Toronto-based HollisWealth Inc. will be adding a robo-advisor platform to its offering in early 2016, confirms Farhan Hamidani, the firm’s chief operating officer and managing director.
“We’re building the technology and the infrastructures so that [clients] don’t necessarily have to meet an advisor,” Hamidani says, “but it’s the advisor who will make that offering available.”
For example, HollisWealth advisors may use the platform as a segmentation strategy for millennials who may want to use robo-advisor platforms, Hamidani says.
Depending on how quickly the new technology rolls out, the firm plans to expand its digital platform to include retirement planning, insurance planning and education planning.
“We’re not trying to sell more assets to clients. We’re actually providing another avenue to get advice,” Hamidani says, adding that there will always be an advisor behind the scenes to help.
This announcement from HollisWealth, a Bank of Nova Scotia subsidiary, follows news that other banks are moving toward the digital advice space. For example, Toronto-based RBC Wealth Management, a business unit of Royal Bank of Canada, announced last week that it is exploring digital advice options for its customers.
See: RBC Wealth Management explores adding robo-advisor
“We support investor choice, and believe that clients should be able to select the advice and service model that suits them,” reads an emailed statement to Investment Executive from RBC Wealth Management. “ We recognize that technology will be critical to meeting a broad range of client needs.”
Similarly, Toronto-based BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. — Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) brokerage arm — is reportedly set to launch a robo-advisor service by the end of 2015.
BMO has yet to confirm this launch officially, although it has indicated that a new service is on its way.
“We’re working on an exciting new service for Canadian investors and look forward to sharing more details in future,” writes a BMO spokesperson in an email to Investment Executive.
With files from Fiona Collie