Betterment makes its focus clearer through rebrand
Betterment Institutional has become Betterment for Advisors in a rebranding exercise that aims to make it clear that its robo-advisory platform is to serve advisers. The new name is intended to reflect the company's mission and focus; reimagining what humans and innovative technologies can achieve together. The platform has also expanded the investment choices with the addition of a number of new funds. The move comes after concerns were raised over Betterment's temporary suspension of trading in June the morning after the Brexit vote and resultant calls for clarity over its policies.

Seeking to make it clear to financial advisers that it has a digital advice platform aimed squarely at them, Betterment Institutional has switched its name to Betterment for Advisors, the company announced Wednesday.

“Our mission is to partner with advisers to reimagine what humans and innovative technologies can do together,” said Tom Kimberly, general manager for Betterment for Advisors. “The old name didn’t reflect that mission and this makes it more clear to the marketplace that it’s advisers we focus on, not bank or insurance companies or other institutions.”

The platform, which allows advisers to self-brand the Betterment digital advice offering for a 25-basis-point fee, also will include portfolio options from The Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs Asset Management starting next month, and from about a half-dozen other investment managers in the future, he said.

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Today, advisers have to choose the portfolios they make available to clients from a selection of Betterment investment strategies.

More than 350 firms currently use the Betterment platform for advisers.

The robo-adviser also has a retail platform and a third program called Betterment for Business, which focuses on 401(k) plan participants. In all, the three lines of business have $5.8 billion in assets and 188,000 clients, the firm said.

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Offering portfolios that allow for investments in socially responsible companies is something the company “is exploring,” Mr. Kimberly said.

Socially responsible investing is an area in which advisory firms are increasingly investing resources because both women and millennials are especially interested in backing up their beliefs with their dollars when investing.

Integrating alternative investments also is a goal of Betterment for Advisors, Mr. Kimberly said Wednesday at the annual Financial Planning Association meeting in Baltimore. The Goldman Sachs investment strategies announced today leverage smart beta, and that’s just the beginning of what the firm has in mind, he said.