RIA Custody and Platform War: BNY Dismantles Wove as AI-Native Rivals Circle
The incumbent platform consolidation continued on September 29, 2026: BNY Pershing is sunsetting Wove, its multi-custodial wealth platform launched in 2023 out of Pershing X, folding its best components into the custodian's larger wealth solutions business under Adam Vos (promoted earlier this year to the newly created role of global head of wealth solutions). Per WealthManagement.com's Alex Ortolani: "BNY Pershing is dismantling its wealth management platform, Wove, to bring its best components into the custodian's larger wealth solutions business." BNY's stated focus: "modernizing the firm's clearing and custody stack, enabling easier API-enabled integrations, providing a unified managed accounts platform, and improving the investor experience."
The retreat is telling. Firms on record implementing Wove included TIAA, Sanctuary Wealth, and Steward Partners, but adoption never took hold. George Guidotti, director of enterprise solutions at AI-wealth platform ARQA: "As I saw it evolve and become Wove, it never really got to a point where I heard of people using it… They were moving in the right direction with multi-custodial … but that was the end of evolution." His verdict on what a winning platform needs: "It can't just be a face mask on what is already out there. It needs to be an infrastructure play."
Context for the strategic map in the prior revision — the wealth channel's three AI strategies (buy the AI-native challenger, rent the AI front end, build an internal AI workforce) now have a fourth data point: exit the standalone platform and re-platform around custody plus open APIs. The pressure on incumbents is explicit in the same report:
- Envestnet is "working to invest $1 billion into AI-driven tech enhancements," including its Tamarac platform;
- Orion has been "accelerating cross-platform connections with its AI Denali" (enterprise version launched);
- Altruist, "recently agreed to be acquired by asset management behemoth Vanguard," with CEO Jason Wenk "championing plans to make Altruist a full-service wealth management platform" — the $4B deal that anchors Frontier Labs' Finance Land Grab: Schwab×Anthropic Goes Read-Only as Analysts Give Altruist a 2–5 Year AI Lead's custody AI war.
BNY's Wove sunset also echoes TD Ameritrade's discontinued Veo One — a reminder that platform bets without advisor pull get recycled. Watch whether BNY's API-first rebuild becomes the credible non-Schwab/Fidelity answer, or whether the custody AI war consolidates around Vanguard-Altruist and the frontier-lab exclusives.