Lewis added: “It is obvious these firms do not have a clue how to communicate in a way their customers understand. The FCA should enforce its rules in this area vigorously, whether firms are giving regulated advice or not, before more people who can ill afford it lose out.”
However, Bruce Moss, strategic director of software company EValue, says the challenges need to be overcome as robo-advisers will one day be able to make recommendations “just like a good human adviser”.
He added: “Looking further ahead, robo-advice software will become much more sophisticated and mimic, ever more closely, human advisers. Using data on consumers’ personal circumstances, attitudes to risk and the choices made by others with similar profiles, robos will be able to make personalised recommendations just like a good human adviser using past experience of what has worked well with previous clients.
“Robo has the potential to make an enormous contribution to closing the advice gap and, through overcoming the challenges, the UK has the opportunity to become the world leader for robo advice.”
