In our work with more innovative clients, we’re seeing a growing interest among larger retail investment firms in developing robo advice platforms to support high-touch, call center-based financial advisors.

Similar to Vanguard’s “Personal Financial Advisor,” these services will initially target legacy, direct-captive, in-house client groups. Longer term, they have the potential to serve as a new client origination platform — becoming an increasingly powerful growth engine for many firms over the next five years.

Unlike self-service offerings, these real-time, direct-advice models will be human assisted — operated without the constraints of a brick and mortar office. They give dedicated, registered financial advisors (FASB Series 7 or 65, CIMA, or CFP qualified) the flexibility to interface with clients on an as needed basis via a variety of communication channels including telephone, videocam, internet chat and email.

Similar to communication channel offerings from Vanguard and Financial Engines, these high touch methodologies will make it easier for firms to pursue growth, and in the process, open doors to new cross selling opportunities and improved client retention and acquisition processes.

This emerging field combines two of Vestigo Ventures’ core investment strategy targets, Operations Solutions and Personal Wealth, and has the potential to be highly disruptive to several important cash cows in the industry.

There a number of subcategories that fall into these new areas of disruption. We view them as opportunities for investment product innovators and software solution providers to ease traditional points of friction between investors and advisors, as well as markets and financial assets.

George Wilbanks
Wilbanks Partners
Advisory Board Member