Robo-adviser Evestor has announced it will split its advised service and non-advised service into two separate brands.
From early next year, the company's advised service will be rebranded as OpenMoney.
Anthony Morrow, Evestor's chief executive, said: "Whilst we have customers who are comfortable making their own decisions and are looking for quality, low-cost investment management for their money, most people want to be told what to do and to be given advice about their financial situation.
"To deliver both a do-it-yourself investment platform and financial advice under a single brand has proved to be challenging. We are serving different messages to different audiences wanting different services, all under one roof.
"That’s why we’ve taken the decision to separate our advice service from our non-advised service, creating two distinct brands."
He said non-advised customers would see no difference to their current services while advised customers would simply see their services provided by a different brand.
Mr Morrow revealed that during 2018 so far Evestor has had 121,933 website visitors, 9,162 registered customers and 2,481 investors.
He said the company, which was launched 18 months ago, was currently giving financial advice to 1,000 new customers every month.
Mr Morrow said: "What we’ve seen in the last 18 months [...] is that for many of the people coming to us for financial advice, investing is not the right thing for them at this stage.
"As you know, we only recommend what’s best for our customers, and our experience shows that over 2/3 of our customers would be better off strengthening their financial situation before investing for the medium or long term.
"The reasons vary, but in most cases it’s because they may be better paying off their unsecured debts first, or because they have little or no cash buffer in place. We consider both to be important elements of a solid financial foundation that needs to be in place before investing is appropriate."
During 2019 Evestor also plans to offer an at-retirement service so its advice and investment management solutions can be used by those planning for their retirement.
damian.fantato@ft.com
