Consumer duty demands, complying with regulation and the push to bridge the advice gap can be met more efficiently if AI is employed to do the "heavy lifting", tech solutions providers have claimed.
The comments were made at the F&TRC AI in Financial Advice conference today (July 10) in the Pullman Hotel, London.
In a session called 'Battle of the Tech', four providers of AI-driven solutions discussed how their different technologies can help advisers and wealth managers deliver great service to clients at a fraction of the time the process currently takes.
Providers claimed technology could reduce the time it takes to do an annual review by 80 per cent, as well as provide fully compliant documentation that is double-checked and verified within minutes, rather than hours.
According to Multiply, one of the companies showcasing its tech at the conference, the levels of progress in AI has led to some "killer apps" that advisers can use today.
Speaking of their own app, the spokesperson said: "These are cost-effective and robust enough to automate most of the workflows that make up the annual reviews. This can be a major pain point at advice firms. It can also help drive conversations on the client-facing side as well as improve the compliance process."
The AI tool can pull out the necessary data from systems such as Intelliflo, and prepopulate forms. "It's smart enough to know which fields need to be explored further, giving the adviser prompts to follow up on particular topics with the clients".
This means recommendations, summaries, meeting notes, follow-ups and draft financial plans can all be created, checked and stored or sent to the client within minutes, rather than hours or even days.
"The adviser adds the sizzle in the meetings, but the time spent on all these processes beforehand can be cut by 80 per cent", they claimed.
Single-meeting technology
US company YourStake then took delegates through its proposition, which it has rolled out to the US markets - a proposal generation tool for financial advisers and wealth managers that helps the wealth adviser go from statement to proposal in one meeting.
The tool can scan statements and pull up the client's existing portfolio, running everything through validation checks to see whether the client's existing portfolios match their risk tolerance and appetite, goals and their values and visions.
By comparing existing portfolios with proposed portfolios based on the client's information and fact-finds, the tool can then find the closet portfolio that actually meets what the client needs and values.
