Vestmark Poll Finds Majority of Financial Firms Plan to Include Robo-Advisor Strategies

Wakefield, MA – June 8, 2017 – Vestmark, a leading provider of Unified Wealth Management® solutions, today released poll results captured during their recent webinar, High Tech, High Touch: Engagement & The Future of Advice Delivery, featuring Pinnacle Advisory Group’s Michael Kitces. During the discussion, the panelists focused on providing tips and best practices for how to evolve traditional advisory business models leveraging technology. Feedback from the poll revealed significant interest in robo-advisor solutions, with 64 percent of firms planning to incorporate these strategies in the future, and 15% of respondents already using them.

“The proliferation of robo-advisors and disruption they’ve created won’t put traditional financial advisors out of business, rather this technology will become the platform human advisors use to build the advisory business of the future,” said Michael Kitces, Partner and Director of Wealth Management at Pinnacle Advisory Group. “Eventually it won’t be considered ‘robo technology,’ rather it will simply be the common technology we all use to run our advisory business.”

“Broker dealers, asset managers, and advisors are looking to better service investors and improve efficiency with tools that maximize their value proposition,” said Rob Klapprodt, President of Vestmark. “Traditional firms must embrace digital advice technology and develop a plan for marrying human advisors with technology tools that automate manual processes and provide a compelling user experience. As Michael mentioned, at some point ‘robo’ gets dropped from the lexicon and the technology associated with robos just becomes an inherent part of the practice.”

During the live webinar, 133 participants including financial advisors, broker dealers, asset managers, bank trusts, service providers, and other financial firms responded to poll questions posed throughout the course of the event.

Key Highlights:

• A majority (58%) of participating firms perceived managing client emotions as their key business value-add; another 25% thought their primary value-add is financial planning; and 17% believe it is portfolio construction.
• Respondents varied on their business considerations for adopting robo technology (multiple responses were allowed):
  • 69% felt it offers a solution for low balance accounts
  • 51% indicated a robo technology could enable their business to capture new investors/market segments
  • 51% said the solution would be considered to automate manual processes
  • 43% suggested robo technology would improve the client experience
  • 14% indicated that it’s a solution to outsource portfolio management

Panelists of the webinar included Michael Kitces, Partner and Director of Wealth Management at Pinnacle Advisory Group, and Vestmark’s Senior Vice President of Client Experience, Vince Pellegrini, and President , Rob Klapprodt.

About Vestmark

Headquartered in Wakefield, Mass. and founded in 2001, Vestmark is a leading provider of portfolio management solutions and outsourced services for financial institutions and their advisors, enabling them to efficiently manage customized client portfolios through an innovative technology platform. Supporting over $1.5 trillion in assets and 5.5 million accounts, Vestmark is a partner to some of the largest and most respected wealth management firms. For more information about Vestmark’s solutions, call (781) 224-3640 or visit www.vestmark.com.

Media Contact

Elizabeth Shim
Haven Tower
(424) 317-4861
eshim@haventower.com