According to a new survey by Greenwich Associates 43 percent of financial advisors believe there will be fewer advisors in...
In 2016 government regulators became more involved in the fintech industry in a variety of ways; while new regulations were discussed across the globe, governments also got more involved in the industry through sandbox and innovation programs; China's fintech market continued to grow in 2016 with both private market funding and fintech company growth; in 2016 robo advisors and blockchain emerged with new services; the market now offers a broader range of robo advisor services and the leading asset managers have introduced their own platforms; blockchain also reported unprecedented growth with distributed ledger being used for a wider variety of solutions across all industries; all of these industry developments are expected to remain in focus for 2017. Source
London-based FOL Wealth has launched a new robo advisor service for its wealth management clients; the solution offers clients automated service at an annual fee of 0.90% with a minimum investment of 1,000 British pounds ($1,216); it is intended to serve as a hybrid solution complementing the human advice of the firm's wealth advisors. Source
The implementation of GDPR is around the corner as it starts in May across Europe, while most of the regulations will benefit robo advisors the compliance costs could rise significantly; users will be able to ask for all data related to them and all data a rival adviser might have on them, getting this done correctly and efficiently will take time; the customer benefits are high, startups on the other hand might end up getting a lot more costs then anticipated. Source.
This Forbes piece digs into how financial services companies might be impacted by the Coronavirus; both Visa and Mastercard have...
Former Merrill Lynch advisor Carlos Garcia is leading the launch of a new robo advisor, Finhabits, targeting Latin Americans; the platform offers investing and advice through investment accounts and Roth IRAs with low minimums of only $5; targeting the Latin American community the service will be available in both English and Spanish; fees are slightly higher due to the customized target demographic with a $1 per month fee for accounts under $2,500 and a 50 basis point annual fee for accounts over $2,500. Source
Wealthsimple is a Canadian firm backed by Montreal-based Power Financial and they are looking to launch their robo advisory solution to US clients soon; in accordance with US securities law, Wealthsimple received approval to operate as an investment advisor by the SEC in October 2016; there is no account minimums for their product and the first $10,000 invested will be fee free, anything above $10,000 will be subject to a management fee of 0.5%. Source
Yomoni has raised $5 million from Crédit Mutuel Arkéa and Iéna Venture; the firm provides a robo advisory service in France where the concept of robo advice is still very new; the firm will use the funds to expand its workforce and add new features; fees for the service are approximately 1.60% per year; the firm currently has $12.9 million in assets under management and is targeting $1.08 billion by 2020 with plans to potentially expand in Europe. Source
Goldman Sachs appears to be planning for a robo advisory service offering; the firm is advertising a job posting for a GSAM Technology digital experience developer that would build an automated robo advisory platform complementing the firm's asset management business; the bank's private wealth management business focuses on client's with approximately $50 million in investable assets; it has been broadening its client demographic recently by including business and retail products for investors with $1 million or less; a robo advisory service would add to other recent product expansions including the acquisition of GE Capital's online bank, Marcus and Honest Dollar. Source
Robo advice platforms have commoditized personal investing providing greater automation at lower price points; however AltFi reports that despite increasing innovation in the market, investors are still demanding a human element; specifically, investors are favoring hybrid advice with a survey from Accenture showing two-thirds of high income investors wanting the combined services of robots and humans; mid-scale wealth managers are well positioned to meet this demand and firms such as Charles Schwab and Betterment have already incorporated hybrid services to support customers. Source
