Lawrence Calcano, Chairman and CEO of iCapital, joined Julie Cooling, Founder and CEO of RIA Channel, to discuss how iCapital makes alternative investments more accessible.
Institutional investors often allocate over 40% of their portfolios to alternative investments because they require greater portfolio diversification and higher returns to offset long-term financial obligations. Individual investors have many of the same financial needs as institutional investors but had previously lacked access to alternative investments.
iCapital has been building technology, education, and access to make it easier for advisors to offer a diverse range of alternative investments to their clients. In order for advisors to scale their allocation to alternative investments, an operational infrastructure is needed to deal with the complexities of these strategies. iCapital’s technology platforms allow advisors to easily process alternative investment subscriptions, redemptions, and record-keeping.
iCapital offers alternative investment education that provides continuing education credits to advisors. Beyond earning CE credits, education is beneficial as it allows each advisor to prove to their compliance team and to their clients that they have a true understanding of the alternative investment products being offered. Rather than substituting alternative investments for existing allocations in client portfolios, iCapital’s ARCHITECT tool allows advisors to build portfolios from the ground up, integrating alternative investments into the initial design of each portfolio.
Finally, through a series of acquisitions, including SIMON Markets, iCapital now offers the full breadth of alternative investment products. Strategies available on the iCapital platform include private equity, private credit, real estate, hedge funds, structured notes, and annuities.
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