Enterprise Bank expands WM toolkit with Fortigent

Thomas Coyle

14 January 2009

New England bank reckons disciplined approach will appeal to wary investors. Lowell, Mass.-based Enterprise Bank has selected wealth-management platform provider Fortigent to improve performance reporting and to augment its proprietary manager of managers program.

"During this difficult economic situation our country is facing, investors are looking for stable financial institutions that they can trust," says Louis Beaulieu, head of Enterprise's Investment Advisory Group. "Our partnership with Fortigent is especially timely in sending the strong message that we are committed to serving the needs of our individual and institutional investors -- and that we will protect and grow their assets with forethought, security and care."

Shared outlook

Enterprise is a child of tough economic times. Its chairman George Duncan and a group of local investors founded the commercial bank in the face of a sharp downturn that gripped Massachusetts in the late 1980s. Its mission was and is "to create new businesses, meaningful jobs, vibrant communities, and a dynamic work environment in which employees could grow and prosper."

The collaboration between Enterprise and Fortigent -- an investment-research provider, back-office technology vendor and wealth-management consultancy that began life as the back office of a successful multifamily office -- is helped along because the two firms' have similar views on investing and client services, says research and strategy head Scott Welch.

"We believe that our investment-management research, portfolio construction, manager due diligence and investment-vehicle options for their target clientele will integrate well with Enterprise's existing array of services," adds Welch.

Fortigent sales director John Yackel sees "the combination of Fortigent's sophisticated and disciplined investment offering" and "Enterprise's legacy of local trusted advice" having a strong impact on the markets Enterprise serves. "As investors increasingly evaluate their portfolios during these turbulent economic times, we feel that our partnership represents a significant opportunity for helping Enterprise to assist its investors in achieving their long-term goals," he says.

In addition to Lowell, Enterprise has branches in the Massachusetts towns of Andover, Billerica, Chelsmford, Fitchburg, Leominster, Methuen, Tewksbury, Westford as well as Salem, N.H. It plans to open branches in Acton, Mass., and Derry, N.H., this year. The bank had $516.5 million in investment assets under management at the end of September 2008.

Rockville, Md.-based Fortigent has more than 50 institutional clients and around $20 billion in end-client assets on its platform. Among its recent new clients are Naples, Fla.-based multifamily office Willow Street Advisors, New York-based iPro One, a consultancy to CPA-owned wealth managers, Menomonee Falls, Wisc.-based Richardson Financial Group, Morristown, N.J.-based Massey Quick Wealth Advocates and Atlanta-based Apogee Family Office. -FWR

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