It may come as a surprise to many that investors in developing nations like India and China prefer robo advisors over brick and mortar advisors while people from developed countries like US, Canada and UK value the guidance of IFAs.
A recent CFA Institute study titled ‘From Trust to Loyalty: A Global Survey of What Investors Want’ revealed that 64% of investors in India prefer to get financial advice from robo advisors. Similarly, 55% of Chinese investors prefer artificial intelligence to make investment decisions.
CFA Institute has conducted this survey across four continents - North America, Europe, Asia (including India) and Australia in which 3,312 retail investors have responded to the survey.
Interestingly, in developed nations like Canada, US and UK the converse is true. Majority of investors in Canada (81%), the US (73%), and the UK (69%) say they prefer brick and mortar advisors and value the guidance of their advisors.
The report said, “When retail investors were asked whether they expect to continue to value human interaction over technology over the next three years, most still preferred to have human guidance, particularly those in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. The opposite is true in China and India though, where the majority value greater access to technology, and in Singapore investors are evenly split.”
Although India and China have been exceptions, retails investors around the globe identify their financial advisor as their most trusted source of investment advice. In addition to this, 30% of retail investors said they would pay more to an advisory firm that employs the best talent.
