Canadian fintech startup partners with Morningstar to deliver crypto education to advisors

by James · April 24, 2023

Financial advisers can now access digital asset education through a big name in financial services, thanks to a new fintech partner from north of the border.

Late last week, The morning star announced a new collaboration with Meet Ami Innovationsa Canadian fintech firm with a mission to help wealth advisors and financial professionals navigate the digital asset landscape at the service of their clients.

One of the ways MeetAmi aims to achieve that mission is through “AmiLearn,” a comprehensive digital asset learning platform that relies on features like online mentorship, mini-lessons, and AI-assisted content plans to deliver crypto guidance directly to advisors’ desks.

The newly unveiled partnership brings AmiLearn to Morningstar Advisor Workstation, Morningstar’s online platform for financial professionals. Available via the App Hub in the Morningstar Advisor Workstation, the tool provides subscribers with free and additional paid educational content related to digital assets.

Kevin Reed, head of strategic platform partnerships at Morningstar, said the pairing is an exciting effort, stating that the Morningstar team is poised to “equip wealth management firms and their advisors with the resources they need to navigate this growing asset class and better serve their clients .”

MeetAmi CEO Hashim Mitha told Financial planning that as cryptocurrencies continue to evolve and attract attention, advisors are often asked by clients to help them understand the asset class.

He explained that MeetAmi Innovations started about three years ago with a focus on “empowering advisors to be able to engage in the world of digital assets.” It began with tools to help advisors build portfolios and make direct investments in digital assets.

“But when we rolled it out, we recognized that advisers really needed to build an understanding of the industry first. And there are ever-evolving requirements from regulators,” Mitha said before referring to Securities and Exchange Commission staff bulletin began circulating Thursdaythe day after the news of the Morningstar and MeetAmi collaboration was published.

In that document, the regulator pointed out advisers’ duty of care and warned brokers to carefully consider alternatives before recommending cryptocurrencies, securities with securities and other risky and complex products.

“The need and understanding of digital assets is something that is really challenging for a lot of advisors,” Mitha said. “First of all, there’s no single place for aggregated content to be able to get them to go on this journey.”

But beyond that, Mitha said the industry needs to look at building communities of practice and do a better job of connecting advisors to experts so they can dive deeper into specific areas of interest.

“We’re actually recording your learning journey on the blockchain so compliance in your firm has an immutable record of the learning journey you’ve been on,” he said. “It’s a far bigger learning challenge than just delivering a course. And our mission was to provide the tools and resources to help advisors and support their clients.

For advisers who have yet to be approached by a client with questions, Mitha said the time will come sooner rather than later.

“Our belief is that every adviser has a responsibility towards their clients to either come to a qualified yes, that this investment makes sense. Or to a qualified no, this does not make sense to you. But for it to be qualified requires that you have knowledge and understanding,” he said. “There are many places on the web where you can get information about what is blockchain or what is Bitcoin. And many advisers are fully justified in saying, no, you should not invest in Bitcoin. It does not But you must have come to that conclusion through an understanding of the industry and what’s going on.”

The new MeetAmi and Morningstar deal is the latest effort to bolster the wealth management industry’s collective crypto literacy as the asset class continues to draw headlines, crashes and controversies.

In March, Ric Edelman led The Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals launched an expanded and revised list programming with lesson tracks for a wider range of crypto enthusiasts.

Along with a segment that teaches advisors how to integrate digital assets into their practice and explain crypto to clients, the expanded DACFP program includes lessons for non-client-facing financial professionals that focus on regulatory and operational issues; an industry track for those employed in the digital asset community; and an Investor/Consumer/Student track that is a place for enthusiasts and the crypto-curious.

last June, Flourish and DACFP entered into a partnership which gives all RIA clients of Flourish Crypto access to an introductory course designed to help advisors become more fluent in blockchain, bitcoin, ethereum and other digital assets.

Other measures to strengthen education of digital assets within wealth management include Interaxis and CPE World merge to form a comprehensive platform to teach financial advisors and accountants how to incorporate cryptocurrencies into their practice.

Interaxis started in 2019 as a YouTube channel for certified financial planner Adam Blumberg and financial analyst Ron Dixon to explain the world of blockchain and decentralized finance. As the platform grew, Blumberg closed his RIA to work full-time on digital asset education.

Interaxis Senior Instructor Adam Blumberg

For Blumberg, the pairing of the MeetAmi pairing with Morningstar is valuable for advisors.

“Regardless of what the SEC does, customers have overwhelmingly invested in crypto,” he said. “They have a Coinbase account or something. It’s kind of the adviser’s responsibility to know something about it to the point where they can have conversations with the clients rather than the clients hiding it from them, or rather than the adviser saying ‘you should sell it and go to an S&P fund.’ Or the counselor says, “I just can’t talk to you about that.

“So whether the advisers can advise their clients on crypto or not manage it, I think is less relevant than asking, do your clients have it? Are they interested? Do you want to have a conversation about it?”