A national advice firm is to offer robo-advice to individual clients by early 2019, in a bid to cut the cost of advice.
LEBC will be increasing its number of qualified advisers by recruiting more trainee advisers into its academy, in preparation for the roll out.
The the group said its existing 'bionic' advice service, which is only offered to members of occupational pension schemes, cut the cost of advice by approximately one third.
The adviser will aim to further reduce these costs by rolling the technology-led service out more widely.
LEBC's bionic advice, which combines human and automated services, asks clients to fill in an online questionnaire pin-pointing their specific issues, before being handed over to a financial adviser who will focus on those areas.
Kay Ingram, director of public policy at LEBC, said the adviser was prepared to partner with other organisations to cover as broad a range of advice as possible.
She said: "The range of services we intend to offer will cover a wide range of financial planning topics.
"We will provide inputs into all key financial decisions which consumers may need to make, whether linked to a regulated product or not.
"Most of these services will be sourced in house as we have a wide range of expertise. Where required we will also partner with other organisations should this enhance the service we can offer our clients."
LEBC already offers bionic advice to workplace pension members, where it works with trustees to offer advice and guidance on the retirement options faced by scheme members.
The group said cost efficiencies presented by the wider roll out would mean a reduction in operating costs, which LEBC is prepared to pass on to customers.
Ms Ingram said: "We believe that the cost efficiencies we have achieved in the occupational pension sphere can be gained when advising individuals. We plan to pass these cost savings to the consumer so that more people will get access to advice."
She added: "We can conduct fund analysis, and tax calculations automatically, project long term impacts such as the effect of inflation or sudden loss of income.
"This frees up our human advisers to concentrate on ensuring that all personal circumstances are fully accounted for and to sense check the advice and the client’s understanding of it."
FTAdviser reported in October last year that LEBC's bionic advice service had hit £1bn in assets with 37,000 people using the service.
However, the group has not said what its targets are for its impending roll out of its bionic retail advice service.
"We don’t have a fixed number of consumers in mind. We simply wish to widen access to regulated advice and to reduce the advice gap," Ms Ingram said.
"We will do that by bringing down the cost of advice, employing technology and via recruitment into our Advice Academy."
rosie.quigley@ft.com
