisors who adopt onchain SMAs today will be ready for that future.
Gino Stella
Sales and trading manager at TradingBlock, a Chicago-based provider of custom trading technology solutions for institutions, individuals and RIAs
Q: In this period of prolonged market volatility and economic uncertainty, how are professional trading firms adapting their execution strategies?
A: Even with the market’s recovery from the recent lows, a heightened preference for liquidity persists across all trader types. Volatility traders, especially, are thriving in today’s markets and are seeking more liquidity providers and execution routes to put more cash to work.
For longer term traders, ensuring individual positions and the portfolio are invested in readily tradable assets remains paramount. Many have increased their cash position while taking a shorter-term tactical approach to manage daily and intraday market swings. These tactical positions can add cost, which may be a drag on returns.
Risk managers industry-wide are on heightened alert to stay ahead of intraday swings. There is little expectation that volatility will abate any time soon, so traders can expect to periodically experience higher margin requirements as firms seek to mitigate their exposure.
Overall, this elevated uncertainty erodes investor conviction, particularly for initiating new, long-term positions and cross-border investments. This environment underscores the need for cautious position management and places an even greater premium on execution strategies that can navigate potentially thinner liquidity.
Sloan Shanahan
Chief revenue officer at FusionIQ, a provider of cloud-based wealth management solutions
Q: As wealth management enterprises navigate prolonged market volatility, what are they prioritizing in conversations around digital transformation, and how is FusionIQ seeing institutions leverage integrated platforms?
A: In a time of ongoing market volatility, wealth management firms are laser-focused on resilience through digital transformation. Institutions are prioritizing enhanced operational efficiency, deeper client engagement and ensuring their platforms are agile and scalable enough to pivot quickly as market conditions evolve. At FusionIQ, we’re seeing an incredible shift toward integrated platforms that streamline both front- and back-office operations, providing firms with a seamless experience from start to finish. Our platform is empowering institutions to deliver data-driven, personalized solutions that help clients navigate uncertainty. As volatility continues, digital tools are no longer optional — they’re a key differentiator in how firms mitigate risk, increase performance and drive long-term growth. The firms leveraging our technology are not just keeping pace; they’re staying ahead, delivering exceptional value to their clients and maintaining a competitive edge in a dynamic market.
