Selectapension is planning to launch a robo-advice proposition in the third quarter of this year and has registered the web domain ‘Pensionmonster’.
Peter Bradshaw, national accounts director at the pension and investment software provider, said the technology would be both “educational and interactive”.
Mr Bradshaw said that the adviser would be the conduit and that this would not be standalone advice, because Selectapension itself as a company is not authorised to give advice.
As such, he said the advisers will act as the regulated entity.
Mr Bradshaw added that the user base of Selectapension tends to be more technologically minded IFAs and paraplanners, so he expected demand for the proposition to be good.
He said the firm’s management are not yet sure how the product will look as it was still in the early days of design, but it could manifest as a website.
“We have the technology to do it now, but we are waiting for the results of the Financial Advice Market Review and seeing the appetite for it - we will use our own client base and see if it is something they are keen to look at.”
Selectapension is the latest firm in a growing list looking to launch a robo-advice offering.
The first provider to launch a ‘simplified’ advice service, which was designed to help retirees with medium-sized pension funds navigate the at-retirement freedoms, was Just Retirement.
The annuity specialist said at that time it believed the simplified route was key to tackling the “advice gap”.
At the start of May last year, LV launched a regulated online advice service for the retirement income market, in conjunction with online adviser Wealth Wizards.
Following this, Blackrock acquired San Francisco-based robo-adviser firm FutureAdvisor for an undisclosed sum.
Last November, Fidelity was looking for a programme manager to build a robo-advice service and in December last year, Anthony Morrow, founding shareholder of IFA group Paradigm, and Duncan Cameron, co-founder of Moneysupermarket, said they would launch a new online advice business called eVestor.
In January this year, Bellpenny announced it is looking to launch a robo-advice service in the second quarter of 2016.
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
