I have just had published two more articles on financial services, the first for ComputerWeekly.com on the growth of robo-advice in the US (provided by firms such as Betterment) and increasingly here as well (Nutmeg).
Such automated financial guidance could fill the gap between expensive independent advisers (which in the UK we now pay for upfront) and people selling products from just one organisation. Alistair Haig, a former banker now doing research at Edinburgh University, is optimistic about robo-advice:
What you end up with is a proposition to customers that’s part human, part machine… Robo-advisers, if they are done well, can provide an improvement for the rest of us.
I also have a piece on The Register about what will happen to IT companies and venture capital as and when interest rates start to rise. This drew on investment bank GP Bullhound’s predictions for 2016, particularly the ‘Unicorn hunting now in season’ section, unicorns being companies valued at more than $1bn.
Steffan Aquarone, the founder of mobile payment start-up Droplet, summed things up nicely:
I don’t think you look at the interest rate going up and think whoopee, I’ll move all my money back to my current account… [However] There is a general feeling that VCs are being more cautious – or should I say less ridiculous – in some of the valuations placed on American start-ups. I don’t think that UK or European VCs ever got that ridiculous.
GP Bullhound’s report is here, and the Register article is here.