I recently researched the US and UK online brokerage markets in my report, The US and UK Online Retail Brokerage Markets: Market Trends, Client Segmentation and Technology Adoption to better understand how the industry has evolved since I last wrote about it in 2014. My findings were that investors’ expectations of brokerage firms’ services have largely remained the same since 2014: transparency, competitive pricing, greater control over their investments, and multichannel account accessibility. However, one of the biggest changes since 2014 has been the immense influx of new technologies and our society's overall comfort with using new tools both within financial services and in everyday life. Establishing a seamless, meaningful and customizable client experience is at the forefront of firms' strategies and is critical to their success and revenue; it has been well-noted across the brokerage industry that today’s client-centric and digitally driven environment is a force for disruption. Firms are focused on enhancing the client journey and experience through the implementation of modern technology and analytics, including APIs, AI and data analytics. Kelley Byrnes and I will explore this latter point more thoroughly in our upcoming report, "Customer Analytics: The Benefits of Big Brother".
14 August 2018