✅ Why Is Robinhood Snapping Up Financial Advisers?
Our first article today takes a look at Robinhood and their recent mad dash to snatch up financial advisors. According to Nicole Casperson at investment-news.com, Robinhood plans to double the number of full-time registered reps this year. A spokesperson for Robinhood recently said that the company has seen a significant increase in interest and activity on the platform. And hiring more advisors is one way they plan to support their customers through this period of rapid growth. But just to clarify – these investment advisors won’t be offering financial advice.
Rather, these new recruits will be offering only customer service. Their job titles will range from “customer experience representative” to “options support specialist”. And assistance will include phone support through a new in-app contact feature. Customers can request to speak with a registered financial representative by phone when it comes to options trading, account security, transfers, withdrawals, and selling. Most experts seem to agree that this new tactic is likely part of a larger plan to leverage a recent capital infusion to improve Robinhood’s product, customer service, and image.
After the GameStop debacle earlier this year, it became obvious that Robinhood users required more customer education and disclosures, especially prior to options investing. Increasing new hires may also help to appease regulators ahead of its initial public offering. Having more policies, procedures and infrastructure in place will benefit both the users and the company as its market share continues to grow. And despite poor performance when it comes to trust, people and problem resolution – Robinhood has still managed to rank number 17 in the top 20 firms.
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✅ Will Artificial Intelligence Bring Hyper-personalization To Wealth Management?
Our next article today announces the launch of a new artificial intelligence platform called VELMA. IntellectEU has launched VELMA with the vision of bringing the benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning to the wealth management space. Maxim Piessen is the Product Manager at VELMA, and he says that the new platform puts the technology that is being used by the big tech companies into the hands of the asset manager. And the goal is hyper-personalization. Personalized investment advice in the EU traditionally requires a minimum capital investment of 200,000 to 300,000 Euros. But a recent report found that 60 percent of the investors in this range were unhappy with the level of personalization they received. And another 33 percent were uncomfortable with the high costs.
IntellectEU saw this as an opportunity for transformation through technology and the smart use of data. Piessen points out that automated personalization is already an integral part of our daily lives. Companies ranging from Amazon and Netflix to Facebook take advantage of it, so why not wealth management? Traditional advisors spend a large part of their time finding new clients and searching for new investment ideas for existing ones. But VELMA will use both customer and product data in combination with machine learning models to reach new and actionable insights. The platform is available now, and a comprehensive product tour is available to guide prospects through all aspects of the platform.
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✅ A New Partnership Between Marstone And Detalus Advisors
And our final update today comes from businesswire.com where a new partnership has been announced between Marstone and Detalus Advisors. Marstone is a leading enterprise digital wealth management platform with a focus on improving and humanizing financial literacy for everyone. And the Detalus Advisors firm is a leading independent digital wealth technology provider with over $1.6 billion in client assets under management. The two companies will now be partnering with the mission of developing a true financial wellness platform. Under the new arrangement, Marstone will power and act in a sub-advisory capacity for the day-to-day management of Detalus Advisor’s digital accounts. Clients will have access to risk-based personalized portfolios, investment education, and help with understanding their complete financial picture. Clint Lewis is the managing director of Detalus Advisors.
And according to Lewis, the pandemic brought a significant increase in demand for digital offerings. He says that it became imperative for Detalus to both meet and exceed customer expectations. And with Marstone, Detalus was able to launch an online investment offering faster than the company ever could have on their own. Lewis hopes that this new partnership will drive continued retention and revenue while meeting clients where they are.
