Pontera Adds Nondiscretionary Retirement Advice Option to Infrastructure

Pontera Solutions Inc., a financial technology firm that connects financial advisers to clients’ employer-sponsored workplace plans, announced the expansion of its platform to support nondiscretionary retirement advice.

Launching in September, with an open waitlist for advisers already available, the offering will enable advisers to provide ongoing investment recommendations for retirement savers, who can choose whether to implement the recommendations through the platform.

The expansion adds support for multiple advice models and includes features such as portfolio drift monitoring, rebalancing recommendations, supervisory alerts, audit trails and client reminders. Firms using the offering will also have access to Pontera’s existing integrations for reporting, billing, supervision and compliance functions.

Currently, advisers can manage workplace retirement accounts on a discretionary basis when authorized by clients. In Pontera’s offering, “nondiscretionary” refers to the advisers not having discretion to make investment changes to their clients’ accounts. Instead, they will provide recommendations, while clients retain responsibility for making changes.

Advisers using the platform will not be able to directly access client accounts, withdraw funds, change beneficiaries or modify contribution rates, according to the announcement.

Recommendations will be delivered through the platform, where clients can review and act on them. Both advisers and clients will receive notifications when recommendations are made or account changes are pending.