The Intersection of Financial Institutions and Technology Leaders

Giving Customers Choice, Access With Investments

By Ben Soppitt

It’s time for community financial institutions to significantly upgrade their investment resources to service their clients. Retail investors want to be more educated about investing opportunities and have greater access to investment tools; in response, investment-as-a-service companies are building platforms so banks can give their clients more of what they want.

One problem with financial and investment innovation today is that there is either too much focus on gimmicks or not enough focus on innovation. Crypto-only investment companies indiscriminately pitch every token as the latest and greatest get-rich-quick scheme. Gamified investment apps promote risky options trades to retail investors, turning investing into a lottery or casino and distracting users from what investing should be: a powerful tool to maintain, protect and build wealth. Further, legacy investment institutions often make the bulk of their revenue from customers who are already wealthy via older products, with little incentive to experiment with creative new offerings.

In this unhappy mix, it is investors with the most to gain from a long-term investing strategy — younger less affluent or not yet rich investors — who lose the most. Unable to access wealth management and investing services from their trusted financial institution, they seek out third-party investment apps that don’t prioritize their long-term success and happy retirement. For community financial institutions, this interrupts the chain of familial wealth transfer and risks their next generation of customers.

Investors desire a unified platform that offers access to a growing list of investments, ranging from physical metals to AI-driven investment models to crypto-assets to collectibles. A self-directed platform is key: Investors should be given a choice to pursue the investment strategy they feel fits best for their unique investment interests and risk profile. The platform should include all the tools they need to effortlessly pursue the “Get rich slowly” strategy: passive investing and dollar-cost averaging into a low-cost, highly diversified portfolio.

Cloud computing innovations and numerous rounds of fintech venture capital have made it possible to for companies to build curated investment platforms that traditional banks can easily add and implement. Investment tools driven by application program interfaces, or APIs, allow financial services to embrace change in collaborative ways that don’t conflict with existing business, yet still appeal to the ever-changing preferences of investors.

Investing is not one-size-fits-all. Wine fans may want to invest in a portfolio of wine assets to hold or eventually redeem. Investors who collected baseball cards as a kid may now have the capital to buy collectibles with significance to them as culturally relevant assets. Individuals also may want to invest in thematic categories, like semiconductors — the foundation for all computing, from electric vehicles to computers to smartphones. These investments are not optimal for everyone, but they don’t have to be for everyone. What matters most is access.

Too many banking platforms do not take full advantage of the full range of investment tools available in the marketplace, even though their clients are looking for these. Lack of access leads to painful experiences for the average investor who wants to be both intelligent with their money and allowed to experiment and explore the ever-changing world of digitally available investment categories. Give customers a choice to pursue wealth-building strategies based on their unique insights and instincts, and made available through their existing bank.