How Powder’s API supports Chicago Partners’ 25% growth
AUM
$6.5 Billion
Headquarters
Chicago, IL
Number of Advisors
40
Clients
2,600
Annual Growth Rate
25%
Technology
FinTurk, Orion, eMoney
The Challenge
In 2023, Chicago Partners developed a platform called FinTurk to provide the firm with granular client service tooling and customization. Before partnering with Powder, advisors had to manually enter statement data from prospects into this system in order to evaluate a portfolio in detail. Every holding, every tax lot, was physically typed in along with its quantity, price, market value, cost basis, unrealized gain and loss, account name, and account type.
Manual document review
The initial problem Chicago Partners set out to solve was their current process of extracting holding data from investment documents by hand. The burden of manually copying and pasting details from statements into FinTurk for every new client consumed a significant amount of time. Each prospect required an average of two hours of dedicated data entry, with more complex portfolios taking upwards of eight hours complete. That was two to eight hours per prospect that was not being spent on investment analysis and client service.
Fragmentation across multiple systems
Even after automating the document parsing with Powder, Chicago Partners still relied on multiple disconnected systems to generate portfolio recommendations. Without seamless integration, advisors had to navigate between various tools to complete their tasks. This made it difficult to maintain a coherent and consistent data flow, detracting from the firm’s ability to deliver fast, personalized client service and limiting their ability to scale operations.
With Powder, Chicago Partners has seen:
99%
Reduction in Manual Data Entry
2 Hours
Time Savings per Prospect
45 Minutes
Time to Integrate Powder's API
The Results
Chicago Partners leveraged Powder's robust API to seamlessly integrate Powder's document parsing with FinTurk. Powder’s API has enabled a significant transformation of their workflows, as advisors can now upload financial documents directly into FinTurk without having to switch between multiple systems.
A single unified platform
The FinTurk team was able to connect Powder's API in less than an hour to deliver a cohesive experience to their users. By simply dragging files into the "Build Using Statements with Powder" dropdown, users can automatically populate the platform with an accurate and comprehensive breakdown of accounts, holdings, and granular investment details. Chicago Partners can house all necessary tools within the FinTurk ecosystem, enhancing its capability to deliver personalized client service at scale. The unification of data and processes not only improved internal communications and streamlined portfolio management but also increased overall operational agility.
Timely and actionable data
Powder's integration provided Chicago Partners with access to verified and clean portfolio data in a fraction of the time. By replacing a multi-hour manual review with a five second statement upload, advisors can make informed investment decisions quickly and deliver robust custom proposals. The automated data processing means that Chicago Partners can respond proactively to market changes and optimize asset allocation strategies in real time. Their advisors and analysts no longer have to stare at documents and waste time typing information into multiple systems — Powder does the heavy lifting and they can now focus on delivering thoughtful portfolio recommendations.
About the Firm
Chicago Partners is a rapidly growing financial advisory firm managing over $6.5 billion in assets across 2,600 clients. With 40 advisors, the firm differentiates itself by providing highly customized portfolios tailored to individual client needs and asset location, rather than relying on standard models. This personalized approach has contributed to their impressive growth of 25% and 27% in AUM over the past two years. Their platform, FinTurk, is now available as a standalone offering. It allows advisors to seamlessly pull data from Orion to analyze portfolio allocations, manage deliverables, and automate cash sweeps.
QUOTE
Mitchell Bratina, CFA
Wealth Advisor, Chicago Partners
Founder & CEO, FinTurk
