MIAMI, May 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE American: LTS, LTSL, LTS PrA, LTSF, LTSK) ("Ladenburg"), a publicly-traded diversified financial services company, today announced the successful conclusion of its second annual Innovation Symposium, an invitation-only event that brought together fintech firms, startups and forward-thinking financial advisors to exchange ideas, network and provide feedback on new solutions that have the potential to transform the financial advice space. Held May 14-15 in San Francisco, the symposium drew more than 75 advisors from Ladenburg's five subsidiary independent advisory and brokerage (IAB) firms: Securities America, Triad Advisors, KMS Financial Services, Investacorp and Securities Service Network.

The Innovation Symposium is the touchstone annual event organized by the Ladenburg Innovation Lab, which the firm launched in 2018 to establish relationships with fintech entrepreneurs and other leaders, collaborate with fintech companies and startups to shape their offerings in ways that may support Ladenburg's IABs and their affiliated advisors, and explore strategic investment opportunities in startups whose solutions offer potentially transformative advantages.

Adam Malamed, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Ladenburg, said, "We are proud to have built on the momentum of our inaugural Innovation Symposium last year with our 2019 event, which featured even more startups and fintech firms and double the number of advisors from 2018. We firmly believe that, in order to innovate in our industry, we must take an active and targeted approach to identifying solutions that bring fresh ideas to the table. Through our Innovation Lab and Innovation Symposium, Ladenburg is playing a central role in driving and directing the evolution of the financial advice industry by engaging with our advisors and fintech firms in ways that anticipate advisors' needs and solve for them in a proactive and forward-thinking way."

At the event, Ladenburg announced the rollout of Track Technologies' tax-automation offering as an available solution for use by its affiliated independent advisors, which enables a user to calculate, withhold and submit estimated tax payments. Track, which received a strategic investment from Ladenburg after presenting at the 2018 Innovation Symposium, has worked closely with the Innovation Lab to tailor its offering to suit advisors' needs.

Dan Sachar, Vice President for Enterprise Innovation at Ladenburg and Head of the Ladenburg Innovation Lab, said, "Our efforts to spur and nurture innovation in the financial advice space are already bearing fruit with the introduction of the availability of the Track tax solution for financial advisors, which came about because we recognized the potential benefits of the company's solutions and helped Track develop its technology through our direct investment and collaboration. The Innovation Symposium has emerged as a touchstone event for a year-round dialogue between the Innovation Lab, advisors and fintech companies that is translating the energy and insight of each of these groups into solutions, and we are very pleased to play a leading role in this process."

The centerpiece of the Symposium was the Startup Pitch Competition, in which the leaders of cutting-edge fintech companies and startups presented their solutions to advisors and other attendees. Presenting companies included (among others):

• Truthify, which offers an emotion-enabled application that identifies authentic emotional reactions to any video message  from anyone on any mobile device, empowering stronger and deeper client relationships. Truthify was awarded Best in Show as the winner of the Startup Pitch Competition
• Genivity, a technology platform that helps advisors project long-term healthcare costs for clients for financial planning purposes
• Peanut Butter, a platform for employers to offer student loan assistance as an employee benefit
• Rize Money, a platform that combines savings and investment accounts for individuals
• Harness Wealth, a service that helps financial advisors connect with prospective clients 
• Newday Impact, an app-based impact investing platform

Also announced at the event was the formation of the Ladenburg Advisor Innovation Council, a group of technology-oriented advisors from across the Ladenburg network who are eager to provide ongoing feedback and insights to the Innovation Lab and the fintech firms it works with in order to help startups and other firms further hone their solutions and identify other opportunities for innovation throughout the industry and within advisors' practices.

The Symposium, which featured a jammed-packed agenda full of informative presentations and collaborative discussions, also featured keynote addresses by Jelena Ewart, Co-Founder and Partner of Upside Partners, and Rebecca Rodskog, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of FutureLeaderNow, who provided a venture capitalist's perspective on the financial advice world, including where financial advice is going and where investors are placing big bets, along with a directed brainstorming session in which participants ideated blue-sky solutions on top industry challenges.

Trent Bigelow, Chief Executive Officer of Track Technologies, said, "Ladenburg knows that innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum. By bringing together the key stakeholders who are driving evolution in our industry, Ladenburg's Innovation Symposium provides the ideal environment for transformative ideas to take root and thrive. Track Technologies' development over the past year is a perfect example of the power of this approach. As a result of the feedback we received from advisors and other attendees at last year's Symposium – and the sustained dialogue and collaboration we established with Ladenburg after they made a strategic investment in Track in July – we have been able to further strengthen our solutions and tailor them much more closely to advisors' needs. The Innovation Symposium has already proven itself to be a groundbreaking and valuable platform for shaping the future of financial advice."

About Ladenburg Thalmann
Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE American: LTS, LTSL, LTS PrA, LTSF, LTSK) is a publicly-traded diversified financial services company based in Miami, Florida. Ladenburg's subsidiaries include industry-leading independent advisory and brokerage (IAB) firms Securities America, Triad Advisors, Securities Service Network, Investacorp and KMS Financial Services, as well as Premier Trust, Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, Highland Capital Brokerage, a leading independent life insurance brokerage company and full-service annuity processing and marketing company, and Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., an investment bank which has been a member of the New York Stock Exchange for over 135 years. The company is committed to investing in the growth of its subsidiaries while respecting and maintaining their individual business identities, cultures, and leadership. For more information, please visit www.ladenburg.com.

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SOURCE Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc.