Under its Natwest brand, the Royal Bank of Scotland will be rolling out its robo advice proposition to its five million customers on Monday.
The service will be available to clients at a minimum investment of £500, with a process fee of £10. It aims to plug what it refers to as “the advice gap”, with the total average cost of advice, investment and platform fees set at 0.95 per cent.
Customers wanting to sign up to the service will fill out a short questionnaire, before being offered a range of risk-graded portfolios from Natwest’s execution-only services.
The news comes as other UK banks, such as HSBC, are preparing to launch their own online investment propositions in due course. According to the Financial Times, the services are intended to offer more investment products to consumers, seizing the opportunity to increase revenue during the current low-interest environment.
In an effort to stand out from the competition, the service will also provide advice alongside investments, in the event that customers feel they have been mis-sold to.
In March this year, the bank was reportedly testing out robo advice services in a bid to cut costs, after it reported at a loss for the ninth consecutive year.
Speaking to the FT last year, a spokesperson for RBS said: “The demand for face-to-face investment advice is changing. Our customers increasingly want to bank with us using digital technology.
“As a result, we are scaling back our face-to-face advisers and significantly investing in an online investing platform that enables us to help a new group of customers with as little as £500 to invest.”
