North Korea, bank partnerships and welfies

A weekly summary of robo-advice news from around the world

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North Korea has investors worried and passive investors, including robo-advisors, are no exception. As Donald Trump buffs his chest, firms are wondering what the North Korean standoff means – if anything – for exchange traded funds.

As automated wealth tech grows, US banks are partnering with robo-advisers instead of building their own. US bank Citizens Financial Group is the lastest to do this, and has partnered with robo-adviser SigFig Wealth Management.

There are many new ideas in robo-advice, the latest being a “welfie” – that is, a robo-advisor that takes a selfie of your wealth and then gives advice based off what it sees.

Robo-advice has succeeded in making investors rethink financial services. But where robo-advice has seen most success is in providing users with a great experience. European banks are failing to offer a good online experience, new research claims. Around 47 per cent of respondents said their organisations were stagnating because they were not keeping pace with competitors digital solutions or offerings.

The UK government wants to find the next fintech startup that can help the needy. The government is testing the waters to see how those too poor to be of interest to financial services companies can be helped by start-ups.

This article first appeared on http://www.roboadvicenews.com/