Nutmeg signs joint venture with Taiwanese bank

The UK’s oldest digital wealth manager added it plans to sign “further strategic partnerships”.

Nutmeg has signed a joint venture with Taiwan’s Taipei Fubon Bank to offer investment advice to the lender’s five million customers.

The UK’s oldest digital wealth manager said it will advise on strategic asset allocation and investment strategy for the Asian’s bank’s new online product, Nano Investments.

Nutmeg added it will also provide exchange traded-fund due diligence and portfolio management services for the lender’s new service, adding its was the “first European digital wealth manager to offer its services in Asia”.  

It added it would look to sign “further strategic partnerships”.  

The wealth manager said Nano Investments will use artificial intelligence technology to “offer custom portfolio recommendations that are transparent, easy to understand and tailored to customer’s goals and objectives”.

Nutmeg chief executive Martin Stead (pictured) added: “Taiwan is an exciting market for expansion, with a large population that is currently under-served by the fintech revolution. Working in partnership with Taipei Fubon Bank, using Nutmeg’s proprietary technology and investment expertise, we’re able to help them reach the majority of their customers who don’t currently have a private wealth management option.”

Taipei Fubon Bank is a universal private lender founded in 1967 with 127 branches in Taiwan, net income lifted 11 per cent to NT$16.931bn (£426m) in 2017, according to its most recent annual report.

The move comes after both firms successfully completed a beta pilot, which saw 46,000 customers take part in an “investment simulation”. Nano customers can invest as little as $100.

Nutmeg was launched in September 2012 as the first online wealth manager in Europe, and currently manages over £1.75bn for more than 70,000 customers, making it the eighth largest wealth manager in Britain by customer numbers.