What we believe

At Financial Simplicity, we believe the wealth management industry will undergo the same evolutionary changes apparent in many other industries, fuelled by:

• The increasing consumer appetite and preference for higher quality, contextually relevant communications
• The increasing consumer power enabled by ubiquitous access to the Internet, social News and comparison sites
• Sweeping regulatory change to align industry performance with government and consumer agendas.
• The ability for supply chain participants to access new markets via the Internet and thus provide enhanced and personalised experiences to consumers, especially those relating to mobile News and other outputs of technology’s increasing reach.

Specifically, in relation to investments within the wealth management industry, we think that:

• There is absolutely a role, a demand, a market and a value proposition for professional investment advice and management in order for investment solutions to attract investors and address regulatory change.
• Contextually relevant communications are integral to an investor’s total investment solution and, to sustain business, investment advisors must work collaboratively with investors to direct and manage portfolio relevance.
• Investment platforms will become ‘direct to consumer’ and will embed sophisticated portfolio management tools to support investment advisers in providing valued-added services.
• Investment portfolios will have to be more tightly managed to client specific mandates to both demonstrate client servicing and reduce business risk.
• Remuneration of investment advisers will transition to ‘conflict-free’ methods, emphasizing payment for defined services.

We believe that, ultimately, in order to attract and retain investors to seek professional investment input as opposed to self-managing, the industry requires mass tailored portfolio services with the following characteristics:

• Personalised services for each investor's individual rules, preferences and constraints (including tax) as distinct from the provision of on-line product offers to enhance investor visibility and transparency.
• Lower costs through industrially scale enabled by technology
• Tighter compliance to agreed mandates with clients, continually monitored, perhaps by both portfolio managers and consumers
• Direct leverage of professional investment management skills, in the context of changing models of remuneration and relationship between professional investment manager, client adviser and investor.
• Collaborative interaction of investors, advisers and professional investment manager via investment platforms.