MIAMI, May 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ladenburg Thalmann
Financial Services Inc. (NYSE American: LTS, LTSL, LTS PrA, LTSF,
LTSK) ("Ladenburg"), a publicly-traded diversified financial
services company, today announced the successful conclusion of its
second annual Innovation Symposium, an invitation-only event that
brought together fintech firms, startups and forward-thinking
financial advisors to exchange ideas, network and provide feedback
on new solutions that have the potential to transform the financial
advice space. Held May 14-15 in
San Francisco, the symposium drew
more than 75 advisors from Ladenburg's five subsidiary independent
advisory and brokerage (IAB) firms: Securities America, Triad
Advisors, KMS Financial Services, Investacorp and Securities
Service Network.
The Innovation Symposium is the touchstone annual event
organized by the Ladenburg Innovation Lab, which the firm launched
in 2018 to establish relationships with fintech entrepreneurs and
other leaders, collaborate with fintech companies and startups to
shape their offerings in ways that may support Ladenburg's IABs and
their affiliated advisors, and explore strategic investment
opportunities in startups whose solutions offer potentially
transformative advantages.
Adam Malamed, Executive Vice
President and Chief Operating Officer of Ladenburg, said, "We are
proud to have built on the momentum of our inaugural Innovation
Symposium last year with our 2019 event, which featured even more
startups and fintech firms and double the number of advisors from
2018. We firmly believe that, in order to innovate in our industry,
we must take an active and targeted approach to identifying
solutions that bring fresh ideas to the table. Through our
Innovation Lab and Innovation Symposium, Ladenburg is playing a
central role in driving and directing the evolution of the
financial advice industry by engaging with our advisors and fintech
firms in ways that anticipate advisors' needs and solve for them in
a proactive and forward-thinking way."
At the event, Ladenburg announced the rollout of Track
Technologies' tax-automation offering as an available solution for
use by its affiliated independent advisors, which enables a user to
calculate, withhold and submit estimated tax payments. Track, which
received a strategic investment from Ladenburg after presenting at
the 2018 Innovation Symposium, has worked closely with the
Innovation Lab to tailor its offering to suit advisors' needs.
Dan Sachar, Vice President for
Enterprise Innovation at Ladenburg and Head of the Ladenburg
Innovation Lab, said, "Our efforts to spur and nurture innovation
in the financial advice space are already bearing fruit with the
introduction of the availability of the Track tax solution for
financial advisors, which came about because we recognized the
potential benefits of the company's solutions and helped Track
develop its technology through our direct investment and
collaboration. The Innovation Symposium has emerged as a touchstone
event for a year-round dialogue between the Innovation Lab,
advisors and fintech companies that is translating the energy and
insight of each of these groups into solutions, and we are very
pleased to play a leading role in this process."
The centerpiece of the Symposium was the Startup Pitch
Competition, in which the leaders of cutting-edge fintech companies
and startups presented their solutions to advisors and other
attendees. Presenting companies included (among others):
- Truthify, which offers an emotion-enabled application that
identifies authentic emotional reactions to any video message
from anyone on any mobile device, empowering stronger and deeper
client relationships. Truthify was awarded Best in Show as the
winner of the Startup Pitch Competition
- Genivity, a technology platform that helps advisors project
long-term healthcare costs for clients for financial planning
purposes
- Peanut Butter, a platform for employers to offer student loan
assistance as an employee benefit
- Rize Money, a platform that
combines savings and investment accounts for individuals
- Harness Wealth, a service that helps financial advisors connect
with prospective clients
- Newday Impact, an app-based impact investing platform
Also announced at the event was the formation of the Ladenburg
Advisor Innovation Council, a group of technology-oriented advisors
from across the Ladenburg network who are eager to provide ongoing
feedback and insights to the Innovation Lab and the fintech firms
it works with in order to help startups and other firms further
hone their solutions and identify other opportunities for
innovation throughout the industry and within advisors'
practices.
The Symposium, which featured a jammed-packed agenda full of
informative presentations and collaborative discussions, also
featured keynote addresses by Jelena
Ewart, Co-Founder and Partner of Upside Partners, and
Rebecca Rodskog, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of
FutureLeaderNow, who provided a venture capitalist's
perspective on the financial advice world, including where
financial advice is going and where investors are placing big bets,
along with a directed brainstorming session in which participants
ideated blue-sky solutions on top industry challenges.
Trent Bigelow, Chief Executive
Officer of Track Technologies, said, "Ladenburg knows that
innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum. By bringing together the key
stakeholders who are driving evolution in our industry, Ladenburg's
Innovation Symposium provides the ideal environment for
transformative ideas to take root and thrive. Track Technologies'
development over the past year is a perfect example of the power of
this approach. As a result of the feedback we received from
advisors and other attendees at last year's Symposium – and the
sustained dialogue and collaboration we established with Ladenburg
after they made a strategic investment in Track in July – we have
been able to further strengthen our solutions and tailor them much
more closely to advisors' needs. The Innovation Symposium has
already proven itself to be a groundbreaking and valuable platform
for shaping the future of financial advice."
About Ladenburg Thalmann
Ladenburg Thalmann Financial
Services Inc. (NYSE American: LTS, LTSL, LTS PrA, LTSF, LTSK) is a
publicly-traded diversified financial services company based in
Miami, Florida. Ladenburg's
subsidiaries include industry-leading independent advisory and
brokerage (IAB) firms Securities America, Triad Advisors,
Securities Service Network, Investacorp and KMS Financial Services,
as well as Premier Trust, Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management,
Highland Capital Brokerage, a leading independent life insurance
brokerage company and full-service annuity processing and marketing
company, and Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., an investment bank
which has been a member of the New York Stock Exchange for over 135
years. The company is committed to investing in the growth of its
subsidiaries while respecting and maintaining their individual
business identities, cultures, and leadership. For more
information, please visit www.ladenburg.com.
Media Contacts:
Joseph Kuo / Chris Clemens
Haven Tower Group
424 317 4851 and 424 317 4854
jkuo@haventower.com or cclemens@haventower.com
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SOURCE Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc.