In the WealthTech Talks interview series, we interview senior executives from leading wealth management firms, solution providers, and WealthTech influencers to learn more about them, their journey, their perspectives on the market, and how they see the future of wealth management.

For this issue of WealthTech Talks, we caught up with Curtis Evans, Managing Director (EMEA) of Jacobi Strategies, a global investment technology firm focused on multi-asset portfolio design, analytics, model management and client engagement.

“The explosive growth of model portfolios is reshaping how portfolio solutions are delivered across diverse client segments. They are now the conduit to a more centralised, streamlined, and better-governed process — separating investment decisions from routine liquidity management. Yet legacy systems have failed to keep pace, forcing investment managers to rethink their operating models.” — states Curtis Evans, Managing Director (EMEA) of Jacobi.

What’s really happening in the model portfolio space right now — what’s driving growth, and where are some cracks starting to emerge?
The growth of model portfolios globally across both wealth and institutional asset management is undeniable. While there are commonalities, there are also differences in how and why they are used.

In institutional asset managers, models are increasingly adopted to systematise portfolio management, reducing duplication and ensuring decisions flow consistently into portfolios. Many firms are still evolving their approaches — balancing distributed investment decision-making with systematic model-driven approaches. It’s all about streamlining how and where human judgement shapes portfolios and minimising unnecessary overlap.

In wealth, the premise has similarities as central investment teams take greater responsibility over the investment proposition. However, in Managed Portfolio Services (MPS), models also represent a ‘product’ that clients directly experience. Models are then also used as an anchor for the management of bespoke discretionary accounts and advice processes.

What is common across wealth and institutional asset management is that models enable the separation of investment decisions from routine account-level transactions - that should be automated within trade and order management systems. Yet legacy technology and fragmented architecture still hold the industry back from reaping these benefits.

What are the biggest operational challenges you see when firms try to scale customized models?
We see two major operational challenges.

The first is managing the proliferation of models while ensuring investment ideas flow consistently across them. For example, propagating changes from a core set of six models to an underlying book of 300, each with unique constraints. Achieving this at scale demands a well-designed, modular investment process supported by robust technology.

What begins as a handful of models can quickly balloon into hundreds, creating governance blind spots, data fragmentation, and manual bottlenecks that slow decision-making and heighten operational risk.

It’s important to distinguish this upstream challenge from the well-known platform connection issue - speed and robustness of updating models on platforms remains a critical UK industry priority.

These pressures are compounded by rising demand for custom models, exposing the fragility of the operating frameworks underpinning model portfolios.

How does Jacobi connect the model-portfolio lifecycle so teams can scale effectively?
Jacobi is a next-generation investment management platform built for running complex multi-asset portfolios at scale. Unlike legacy systems, it is modular and highly flexible — clients can even integrate their own tools and models.

The platform unifies every stage of the model lifecycle: from strategic portfolio design and construction, day-to-day model management and scaling decisions across multiple models, to downstream model delivery and communication. Leading use cases start at the very beginning — bringing together CMAs, running stochastic projections, conducting SAA, and implementing tactical decisions across diverse model sets.

A critical component of the technology is supporting communication and engagement. So many clients also use Jacobi to bring models to life for advisers and end investors, enhancing transparency and trust. That means ‘lifting the lid’ on their investment process by sharing analytics, reports, and interactive applications in real time.

How does Jacobi help to manage change and reduce dispersion across large model books?
Jacobi’s Portfolio Scaler application enables firms to efficiently execute model updates at scale across diverse portfolios, each governed by their own unique constraints.

Users can define model groups by type, platform, or client, and automate weight updates using optimisation (e.g., minimising tracking error to a parent model) or intuitive scaling rules. Clients can also integrate bespoke methods or third-party optimisers for added flexibility.

A key aspect of the applications is model compliance — critical given the scale of assets influenced by a single model. Proposed changes can be reviewed through multiple analytic lenses, including ex ante, ex post, risk, compositionals (including look-through), and entirely bespoke metrics. Workflow tools allow clear role delineation for proposing, reviewing, approving, and delivering updates.

Once model changes are confirmed, downstream delivery options range from API connectivity to formatted trade files, as well as generating bespoke reports and audit information.

Ultimately, Portfolio Scaler transforms model updates from manual, error-prone tasks into a controlled, governed and scalable process. Jacobi can then be also used for ‘post-change’ model monitoring and reporting - e.g. analysing ranges of models to ensure consistency and compliance, and to identify outliers.

If a team wants to professionalize model operations, what should they focus on first?
Right now, there is immense opportunity for groups to streamline the upstream ‘model cascade’ challenge and put a more robust investment process in place. While there is much attention on the platform connection issue, that’s unlikely to evolve fast as it requires API improvements on platform technology.

That also doesn’t directly address the governance risk that many wealth managers face — two clients experiencing vastly different outcomes despite having the same risk profile. While there may be times that it’s justifiable, it highlights a lack of enterprise scale.

To professionalise model operations, we’d recommend thinking modular and start by mapping your entire model lifecycle. Understand where data enters, how investment decisions are made, how models are constructed, key analytical inputs, how approvals occur, and where models get delivered. Crucially, narrow down where your value-add lies and what’s most unique in your process — after all, it' s a very competitive space.

With a clear understanding of your target operating model, you can then consider how best to centralise and connect those processes — ideally in a platform that automates repetitive tasks, standardises analytics, and hard-wires governance. Think modular, open-architecture, flexible — avoid bundled, terminal-centric systems that undermine a connected ‘enterprise’ process.

About Jacobi Strategies
Jacobi is a global investment technology provider for multi-asset investment teams. Capabilities include model portfolio construction, analytics, and client engagement. Its unique ‘open architecture’ platform allows firms to tailor private deployments of the platform by integrating their own code, models, data, analytics, and applications.

Founded in 2014 with a strong foundation in institutional asset management, Jacobi is used by leading asset and wealth managers, pension funds, asset owners, and investment consultants worldwide. The firm continues to advance its capabilities, pioneering specialised AI agents within secure, client-specific environments – cementing its position as an industry leader. 

For more information, click here.

About the WealthTech Talks Interview Series
In the WealthTech Talks interview series, we interview senior executives from leading wealth management firms, solution providers, and WealthTech influencers to learn more about them, their journey, their perspectives on the market, and how they see the future of wealth management.

• Patrick Spencer, Managing Director of Moneytree Software - click here to read the interview
• Frank Schooneveldt, Managing Director of Akkuro Savings & Investments - click here to read the interview
• Anneke Stender, Executive Vice President of Plumb Bill Pay - click here to read the interview