ByAllAccounts is transitioning from Morningstar to Pello Companies as a standalone data aggregation platform. Pello Companies, a Salt Lake City firm focused on open finance innovation, announced a definitive agreement to acquire the 25-year-old provider from Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN). Completion is expected in the first half of 2026. Customary closing conditions apply, and financial terms remain undisclosed. However, Morningstar originally paid $28 million for the platform in 2014, providing context for the deal’s likely scale.
As part of the transition, Cynthia Rojas Sejas joins as the new CEO. She brings 25 years of senior leadership experience from Moody’s and S&P Global. At both firms, she developed growth strategies for financial data and analytics solutions. Her appointment signals a focus on scaling ByAllAccounts well beyond its current scope.
ByAllAccounts Gains Independence After Morningstar Ownership
Under Morningstar, ByAllAccounts built a trusted data aggregation platform serving advisers, investors, and wealth technology platforms across the industry. Its infrastructure supports portfolio management, reporting, compliance, trust accounting, and tax-aware investing. For more than two decades, financial professionals have relied on the platform to securely aggregate account data at scale.
Independence now gives ByAllAccounts room to pursue a broader growth strategy. Focused capital from Pello Companies will target expanded access to new data sources. Infrastructure reliability and platform scalability are also priorities. Operating independently, the company can build partnerships with firms that compete directly with Morningstar. That flexibility was difficult under the previous ownership structure. This acquisition follows a broader pattern in fintech, where established data companies get carved out from larger parents to unlock focused investment and faster product cycles. Similar carve-outs have driven growth at other data infrastructure firms that found themselves constrained as secondary products within diversified enterprises.
Open finance continues to reshape how wealth managers access and integrate financial data. Account aggregation sits at the center of that shift. It connects custodians, platforms, and adviser tools through a single data layer. The platform occupies a strong position in this market, with technology underpinning some of the most widely used wealth management applications. Ownership by a dedicated open finance firm removes the strategic constraints that come with being a secondary product line inside a diversified research company. Advisers increasingly demand real-time, multi-custodian data feeds. That demand makes reliable aggregation infrastructure more valuable than at any point in the past decade. Firms managing complex client portfolios across multiple custodians need a single source of truth for account data. Without it, reporting delays, reconciliation errors, and compliance gaps multiply. A 25-year track record of solving exactly this problem gives it credibility that newer entrants struggle to match.
Morningstar Refocuses on Proprietary Products
The sale reflects Morningstar’s strategic decision to concentrate adviser products and portfolio solutions around proprietary data, research, software, and investment management. As of December 31, 2025, Morningstar Wealth and Morningstar Retirement collectively managed approximately $378 billion in assets under management and advisement. Divesting ByAllAccounts narrows the operational scope to tools Morningstar builds and controls directly.
Daniel Needham, president of Morningstar Wealth and Research & Investments, confirmed that Morningstar will remain a committed customer after the transaction. Integration within existing products will continue, including the Direct Advisory Suite and Morningstar Investor. For current clients, this continuity means no disruption to platform access during or after the ownership change. Needham described the deal as an opportunity for ByAllAccounts to gain focused expertise and investment for its next growth phase. Morningstar retains the aggregation capabilities it needs through a customer relationship rather than direct ownership. Structuring the deal this way lets Morningstar reduce operational complexity while preserving functionality for its adviser and investor products.
New CEO Targets Capabilities Beyond Aggregation
Rojas Sejas outlined an ambitious vision that extends past pure data aggregation. Her goal is to deliver comprehensive financial account data to advisors, wealth managers, and technology platforms. Expanded capabilities could include enriched data sets, deeper analytics layers, and new integration pathways. These extensions would position ByAllAccounts within adjacent areas of the open banking and open finance ecosystem. Tax-aware investing tools, compliance automation, and real-time reporting all depend on the quality of upstream aggregation data. Strengthening that foundation creates downstream value across the entire adviser technology stack.
Pello Companies itself nurtures financial technology startups within open finance and wealth management. Acquiring ByAllAccounts aligns with that mandate directly. By pairing a 25-year track record in data aggregation with growth capital and strategic focus from Pello, the combined entity aims to accelerate digital transformation across wealth management. Rojas Sejas emphasized confidence in the partnership, citing the ongoing Morningstar customer commitment and deep existing relationships across the adviser market.
Deal Structure and Market Implications
FinTech Global reported that the transaction marks Pello Companies’ emergence from stealth mode. Wedbush & Co., LLC and law firm Cooley LLP advised on the acquisition. Mayer Brown LLP represented Morningstar. The structure positions ByAllAccounts for independent growth with new capital while preserving existing client relationships and integrations. Founded in Salt Lake City, the firm dedicates itself to nurturing financial technology startups within the open finance ecosystem. Its portfolio approach suggests additional acquisitions or partnerships could follow as the firm builds scale around its open finance thesis.
Wealth management data aggregation continues to evolve as advisers demand more comprehensive, real-time account data across custodians and platforms. Regulatory shifts toward open finance in the US, UK, and EU are accelerating that demand. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rulemaking around Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires financial institutions to share consumer data with authorized third parties. This regulatory tailwind gives aggregation platforms like ByAllAccounts a structural advantage as the market moves toward standardized, API-driven data access.
ByAllAccounts enters this next chapter with a clean ownership structure, experienced leadership, and a clear mandate to expand. Across the broader fintech acquisition landscape, the deal illustrates how established data infrastructure companies find new momentum through focused ownership rather than operating as secondary products within larger organizations. With independence and investment backing secured, the platform can now compete on its own terms. In a market where data quality and aggregation speed increasingly separate winners from the rest, that independence may prove decisive for the company and for the advisers who depend on its infrastructure every day.