Winnipeg-based Conquest Planning has partnered with another Canadian FinTech firm focused on the wealth-management space: Toronto’s CapIntel.
The deal will bring Conquest’s strategic advice manager (SAM) to CapIntel’s network of more than 12,000 financial advisors across North America. Using artificial intelligence (AI), SAM analyzes client information and provides personalized financial planning advice.
This partnership aims to increase Conquest’s reach and boost the financial planning capabilities of advisors using CapIntel’s investment sales platform.
“A strategic integration was a natural opportunity to provide advisors and end investors with an enhanced financial planning experience.”
– Rob Crnkovic, CapIntel
“Recognizing the complementary nature of Conquest and CapIntel’s solutions, a strategic integration was a natural opportunity to provide advisors and end investors with an enhanced financial planning experience,” CapIntel co-founder and chief revenue officer (CRO) Rob Crnkovic said in a statement.
Founded in 2018, Conquest has built an AI-powered financial planning platform to make personalized wealth management targeted at consumers, including retail investors and high-net-worth families. To date, Conquest has raised nearly $35 million CAD in total funding from backers like Fidelity International Strategic Investors, Portage, BNY Mellon, and RBC.
Conquest most recently closed a $24-million Series A round in late 2022 to bring its tech to the United States (US) and the United Kingdom.
With the agreement, CapIntel joins Conquest Planning’s growing list of partners, which includes RBC, fellow Canadian FinTech startup Wealthsimple, and credit union Vancity.
“CapIntel’s vast reach across North America and its efforts to ensure that no one misses out on their financial goals makes them a model partner for us here at Conquest,” Conquest CRO Brad Joudrie said in a statement.
Launched in 2019, CapIntel serves financial institutions across North America, including some of Canada’s largest banks, boasting a list of customers that includes IG Wealth Management, Canada Life, and BMO. The business-to-business FinTech startup’s software is designed to improve analysis and presentation for advisors and asset managers.
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In May 2022, CapIntel secured $14.2 million in Series A capital to fuel its US expansion plans, bringing its total funding to over $16 million, from a list of investors that includes FinTech Collective and Fengate Asset Management (on behalf of its investor, the LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada).
For CapIntel, the Conquest partnership follows its recent addition of CapIntel ESG to help advisors identify public companies’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks.
Some expect that AI will upend the wealth-management space. However, per a recent CFP (certified financial planner) Board survey, a minority of investors (31 percent) say they’re comfortable with implementing financial planning advice received from a generative AI tool without verifying it first.
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The survey found that willingness to use AI in this capacity is higher (52 percent) if the advice is verified by a financial advisor.
Willingness to adopt AI in personal finance also appears to vary on a generational basis: a recent RBC survey found that younger Canadians are more likely to use AI to manage their finances than their older counterparts.
As the use of AI spreads across the wealth-management industry, some regulators have explored implementing guardrails to inform its use and prevent conflicts of interest.
Feature image courtesy Conquest Planning.