Wealthtech provider Orion announced Denali AI this week, the company’s new enterprise intelligence platform that will power what the company is referring to as its AI-first ecosystem, when it is fully available.
For now, the technology remains in beta with select Orion advisory firm clients. Broad availability is expected sometime in 2026 at which time details on pricing and other aspects of Denali will be provided, according to the firm.
The AI has been built to connect every system and workflow across the Orion technology ecosystem.
On the Orion website, the company calls the technology “Your Firm’s AI Command Center,” stating it was designed to provide a firm’s administrators with full control and visibility into their AI environment, including usage data, activity logs and other connected sources and will be where firms define their AI-related configurations, set and align policies, and ensure that the AI matches a firm’s compliance and governance standards.
“Orion Denali AI is the cornerstone of Orion’s future … by combining automation that expands capacity, insights that anticipate client needs, and intelligence that supports better decisions,” said Reed Colley, president of Orion Advisor Technology, in a statement.
Orion demonstrated artificial intelligence assistants and other AI-driven features at the Future Proof conference in September.
Envestnet Launches Two Managed Model Portfolios Integrating Interval Funds
This week, Envestnet announced the launch of two managed model portfolios that include interval funds on its platform. The new funds are available through Envestnet’s Strategist UMA.
The new models integrate semi-liquid and liquid strategies, enabling seamless allocation to alternatives with point-and-click simplicity, according to Dana D’Auria, co-CIO and Group President of Envestnet Solutions, in a statement.
The first two models are from Franklin Templeton and BlackRock, with others slated for 2026 from Fidelity Investments and State Street.
The Franklin Templeton fund has five risk-based options ranging from Conservative to Aggressive. The portfolio will incorporate a 10% allocation to alternatives.
The BlackRock fund is a multi-asset income fund with private market models and incorporates public and private credit, covered call strategies and dividend-focused equities.
Neither fund will require subscription documents, and both provide simplified tax reporting.
Last week, Envestnet announced the appointment of Bhaskar Peddhapati as chief technology officer. He will be responsible for all aspects of technology, engineering and information security across the company. He most recently ran the mortgage technology team at Cotality (formerly CoreLogic).
SS&C Introduces AI Agent Catalogue
SS&C this week announced the launch of its AI agent catalogue. The available agents, which were developed, tested and used within SS&C prior to their external availability, range in their use cases from trade reconciliation and validation to contract analysis.
The agents are delivered as a managed service, designed to help organizations overcome talent shortages and operational bottlenecks.
Annuity carrier American Life, an SS&C customer, for example, is currently evaluating SS&C’s Credit Agreement Document Agent for possible use in streamlining the processing of its private credit operations by having the AI agent review and update lengthy loan documents.
The agents in its catalogue have been built using SS&C’s AI Gateway, which provides secure, auditable access to large language models and employs real-time guardrails for advanced security and data loss protection, real-time risk monitoring, and explainability of actions. And SS&C offers a range of deployment options, including hosting the AI Agents and AI Gateway on its own privately owned GPU infrastructure in ISO-compliant data centers, ensuring full custody of client data.
Boosted.ai Announces Voice-Powered AI Research Agents
Boosted.ai has launched voice-powered AI research agents, making it the first investment research platform that enables analysts and advisors to converse with a research agent in real-time.
Boosted.ai has integrated the natural language voice technology from ElevenLabs, meaning that those employing Boosted.ai’s Alfa agent can speak to it naturally, in real time, when making queries.
In a prepared statement, Boosted.ai provided the following hypothetical to illustrate how a verbal conversation might proceed:
Portfolio Manager: “Hey Alfa, look at companies in the S&P 500 with a dividend yield over 2% and a price-to-earnings ratio greater than 15. Then read earnings transcripts, SEC filings, and news for those stocks over the last 3 months and summarize their exposure to China.”
Boosted.ai Alfa response: “I’ve identified 27 names, concentrated in industrials, consumer staples, and energy. A significant number have meaningful exposure to China, both as a revenue source and a supply chain dependency. Would you like me to group them by sector or by level of exposure?”
While not a household name for most financial advisors, Boosted.ai launched in 2017 and is perhaps better known to asset and investment managers; it raised $15 million in funding last November.
SignatureFD Partners with CAIS, DFA, Axcelus on Tax-Advantaged PPLI Vehicle
SignatureFD, an RIA with $10 billion in assets, launched AutographFD, an operating division that will allow investors to allocate money to both public and private investment strategies within the tax-advantaged private placement life insurance wrapper. The RIA is partnering with alternative investment platform CAIS on private strategies, Dimensional Fund Advisors on public strategies and Innovator on defined outcome strategies. Autograph has incorporated AI into its platform to educate investors on alternative strategies and streamline the process of getting PPLI for clients. Axcelus Financial, with which SignatureFD has a long-term relationship, will be providing the insurance.
According to Doug Liptak, chief strategy officer at SigntureFD and founder of AutographFD, PPLI has traditionally been available on the very high end of the private investor market, to family offices with over $100 million in assets. AutographFD makes PPLI available to qualified purchasers with $3-million-plus in investable assets, although the average users will likely be investors with $10 million in assets.
Liptak noted that both end-investors and outside financial advisors have responded to news of AutographFD development with enthusiasm since it allows for tax-free growth of PPLI investments and simplified administration, with no K-1 forms, capital calls or subscription documents that need to be signed.
“It’s a better way to access alternatives from a tax-free standpoint,” he said. “Autograph allows you to do it all inside an institutionally priced policy and then get the tax benefits.”