In its 34-page report the analysts at Canaccord spent some time discussing developments trends in the management of your capital sector. The report centered on three trends:
? Acquiring robo-advisers. Of late there has been a minimum of two Canadian types of gaining exposure the forex market: Wealthsimple purchased ShareOwner Investments (the very first acquisition in Canada between two online platforms); and Invesco’s purchased California-based Jemstep.
? Partnering with existing robo-advisers. The report noted that through partnerships, asset managers can quickly attract new customer segments with no potential costs and risks in implementing a brand new platform onto legacy systems. Within the U.S. Fidelity has applied for two partnerships while Power Corp. (the parent of Great-West Life and IGM Financial) has agreed to invest up to $30 million into Wealthsimple.
? Developing in-house systems. Two U.S. firms C Charles Schwab and Vanguard C have gone this route that can take longer than another two alternatives. But the approach allows a low cost model to be developed included in an agenda to capture a wider spectrum of assets. In Canada CI Financial “is in the early stages of their robo-advisers” through its Assante unit while its recent acquisition of First Asset (generally an ETF provider) “can be considered a starting point for portfolio asset allocation.” Bank of Montreal went further and today offers BMO SmartFolio which features low fees in return for a $5,000 minimum investment. Royal Bank and CIBC also have announced their intentions to develop similar services.