SoFi was in talks to acquire clearing and custody firm Apex but the talks failed and the lender instead made...
[Editor’s note: This is the third article (see first article and second article) in a special series we are publishing from...
UK based Pia, personal investment assistant, is testing their new aggregator platform to help people find the best digital wealth advisor; “We spent time speaking to people who said we need to launch a product that’s far more accessible, interesting and engaging for somebody that doesn’t have a lot of investing experience and don’t know where to start,” said co-founder James Mackonochie to TearSheet; the difference between Pia and a typical aggregator site is they will use an AI powered chatbot to customize the user experience. Source.
One of the key pieces to the new MIFID II regulations is more transparency around investment fees; robo advisors have made their products more transparent and less complex, seeing that traditional advisors are now forced to be more transparent robo advisors might begin seeing business headed their way; before MIFID II investors incurred costs which were not required to be disclosed for buying and selling of shares, taxes, custody, slippage and more; implementation has been slow as incumbents try to adjust to the new regulatory requirements. Source.
Business Insider Intelligence has released a report covering all aspects of the fintech market; says annual financing globally for fintech reached $15 billion in August which is likely to surpass the total of $19 billion financed in 2015; Chinese fintech investments and insurtech have been catalysts for growth in 2016; robo advisors and blockchain are also two of the market's rapidly growing, emerging technologies. Source
Raymond James has announced it will integrate robo advice services with its financial planners; the firm says it will use an internally developed system available to its approximately 7,100 advisors; the platform will be accessible to clients and overseen by their advisor; the firm says it will also comply with the Department of Labor's new fiduciary rules. Source
Financial Planning explores the possibility of an IPO from the leaders in the robo-advice market including Betterment, Wealthfront and Personal Capital; the companies continue to raise money but some question the viability of the market; Betterment has over $10 billion in assets under management, Wealthfront has $7.4 billion and Personal Capital has $4.9 billion; the companies have a combined 420,000 clients and 548,000 accounts; article shares statements by each company regarding IPOs and the differences between the platforms. 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
The Royal Bank of Scotland is closing 158 branches in the UK in an effort to reduce costs; it has continued to struggle since the financial crisis reporting nine consecutive years of losses; the firm has been increasingly integrating automation to cut costs and says it will make a decision on its robo advisory service for mortgage lending by the third quarter; the robo advisory service offers customers advice and insight that helps them decide on a mortgage loan product, also giving them an option to connect with a human advisor at any time during the process. Source
Munich-based robo-advisor Scalable Capital has closed a Series D investment round of €50 million ($58 million) at a post-money valuation...