AI Enters Wealth Management

Merit Financial's partnership with OneVest is a strategic move to support an aggressive M&A strategy. The firm, which doubled its assets to over $24 billion in the last year, is targeting an additional 15 acquisitions in 2026 and needed a platform to quickly and efficiently integrate new advisory teams. OneVest's "Agentic Wealth Operating System" moves beyond simple AI-powered insights, which have largely focused on note-taking and reminders. The platform is designed to execute core operational workflows, automating tasks like client onboarding, account openings, fund movements, fee billing, and compliance processes. The key distinction is the shift from passive dashboards to "agentic" AI that executes tasks autonomously. This intelligent execution layer is designed to eliminate what OneVest calls the "Legacy Tax"—the hours advisors lose to manual data entry and managing fragmented systems. This technology directly targets the high operational costs in wealth management, which can range from 35 to 50 cents per dollar of revenue. By automating middle-office functions like trade confirmations and data reconciliation, the goal is to reduce overhead, minimize errors, and free up advisors to focus on client relationships. Merit Financial operates over 55 offices with more than 150 advisors. As of January 1, 2026, its $24.69 billion in assets were broken down into $17.86 billion in advisory, $2.73 billion in brokerage, $2.3 billion in retirement assets, and $1.8 billion in ESOP assets. The deal reflects a broader industry push where AI-managed assets are projected to exceed $6 trillion by 2027. A recent Fidelity survey found that more than two-thirds of wealth management firms are already using generative AI, with 80% of users reporting tangible increases in efficiency.