Wealth management for a wider market

UBS has announced that they will be launching a new online wealth manager powered by robo-advice in the UK at the end of the year.

Robo-advice has the potential to shake up – and open up – wealth management to a much wider market than currently access it. So, does UBS’s proposition deliver?

UBS SmartWealth will offer users real-time financial advice based on their goals, means and attitudes to risk, alongside UBS’s “House View” on the global economy.

Clients will have access to five investment strategies and a range of active and passive funds, managed by UBS, with fees starting at 1% for passive funds and 1.7% for active ones.

UBS is championing this new service as a demonstration that digital innovation isn’t just limited to startups. SmartWealth has been developed entirely in-house, in UBS’s London and Zurich offices.

UBS claim that SmartWealth will open up wealth management to a much broader range of people than may previously have considered it. By automating much of the process and therefore lowering the management costs involved, investors only need £15,000 to access the service, compared to the £2million of assets that UBS usually requires.

SmartWealth will be available to certain clients at the end of this year, with a wider roll out and advertising campaign slated for early 2017.