GWM unveils online finance planning tool ‘in response to client expectations’
Guardian Wealth Management, which yesterday revealed it has opened its first US advisory outpost in Miami, today has unveiled an online financial planning tool it calls its Automated Financial Planner.
The company, which also goes by the name GWM Group, and which has been undergoing significant changes over the past year as it looks to adapt to the rapidly-changing international advisory marketplace, said its new online tool will be made available to all GWM advisers and their clientele worldwide “with immediate effect”.
GWM chief commerical officer Mike Coady said tools of this kind were increasingly expected by clients.
“Over the last decade I have witnessed firsthand financial planning calculations via a very manual process, with a set of formulae, unjustified assumptions and outdated statistics,” he noted.
“A client increasingly expects this information at their fingertips in seconds, both credible and comprehendible.
“This has necessitated the advisers at GWM to re-imagine the financial planning process from a client’s perspective.”
The facility was developed in-house by GWM’s technical team, Coady noted, working in conjunction with the company’s advice teams, to come up with an automated financial planning tool that prioritises simplicity and accuracy.
How it works
The GWM Automated Financial Planner tool is accessed — securely — by the GWM adviser, on behalf of the client, using a computer, table or smartphone. The client’s stated financial goals, approach to risk and other details are in-putted, while such factors as inflation, discounting rates, foreign exchange forecasts and other economic parameters are also taken into account.
Once all the relevant data and variables have been loaded into the system, a selection of potential financial plans tailored specifically to the client are generated, which the adviser and his client are then able to discuss and, if desired, tweak.
Coady said having this tool, which GWM is in the process of rolling out now to all of its clients “over a spectrum of multi-channel platforms”, would give GWM a “further competitive edge” over its rivals.
“The system has been rigorously tested by advisers, positively welcomed by clients, and will benchmark higher standards of client servicing and automation in international financial planning,” he added.
Headquartered in Dubai, Guardian Wealth has been growing its business both internally and geographically over the past two years. In addition to its Dubai headquarters and the new Miami office, it has outposts in London and Doncaster, England; Geneva, Switzerland; and Abu Dhabi. It looks after more than £800m in client assets on behalf of more than 10,000 international clients, according to its website.
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