Over the last 30 years, Univeris has set out to tame the sprawling chaos of wealth management with a bold vision—marrying cutting-edge technology to a user-first philosophy that’s since redefined the industry.
This rigidity frustrated Tullio, who saw an opportunity to rethink how technology could serve wealth management. Rather than adhering to the prevailing build-and-buy cycles, Univeris introduced what Tullio calls the “evergreen” promise—a subscription-based model where software is continuously updated, ensuring clients always have access to the latest tools without the burden of massive upfront investments.
This approach was revolutionary at the time. “Large organisations just said, ‘I’ll tell you when I’m going to update the software,’” Tullio explains. “Sorry, I have to update this every six months kind of thing. So there was a bit of a clash with it.” Yet Univeris persisted, betting on the idea that a flexible, evolving platform would resonate with an industry in flux.The wealth management sector itself was undergoing a transformation, spurred in Canada by the 1995 Stromberg Report, authored by Glorie-Ann Stromberg. This landmark document laid out a roadmap for regulatory Founded in Canada, the company emerged at a time when mainframes dominated the tech landscape and wealth management was more about stock trading than holistic investment strategies.
Today, under the leadership of President and CEO Carmine Tullio, Univeris blends a subscription-based “evergreen” model with a relentless focus on user experience and advisor empowerment. As part of FinTech Global’s prestigious WealthTech100, Tullio opened up on how Univeris simplifies the intricate world of financial advising while fostering enduring partnerships with its clients.
A Foundation Built on Evergreen Principles
Birthed in the early 1990’s, Univeris entered into the market during a period Tullio describes as a “very different world” both technologically and financially. “In the tech industry, it was mainframe-centric. IBM was in charge,” he recalls. “The business model was different— typically you’d do a one-time buy, big costs, and then minimal break-fix maintenance.” Change, emphasizing transparency and governance— principles that aligned with Univeris’ mission. “Regulation is essentially stepping in front for the investor, facing off against the financial institution,” Tullio notes, crediting it with shaping an industry ripe for technological innovation.
From the outset, Univeris prioritised user experience and treated advisors as equal partners, not mere conduits for data.“I saw the retailer, the dealer, the advisor as equal a partner to the fund manager, the back end,” Tullio says. “Before it was just a store and forward—send the data over and whatever the back end says, the front end would accept. We didn’t design it that way.” This peer-to-peer philosophy established Univeris as a book of record for dealers, a system that empowered advisors rather than relegating them to secondary roles.
Customers for Life, Advisors as Partners
Univeris’s evolution has been guided by four strategic themes that Tullio distilled over decades of leadership.
The first is a belief that “customers are for life.” “If we work hard, we do our job as leading technologists, customers would sign on and continually win their business,” he asserts. This long-term commitment underpins Univeris’s subscription model, fostering relationships built on trust and mutual success.
The second theme is enhancing advisors’ value through technology. “If we provide technology to make advisors more valuable in the eyes of their clients and their customers’ minds, that partnership will last over time,” Tullio explains. By equipping advisors with intuitive tools, Univeris ensures they remain indispensable to their clients—a strategy that has weathered numerous industry challenges. Moreover, the firm focuses on expanding its financial management capabilities, growing from single-asset solutions to comprehensive platforms that address reconciliation, finance, and regulatory needs.
Finally, the company drives the “lowest total cost of ownership” by creating an interconnected ecosystem that reduces operational inefficiencies. “It’s an ecosystem that you’re trying to solve because of the interconnections,” Tullio says, emphasising cost effectiveness as a competitive edge.
These principles have propelled Univeris through key milestones. The 2008 financial crisis tested the industry, but Univeris emerged stronger as firms sought cost-saving solutions. “The value of what we provided was really challenged, and we rose up and grew more,” Tullio recalls. Regulatory shifts, like Canada’s 2016 transparency mandates, further validated Univeris’ peer-to-peer model, forcing retail responsibility and high-quality data—areas where the company already excelled. More recently, the acquisition of a Madrid-based firm, TechRules, has bolstered its front-office offerings, expanding its global reach into Europe, Latin America, and North America.
Inside Univeris Advisor
Described as the firm’s flagship product, Univeris Advisor is designed to stand out in a crowded “red ocean” of wealth management tools. Tullio identifies three key differentiators.
First is an unparalleled user experience. “Right from the beginning, the number one priority was the user experience,” he says. “If we can do that in a superior way, that immediately is the first factor.” Advisors benefit from intuitive workflows that simplify complex tasks—whether managing communications or generating client statements—allowing them to focus on relationships rather than technology.
The offering also excels at seamless integration with multiple custodians. “If we can do that well, it’s very difficult to do one, let alone multiple back ends at the same time,” Tullio notes. By normalising data across disparate systems, advisors gain a unified view, enhancing efficiency and accuracy.
On top of this, the product focuses on data quality—a notoriously difficult challenge in wealth management— acting as Univeris’ ace in the hole to distinguish them in the industry. “The custodian system in the back has a hard enough time for themselves to get data quality right, let alone now you have another system riding herd over that,” Tullio explains.
Combining software precision with dedicated service, Univeris ensures advisors and investors trust the numbers they see. This trust is reinforced by a unified platform serving both advisors and investors. “It’s essentially one database underneath serving both user roles,” Tullio says. “What the advisor looks at, the investor looks at—it’s the exact same, so now you don’t have reconciliation issues.”
This consistency extends to analytics, where portfolio insights mirror regulated client statements. “The analytics system provides the exact same data, exact same results,” Tullio emphasizes. “Very few accomplish it.” In an industry where a 0.2% discrepancy can erode confidence, this precision fosters transparency and reliability.
Innovating for the Future
Looking ahead, Univeris is embracing a “people plus technology” approach to stay ahead of the curve. Data quality remains foundational—”no use putting an application on top when the data is wrong,” Tullio warns— while flexible APIs empower clients to integrate third-party tools or implement bespoke strategies. “They can use third-party applications, use some of our applications,” he says. “They have strategies they can express using APIs—they’re far more flexible and nimble.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) is another frontier, with Univeris exploring 15 use cases, from actionable insights to comparative analyses that help advisors showcase their value. “Clients will be more knowledgeable because they’ll have an AI tool right next to them,” Tullio predicts. “If you pair great technology with an advisor that cares, you get to a way better place overall.”