Forget the world — robots are more interested in taking over our wallets. This year, the amount of assets under management by robo-advisors is projected to reach $1.4 trillion USD [1]. By 2025, that figure is expected to double. As the industry evolves and the amount of money pouring towards robo-advisory grows, so should our understanding of three key questions: Who uses robo-advisory? What factors influence its adoption? And might it share more with human advisory than we expect?

A traditional wealth management portfolio typically consists of shares, bonds and funds. These are, by definition, financial assets and therefore “bankable”. Other things that make up personal wealth may be of value as well, but are often excluded or managed independently from more traditional assets in a wealth management portfolio. Think of direct investments in companies or private equity funds, the purchase or co-acquisition of primary or secondary residences, pieces of art and rare collectibles, and the like. These items do not appear on your bank's portfolio report and are, by definition, non-bankable assets. In saying that, they have a current value, an expected value development, and an inherent risk – just like any other asset. 

After five years of hype about digitalization, it’s time to take stock. Which trends have fulfilled expectations? Five years ago, all the talk was of robo-advisory, robotic process automation and distributed ledgers. But which technologies are private banks and wealth managers now using to secure their future?

In today's article, we write about the fundamental problem of exchanging non-bankable assets and present a new method for trading them in the absence of any regulated (public) market. 

Blockchain has been a buzz word for a few years but the announced disruption seems to have disappeared. So where are we since then? Are the promises all gone? Is there really something beyond the hype?

After introducing non-bankable asset investing in the first article of this series, we here discuss some valuation approaches using machine learning to make nBA investing fit for total wealth management.

The introduction of a highly automated portfolio-based advisory process and the use of quantitative portfolio risk has led to a new advisory paradigm. In this post, we explore the challenges that come with this.

With the implementation of MiFID II in Europe and similar standards in other jurisdictions, wealth advice has effectively shifted from a “single-instrument approach” to a “risk-based portfolio approach”. This blogpost is an introduction to what this means.

Digital wealth solutions have become a priority for financial firms catering to tech savvy investors. Read on to find out what features such solutions need.

Recent fintech trends suggest digital investment advisors will manage over $2 trillion by 2020, prompting successful banks to invest heavily in such software.