The portal is designed to streamline model updating by allowing vendors to log onto a secure site to enter and maintain their models. The service will then check model updates for integrity, after which they will be transmitted to subscribing firms who can then use the models to guide individual wealth account management.

The idea is to create a marketplace where model portfolios can be bought and sold easily, and thus simplify the process for all parties, Smartleaf said.

As well as the model vendor portal, the firm’s model distribution service includes a facility to reduce contracting work for the vendors, by allowing them to just sign one contract with Smartleaf rather than multiple with end-buyers. Smartleaf also handles billing and invoicing.

“By bringing automation to the process of updating and transmitting models, we’re helping to create a market for buyers and sellers of models,” said Jerry Michael, president of Smartleaf. “This is a necessary step in facilitating the rapid growth of models-based overlay portfolio management.”