FinTech For Asset Management Firms

Asset management firms are turning to FinTech more and more often these days to enhance the relationship between a client and their financial planner and asset management advisor—not just to deliver self-service tools to clientele. There are three core themes that affect the average wealth management advisor:
Technology that provides a better experience to both clients and their financial planner and investment advisors
Focus on mobile and asset management advisor effectiveness.
Increase ROI through FinTech sourcing and IT organization modelling.
A balancing of tech spends with regulatory requirements.
It’s also been found that 75% of asset management firms have plans to increase client-facing time. An equal percentage of firms plan to invest in mobile to improve asset management advisor collaboration and effectiveness to clients.
Will FinTech Replace Financial Advisors?
There’s been a growing concern that FinTech may serve to automate the industry and replace asset management advisors (i.e. the robot-advisor). However, trends have shown that is simply not the case. Registered Independent Advisors can improve their effectiveness with access to automated tools while creating an entirely paperless onboarding process. FinTech is proving to add value to financial advisor’s services and give them the ability to serve better their clients…while optimizing the onboarding process, reporting functions, and communication between clients and financial advisors.
Another notable trend is that clients are gravitating towards more omnichannel financial solutions—where they can choose self-serve (for the more savvy of clients), wealth management advisor-assisted, and finally, advisor-driven options at their choosing. It should also be noted as this trend progresses, that FinTech has not affected advisors with affluent clients at all, as the complexities of the client base require a more hands-on approach with their wealth management.
FinTech will continue to become more and more useful to financial advisors—with added abilities in risk analysis and risk management, the ability to provide the opportunity for a completely paperless onboarding process for clients as well as a smart user-interface. This includes an automated rebalancing software that has begun the process of turning strategic asset allocation into an actual, powerful commodity—and the price point is set very low! This justifies their value, giving financial advisors the ability to offer clients a tech based, superior user experience.