Bank CIC’s digital wealth management platform clevercircles is the world’s first multi-advisor to combine the intelligence of humans with the efficiency of machines. This transfers the idea of community to the investment world.
Together with ti& m, Bank CIC has developed a new type of digital wealth management platform that differs significantly from existing offerings.
The customer wants to be involved in decision-making on a regular basis
The platform, which has been on the market since the end of April 2018 under the name clevercircles, combines the advantages of a robo-advisor with the option of tactically managing asset allocation yourself and coordinating your own opinion with trusted individuals or the crowd. In this way, clevercircles is the world’s first multi-advisor to combine the intelligence of humans with the efficiency of machines.
When it comes to asset management, the Swiss want not only a simple and inexpensive solution, but above all the opportunity to have a say in the composition of their portfolio on a regular basis. Two out of three people consider this to be important, with the figure rising to 74% among the younger generation. Customer participation as an important need is therefore at the heart of the new platform. With clevercircles, customers can use simple and intuitive questions to regularly adjust their investment decisions at the tactical asset allocation level. In this way, clevercircles fills the gap in the banks’ digital offering between automated asset management mandates and complex trading platforms.
Clevercircles is much more than a robo-advisor
The client defines his investment strategy on clevercircles. They can determine the investment ratios of 16 underlying asset classes as they wish and completely individually. In addition, the client sets tactical bandwidths for each asset class, within which he can regularly decide whether to underweight or overweight. The client is extremely flexible and can also define asymmetrical bandwidths. For example, a client who tends to be risk-averse can set a low minimum quota for equities so that he can adjust the risk significantly downwards if the outlook is negative. A reallocation cycle takes place every two months. Voting is at the heart of this. Using a simple questionnaire, each participant can submit their expectations for the most important markets. The questions are formulated intuitively and can be answered without prior knowledge. The supplementary accompanying texts and arguments are free of anglicisms and technical terms from financial jargon. This makes a small but significant difference to the user-friendliness of the platform. As is customary in families, circles of friends and especially among professional investors, clevercircles customers can now compare their opinion with that of their circle. You can think of a circle as a self-assembled “investment committee”. With the difference that the portfolio holder can validate his view with circles of trust, but ultimately decides independently on an effective reallocation.
Win-win-win effect for asset managers and banks
Almost all financial institutions describe the same problem. Although the stock markets have been at a high for years and neutral experts have repeatedly confirmed that it makes sense to invest in the long term, little is happening on the customer side. Even new online channels in the investment business have not been able to change this passive customer behavior. Clevercircles brings new approaches and convinces not only with the hard factors, such as low costs and easy access, but also with soft factors. The focus is on people. This includes experts as well as inexperienced investors. Before a person makes an important decision, they usually validate their opinion with people they trust. In the age of social media, this process is increasingly taking place online, creating communities that are often larger and more diverse than purely personal contact. Clevercircles has recognized this and transferred the community concept to the investment world. Clevercircles is multi-client capable and can be used by other asset managers, banks and insurance companies in the white label model. It is a fast and cost-effective way of offering a multi-advisor. The existing clevercircles community can be merged with your own community. This increases the collective intelligence for everyone involved and creates real win-win-win situations. The partner institute can draw on an existing community and the existing community benefits from the new voices that come onto the platform. The customer, as the biggest beneficiary, benefits from greater diversity and a stronger basis in the collective voices. This is true coopetition and innovation. Clevercircles is a Swiss invention, developed 100% in Switzerland together with ti&m and designed for multiple, worldwide use.
Test now free of charge at www.clevercircles.ch
* This article first appeared in the Computerworld ti&m Special 2018.