Schwab Intelligent Portfolios now boasts $24 billion assets under management and has hired Cynthia Loh, the ex-general manager of Betterment for Business; article reports on Schwab’s robo-advice platform growth, the cannibalization the firm saw with the offering, and what the new hire might mean for Schwab’s future plans. Source
After completing a 16 month pilot program Morgan Stanley has announced their robo advisor Morgan Stanley Access Investing; there is a $5,000 minimum with a 0.35 percent fee and they will offer 11 portfolios, including a socially responsible option; the goal of the new service is to offer current clients’ children a better, more affordable wealth management option. Source.
The UK’s biggest robo-advisor has seen assets under management grow to over $798mn and customers exceed 25,000 at the end of 2016; however the company also reported a 5 percent increase in losses and a 10 percent increase in operating expenses; building up scale to eventually make money looks to be the biggest challenge for the growing fintech company. Source.
Building off of the $70mn funding round from the summer Betterment is now reportedly worth $1bn; the $1bn mark is significant as it denotes that a company is considered a unicorn; the valuation makes Betterment the first robo advisor to reach unicorn status; the company currently has over $11bn in assets under management. Source.
Vanguard already has a more hybrid offering which was paired with human advisors but is now launching a digital only...
M1 is a unique company in the investment space, letting users open an investment account, checking account, debit card or...
Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and others have launched or will launch their own robo products to compete with slicker startups; after seeing the success of startups in the space the banks realized they needed to improve their offerings to keep customers and attract newer, younger ones; the trend to move away from white labeling technology to building their own is a recent one as some traditional players like UBS, State Street and John Hancock are still using services from SigFig, Motif or NextCapital. Source.
PingAn Bank on Wednesday launches its robo-advisor services, which utilize black-litterman model and quantitative asset allocation methodology to customize users’ investment portfolio based on their risk preferences. Source (Chinese)
Aviva purchased a majority stake in robo-advisor Wealthify only 18 months after their head of retirement solutions criticized automated advice; Wealthify will sit alongside other Aviva products and services through the insurer’s digital hub, MyAviva; the insurer sees this as another important step in their digital strategy. Source
Citigroup’s new robo-advisor will be free for customers who have at least $50,000 in deposits or investments; this is the...