Macquarie targets robo-advice at mass market
Macquarie Group is targeting retail investors and self-managed super funds with a new robo-advice program that will provide detailed recommendations matched to customers’ investment priorities. The bank will next month launch an online tool allowing customers to buy investment advice covering asset classes including shares, exchange traded funds, and managed funds from around the world. Macquarie Wealth Management chief investment officer John O’Connell said the advice would draw on a database of 30,000 investment options globally. OwnersAdvisory is aimed at selling lower-cost investment advice. After gauging customers’ risk profile through an online questionnaire, Mr O’Connell said the program would produce “a written outline of exactly what we would do if […]
ASIC’s Greg Medcraft says ‘robo advice’ can reduce fees and conflicts
Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman Greg Medcraft says computer-generated financial advice, or “robo advice” could slash investment costs and eliminate conflicts of interest in the maligned financial planning industry. ASIC has established a “robo-advice taskforce”, which is investigating the suitability of potential entrants, who use computer algorithms to match investors with suitable assets at a lower cost than human advisers. ASIC wants to know how they intend to comply with best interest duties, how algorithms are developed and tested, and how the people running the start-ups are trained and compensated. In a speech to a Finsia lunch in Sydney on Thursday, Mr Medcraft said ASIC believed digital financial advice […]
The FinTech future is here
Viewing the below chart of web searches, you could be forgiven for thinking that fintech has only really emerged in the past year. But the financial services sector has been innovating with technology for centuries – so why has it got so big recently? Source: Google The coming together of financial services and technology is nothing new. It will come as no surprise to know institutions have been using technology to improve their middle and back offices for as long as computers have been around. We used to call this banktech. In fact, banktech can be traced back to the 18th and 19th centuries when traders would use carrier pigeons […]
Why Fintech Is The Most Important Industry Right Now
This is a fantastic article on Australian FinTech. And it’s also great information to pass onto those who don’t understand what FinTech is and are unaware of how they can benefit from using Australian FinTech products. Fintech is beginning to disrupt the financial world as we know it. The financial industry is now more focused than ever on technological innovation than at any other time. It’s so important, Malcolm Turnbull referred to it in his first speech as PM. But, for those unfamiliar with the term, here’s a quick explainer. Put simply, Fintech is financial technology; a digital revolution. It’s about major changes to asset management, business and personal loans, […]
More super funds tipped to launch robo-advice
More superannuation funds are looking to implement automated “robo-advice” for members as a way of satisfying the competing demands of bringing down fees, while also improving their members’ access to financial advice. The pressure on funds to improve advice is coming from both regulators and a growing band of tech-savvy, bank-owned competitors.At the same time fees are in the firing line, and some super funds cannot afford large teams of financial advisers. “Robo-advice” is basic financial advice that a super fund can provide to members via online tools. Normally, it takes into account personal details such as the individual’s age, balance and retirement savings goals. It is increasingly viewed as […]
P&N Bank to trial Decimal’s financial advice platform
Decimal Software, an Australian Securities Exchange-listed company that has developed a robo-advice platform, has entered the mutual banking market, striking an agreement with WA-based P&N Bank. Under the deal, which could be announced to the ASX as early as Tuesday, P&N will evaluate Decimal’s cloud-based platform with a view to implementing it to enhance the experience of customers shopping for financial advice. Decimal’s software is already being used by QSuper and Mercer, and the Sydney-based company has plans to sell into other financial services business, including banks, in Australia and the United States. It is hoping to capitalise on the need for financial institutions to accelerate their response to consumer-driven […]
Robo-adviser Stockspot raises capital from H2, Rocket Internet
Stockspot, a robo-adviser seeking to disrupt wealth managers by offering a low-cost, automated financial advice process, has completed a capital raising and welcomed onto its register the Berlin-based start-up investor Rocket Internet, and H2 Ventures, the new fintech venture capital fund run by brothers Ben and Toby Heap.Stockspot, founded in 2013 by former UBS portfolio manager Chris Brycki, has 3000 registered users after launching in May last year. It won’t disclose funds under management but says these have tripled this calendar year. Source: Robo-adviser Stockspot raises capital from H2, Rocket Internet
High time to find out what you’re missing out on
If you’re being ripped off by banks and other financial institutions a new website, monetise.com.au, will tell you even though you may have suspected nothing.It threatens to do to comparison websites, which are being reviewed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), what Uber is doing to taxis. Source: High time to find out what you’re missing out on
