The final and possibly most disruptive technology development to consider is the use of big data to build highly accurate profiles of individuals based on their internet footprint.
At last year’s Platforum conference, Nic Gorey of Rocketer gave a remarkable demonstration of how his firm was able to build a personality profile far more accurately than any risk profiling tool based solely on analysis of an individual’s social media data. With access to even more revealing data points, credit scoring firms like Experian may well be able to go further still with this type of individual profiling to the point where a financial fact-find can be completely automated and used to check the suitability of an individual’s investment selections before they commit.
The threat to face-to-face financial advice from these technologies is clear and regulation, in the shape of the RDR, has been a big driver in their development.
It is ironic then that the FCA is currently the advice community’s best defence against their adoption thanks to its hardline stance on what constitutes advice and the liability that goes with it.
Whether this approach is sustainable in the face of the current technology revolution is highly debatable and financial advisers would be well advised to learn from history in a way the FCA seems unlikely to. Those advisers who embrace new technology and work with it to develop new services are ultimately likely to be the real winners.
Kevin Okell is head of consultancy at Altus
