LOS ANGELES, June 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Cetera Financial Group® (“Cetera”)*, a leading network of independent firms supporting the delivery of professional financial advice, today announced the upcoming launch of Decipher™, a revolutionary new facial recognition software solution to help Cetera-affiliated financial advisors gain far deeper insights, on a more rapid basis than was previously possible across the industry, into client emotions and behavior patterns regarding financial goals, decisions and concerns. The Decipher solution provides clients as well as family members and loved ones who have a voice or role in financial planning considerations with a unique interactive experience to help them better understand their priorities and concerns about their financial well-being.  As such, the offering enables Cetera’s affiliated advisors to develop more robust financial plans to help individuals and families achieve their financial objectives.  Decipher will be securely accessible through any computer or tablet device with a built in web camera, and supports the best interest advice model Cetera is building to be compliant with the US Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule.

As the next resource provided through Cetera’s Advice Architect Ecosystem™ of integrated platforms and tools following last month’s launch of technology-enabled investment solutions offering My Advice Architect™, Decipher represents another significant step toward the company’s strategic vision of delivering clients and advisors a truly advice-centric experience by unlocking powerful insights into clients’ emotional responses to a variety of real-life scenarios. Decipher will be introduced through a pilot program conducted this summer, with the solution’s rollout across the Cetera network anticipated to occur over the course of the third and fourth quarters of 2017.

Robert Moore, Chief Executive Officer of Cetera Financial Group, said, “Our new facial recognition software solution represents a major step forward for the financial advice industry, and supports one of the key objectives of the DOL fiduciary rule: assisting advisors to act in their clients’ best interests.  As experienced advisors know, client decisions about personal finances have always been significantly influenced by emotions that clients and their loved ones may not be fully aware of, and which are frequently left unsaid.  With our Decipher offering, financial advisors have an unprecedented opportunity to deliver an advice-centric experience that takes into account the emotional and behavioral nuances that help drive clients’ important financial decisions from the very beginning of the engagement. Decipher will not only provide our advisors with a powerful level of insight into their clients’ needs, but will enable them to translate those insights into actionable steps that directly support the achievement of clients’ financial goals.”

Decipher will form a core, value-added component of Cetera’s client discovery process, allowing advisors to enhance the advice-centric experience they provide by connecting clients’ emotions about money to the financial strategies advisors recommend from the outset of the relationship. Additionally, as a flexible-use tool, Decipher can also be deployed by advisors to identify potentially new client relationships based on enhanced quality and substance of initial interactions.

The Decipher experience begins with the client or prospect watching a short, personalized video comprised of different real-life scenarios. The solution’s facial recognition technology and cloud-based artificial intelligence measure the emotional response of the person to the video and provide robust, actionable information on what clients feel, want and need in order to make sound financial decisions that support their goals. This information is delivered to both the client/prospect and the financial advisor in separate reports that transform client insights into a more thorough understanding of their needs and priorities.  This enhanced understanding of clients’ attitudes and responses regarding financial goals and concerns is expected to provide advisors with enhanced opportunities to expand their client base by reaching prospects in new and more meaningful ways while also deepening engagement with existing clients.

Mr. Moore concluded, “By streamlining the initial discovery process and facilitating a more emotionally-connected rapport between clients and advisors from day one, we are differentiating Cetera-affiliated advisors from the rest of the industry, while positioning our advisors for success through the delivery of a deeper and higher quality level of guidance to their clients.”

Adam Antoniades, President of Cetera Financial Group, said, “”This technology is one of a series of new tools Cetera is rolling out to crystallize the intangible yet enormous value that our advisors and institutions provide to their clients each and every day.  We’re passionate in our belief that the future of this industry is based on an advice-centric approach oriented around the goal of understanding: Understanding clients, their needs and hopes, and how to effectively guide them along the road toward the successful achievement of their objectives. With Decipher, Cetera advisors will be empowered to start and manage every client relationship with a deeper level of insight into each client’s needs, wants and behavioral patterns than has ever before been possible in this industry.”

About Cetera Financial Group^®
Cetera Financial Group (“Cetera”) is a leading network of independent firms empowering the delivery of professional financial advice to individuals, families and company retirement plans across the country through trusted financial advisors and financial institutions. Cetera is the second-largest independent financial advisor network in the nation by number of advisors, as well as a leading provider of retail services to the investment programs of banks and credit unions.

Through its multiple distinct firms, Cetera offers independent and institutions-based advisors the benefits of a large, established broker-dealer and registered investment adviser, while serving advisors and institutions in a way that is customized to their needs and aspirations. Advisor support resources offered through Cetera include award-winning wealth management and advisory platforms, comprehensive broker-dealer and registered investment adviser services, practice management support and innovative technology. For more information, visit cetera.com.

* “Cetera Financial Group” refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Advisors, Cetera Advisor Networks, Cetera Investment Services (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions), Cetera Financial Specialists, First Allied Securities, Girard Securities, and Summit Brokerage Services. All firms are members FINRA/SIPC.

Media Contacts:

Matthew Griffes
Haven Tower Group
424.652.6520 ext 103
mgriffes@haventower.com

Joseph Kuo
Haven Tower Group
424.652.6520 ext 101
jkuo@haventower.com

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SOURCE Cetera Financial Group