Vendors
日本語
search
  2. //
  3. Reports & insights
  4. //
  5. In robo world, B2B = buyer beware

In robo world, B2B = buyer beware

Create a vendor selection project
Click to express your interest in this report
Indication of coverage against your requirements
A subscription is required to activate this feature. Contact us for more info.
Celent have reviewed this profile and believe it to be accurate.
We are waiting for the vendor to publish their solution profile. Contact us or request the RFX.
Projects allow you to export Registered Vendor details and survey responses for analysis outside of Marsh CND. Please refer to the Marsh CND User Guide for detailed instructions.
Download Registered Vendor Survey responses as PDF
Contact vendor directly with specific questions (ie. pricing, capacity, etc)
15 September 2016
William Trout

The success of robo advisors in commoditizing the historically manual portfolio management process is proving their Achilles heel, as I noted in my last post. Incumbents have taken over the narrative. Yet the efforts of these incumbents to build, buy and partner with the robos comes with its own risks.

Foremost among these is how to implement robo advice within a multichannel ecosystem. As discussed in the report, Getting the House in Order: Consolidating Investment Platforms in the Wake of the Department of Labor Conflict of Interest Rule, the ability to deliver consistent advice across channels has become paramount in the new regulatory environment.

This consistency requires a clear view of assets held in house, which in turn implies eliminating product stacks and their underlying technology silos. Of the big four US wirehouses, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has led the way by consolidating five platforms into one. Their competitors are still trying to solve the problem.

Regional banks, with their legacy tech and limited budgets, are going to have a hard time getting this right. Asset managers are eager to help them launch robo platforms, despite the “me too” nature of the banks’ efforts.

It’s hard to blame these asset managers for wanting to distribute their wares. B2B sales are in their DNA. But I’d point out that their headlong rush to abet bank robo contrasts with their cautious efforts to roll out on their own platforms.

Schwab spent months and millions to launch Intelligent Portfolios. UBS has moved much more slowly, and appears to be using SigFig as a placeholder until it can achieve the technological and service clarity demanded by clients and regulators alike. Fidelity danced with Betterment before rolling out Go through its retail branches. It's tepid if not touch and go.

I don’t begrudge asset managers for taking their time. They have their own considerations, foremost distribution. That’s why they are enabling bank robo capabilities, even if it's not clear exactly how the banks will manage this. Why not give the teenager the keys to the Audi? But with their own clients, they have to get things right. They have shareholders to answer to, and the stakes are much higher.

Comments