In a paper entitled eAdvisors Take the Lead, financial services firm Fidelity Investments found those leveraging technology to its fullest in the US included registered investment advisers (RIAs) – an SEC-regulated firm or adviser specialising in investment – with nearly 40% adopting new technology.
The report listed 22 different fintech activities that advisers in the US are using to attract and maintain clients.
These include bringing tablets to meetings and using them to execute transactions, offering a collaborative client platform, using data aggregation to provide clients with a total picture of their assets, as well as promoting their practice via social media.
“Advisers who don’t get serious about tapping into the power of technology risk falling behind,” said the report.
Around 70% of early adopters of fintech tend to be an average age of 44, compared to 30% from the baby boomer generation of those born before 1965, said Fidelity.
The study, based on 933 US advisers, shows that “eAdvisors” have a median 40% more AUM than their non-tech savvy peers, and boast a higher percentage (35%) of millionaire clients in their base, compared to just 28% for their peers.
In addition, technology fluent advisers have a higher percentage of clients from Gen X/Y clients (37%), ie those aged 44 and younger, compared to their counterparts (31%).
