In the wealth industry, robo-advice is one of those stories that has been hovering in the edges of our consciousness for years. Challengers burst onto the scene around 2008 and market incumbents have been rushing to buy or build their own robo platforms ever since, with varying degrees of success.

I think we can all agree that rumours of “the death of the advisor” were exaggerated. In the 2020s, most people think of robo in hybrid terms, whereby wealth managers look to leverage the best of both man and machine in a manner appropriate to each client segment. Clients can be secured far earlier in their wealth journeys this way - even before they really are clients in asset terms.

Although this had already been achieved by robos working under the £10,000 threshold where less stringent KYC checks apply, it was to be an industry first at the £15,000+ level. This democratisation of wealth management services through robo offerings is much needed by both

firms and investors (the former being under constant margin pressure and the latter often undermanaged at the mass-affluent stage). Yet for both cost and client experience reasons, I would argue it is only really workable in the context of fully automated onboarding.

In this end of the pool, initial balances may be relatively modest, but large enough to trigger the most exacting KYC checks. But while immaculate compliance is non-negotiable, this work is unlikely to warrant expensive

analysts’ time.

Full white paper can be found here: https://smartkyc.com/resources/