Commonwealth Expands Adviser Access to Vetted Alts Through iCapital Partnership

As the demand for alternative investments from financial advisers and their high-net-worth clients has grown, Commonwealth Financial Network has sought ways to efficiently source nontraded alternative investment opportunities to support their advisers in offering guidance with high-net-worth client portfolios. This resulted in Commonwealth’s newly established partnership with iCapital, a global fintech platform facilitating the alternative investments marketplace for the wealth management industry.

“The iCapital partnership allows Commonwealth to supplement our existing alternative investments product platform with a suite of products designed for high-net-worth investors,” explained Chad LaFauci, vice president of alternative investments. “Investing in private alternatives has historically been a cumbersome process with a lot of paperwork. The process is digitized with iCapital, making it easier and more streamlined. Our advisers now can reclaim time to focus on other priorities while having access to a more powerful way to attract and retain high-net-worth clients,” LaFauci added.

Commonwealth says the custom platform is a direct response to feedback from advisers seeking additional solutions to help them more effectively compete for – and win – high-net-worth investor business. The wide range of exclusive investment options is curated to help Commonwealth affiliates diversify high-net-worth investors’ portfolios with options generally reserved for institutional investors.

“What Commonwealth’s strategic partnership with iCapital gives us is critical because it’s a side-by-side comparison that would take me hours to create – hours that I don’t have to spare,” shared affiliated adviser Justin Bitner, CFP, ChFC, AIF, RICP, wealth manager at Sterling Financial Group in Salt Lake City, Utah. “I also have talking points with clients that are right there for me in a consistent format. There’s so much that lends itself to efficiencies, and I love it.”

Honed during a pilot program, this end-to-end solution allows advisers to conduct research and education, perform due diligence, and facilitate subscriptions through one integrated platform. While the current product set is geared toward high-net-worth investors, the goal is to expand the product set to accommodate additional net worth levels in the future.

This latest partnership follows other steps iCapital has taken this year to aid advisers in making alternative investment recommendations – i.e., partnering with Bain Capital to give advisers access to private credit strategies in April 2024, launching the Architect tool to evaluate alternatives and structured investments in February, and partnering with Morningstar in January.

Privately held since 1979, the firm Commonwealth Financial Network is headquartered in Waltham, Mass., and San Diego, Calif. It partners with approximately 2,200 independent financial advisers overseeing more than $296 billion in assets nationwide.

iCapital is a global fintech company supporting the alternative investments marketplace. iCapital’s solutions enable organizations to streamline and scale their operational infrastructure for alternative investments and to provide access to direct investments and feeder funds at lower minimums through simplified digital workflows. iCapital services more than $184 billion in global platform assets; employs more than 1,450 people globally; and has 12 offices worldwide including New York, Greenwich, Zurich, Lisbon, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Toronto.

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