National advisory firm consolidator Succession is planning a ‘robo-advice-style’ service which will add human intervention to review any investment decisions.

Succession chief executive Simon Chamberlain describes the new semi-automated service, expected to be up and running in the next few months, as “robo advice without the robo” .

Much of the work will be done remotely by post or video-calling with human advisers, cutting out time-consuming face to face meetings to keep costs down.

Clients can use the service to review their portfolio or seek an assessment of their investment Isa plans, for example.

Mr Chamberlain said that the company remained a big supporter of professional Financial Planning and cashflow modelling but that some clients, perhaps orphan or new clients or those with smaller assets, required a different, cut-down level of service which reduced human intervention to a minimum to reduce costs.

He said: “We’re looking at a simplified investment process that you could call robo advice without the robo.”

He said he believed one of the problems with robo advice - as it was currently being rolled out - was that no-one was taking responsibility for the advice given.

This meant that advice on building up assets was missing, putting consumers at risk of making major blunders because no-one was reviewing their DIY investment plans.

He said: “The client who used this service would set out their plans to us and we would then review them and then get some simplified recommendations sent back to them.

“There is no reason for those clients to have face to face advice meetings or go through full holistic advice if they have, say, £30k to invest or want to start a £7k Isa.”

The service would use a Paraplanner or Financial Planner to check the investment portfolios and investment changes planned by small investors and make suggestions about the portfolio as well as comparing the plans with the whole market to see if there was a better deal elsewhere.

Charges or a name for the new service have not yet been released.

The service would be mainly aimed at clients well below the radar of most planners but the clients could upgrade to full advice as their assets grew.

The service would provide reassurance to small investors that a trained and qualified person was reviewing their investment decisions without having to go through a long and expensive process of Financial Planning, he said.

The service could be delivered electronically or through the post, he believes, depending on the preference of the client.

He added that his issue with some of the robo advice services so far announced was they just want “the funds without the responsibility” and may be exposing clients to more risk than they need or understand and then abrogating any responsibility.

The service would not replace the full financial advice offered by Succession firms but it was clear, he said, that among the firm’s 60,000 clients there were some who would suit the new service as they had smaller levels
of assets and were not able to afford a full Financial Planning service.

Succession has acquired 25 advisory firms in the past 12 months and expects to acquire up to 50 by the end of next year. It currently has 85 IFA and Financial Planning firms.