Whether you believe our climbing stock markets around the world are a result of massive, coronavirus-fighting monetary and fiscal stimulus, or merely Millennials easing into their family formation years, there’s no doubting the demand for solutions that help investors maximize the opportunities of advancing markets.
This makes the news that Barclays has launched a new digital wealth management service – Barclays Plan and Invest – all the more timely. It also makes the fact that they’ve partnered with Finovate alum Scalable Capital to launch the new service all the more interesting.
“Over the last few months, we’ve seen a rise in the number of people wanting to invest for the first time and it feels more important than ever that we give people the right tools and advice to plan for their financial future,” Dirk Klee, CEO of Wealth Management and Investments at Barclays explained.
“We launched Plan & Invest after listening to our customers, who said they wanted an investment service that gave them the convenience and affordability of robo-advice, but with more of the personalization of Wealth Management.”
Barclays will pilot the new roboadvisory service with current account customers that have at least £5,000 to invest. The solution will be accessible via Online Banking, and features dedicated customer support via telephone. Barclays said that it will add to the service over the balance of the year, including adding it to the Barclays app this summer.
Customers will be able to set up their own personalized investment plans using Barclays Plan & Invest for free. They will be charged an annual fee of between 1.39% and 1.59% once accounts are established and funded; the actual amount of the annual fee is based on the value of the customer’s investments, and is divided between service and product costs.
Founded in 2014 and making its Finovate debut two years later at FinovateEurope, Scalable Capital specializes in leveraging technology to make sophisticated investment management accessible to the average investor. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, and in London, U.K., the company offers investors access to globally diversified, cost-efficient, ETF portfolios based on their individual risk preferences and investment goals.
Among the largest roboadvisors in Europe, Scalable Capital serves more than 60,000 customers and manages more than £2 billion for its clients. The company has raised €66 million in funding, and includes BlackRock, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Monk’s Hill Ventures, among its investors.