Robo-advice 'devoid of personalisation', says Fisher
The current crop of robo-advice tools available to advisers are limited and "devoid of personalisation" according to Intiger Asset Management founder, Mark Fisher.
The comments come on the back of an announcement that Intiger will now commence a reverse takeover of Star Striker Limited, with plans to list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and raise a minimum of $2.4 million in an initial public offering.
According to Fisher, while financial advisers were faced with growing demands for operational cost reductions, robo-advice offerings today did not necessarily fulfil their promise on providing productivity improvements and margin expansion.
"The financial services industry is facing its greatest upheaval since deregulation, as dramatically elevated compliance demands, government attacks on fees and commissions and ballooning operating costs slash profit margins," he said.
"I've seen first-hand the growth of robo-advice in the US and Europe … [it] is a standardised ‘one size fits all' model that … eliminates the high value client-adviser relationship from the financial advice process."
Fisher said that instead of advocating for the replacement of financial advisers, robo-advice needed to recognise their relevance by working for them to help maximise automation and efficiency.
"[At Intiger], we embrace the role of the adviser, especially in respect of high net worth clients," he said.
"[We] work for them to eliminate all the low- or no-value add tasks from their role, and automate the costly and time-consuming production of statements of advice".
Intiger confirmed it hopes to secure a first mover advantage by providing offshore processing solutions to the Australian financial planning sector, building on the release of its ‘Deming Suite' solution last year.
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