Today, Barclays has officially announced that it has launched a new digital advice service. This was done in a bid to combat the advice gap within the UK, as well as to boost confidence and support when it comes to people and where they invest their savings. This new service will be aptly named Barclays Plan & Invest and will allow a customer to develop a personalized investment plan, one tailored to their individual goals. Barclays, in turn, will then manage the investments on behalf of these clients, which is traditionally referred to as discretionary portfolio management.
Adding New Services To offer
In order to launch this new service, Barclays has enacted a partnership with one Scalable Capital. Through doing so, the idea is that customers will be given access to both the active and the passive funds of the bank’s choosing, doing so through a managed portfolio. Through a dedicated team of investment experts that the bank appointed, these investments will be chosen and managed. In the past, this was only accessible to clients that had a considerable amount of funds to invest, to begin with.
Barclays, unlike robo-advice providers prior, will adapt these investment plans to any changes in the market, as well as circumstances of the customer itself. At least once a year, it will also check in on the customer, to ensure that all the investments are still right for the customer, as well as whether or not they’re making the most of their tax allowance.
Limited Launch With Plans Of expansion
The initial pilot of this service will be available to current account customers that have a holding of at least £5,000 for investment, and can be accessed via Online Banking. Furthermore, the service holds dedicated support over the phone, as well. As it stands now, Barclays is planning to continue this service’s development for the coming months, with plans of launching a Barclays App late summer, as well.
Many Things Needed To Get Access
To gain access to this new service, customers are mandated to complete a questionnaire that is quite in-depth. This questionnaire aims to determine what they want to achieve, what their circumstances are, as well as a personality assessment as to how they would respond to risk. Through the combination of their expert team’s pick of investments and the latest in technology, it will then create a personalized plan that can follow over 10,000 investment paths.
Furthermore, an annual review of the investment plans of their customers will be organized by Barclays, as well. This, in turn, will ensure that they are making the most of their personal ISA allowances, and will allow them to check if changes were done to the customer in regards to life circumstances and goals.
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