This article is the English version of the original article posted on LinkedIn, in German, by Daniel Mewes, Head of Investment Solutions at PostFinance AG, following the joint announcement of additiv digital investment management solution successfully going live for PostFinance customers.
Supporting financial wellbeing with digital-first investment solutions
At PostFinance, we don’t see our role as selling financial products, but rather helping our clients to improve their financial wellbeing.
In light of the pandemic, this role just gained in importance. Over the coming years, the economic environment is likely to be difficult and we can expect a protracted period of low interest rates.
In this context, we need to help our 2.7m customers to make smarter decisions about their money. We need them to find them low-risk routes to financial independence and peace of mind.
It was with great pleasure, then, that we were able – during the lockdown – to release four new investment solutions. Built using the additiv DFS platform, these solutions allow our customers to manage their money according to their own personalized needs and in a style that best suits their circumstances.
Helping PostFinance customers become more financially resilient
As part of our objective to build long-term, resilient financial wellbeing for our clients, we focused on creating more accessible wealth management products and services that broaden our clients’ pool of options.
Now materialized, the new, fully digital platform marks the start of a new chapter in the investment business at PostFinance.
Not only do we provide highly attractive investment solutions for all relevant customer requirements, but we have also combined the strengths of customer advice with digital processes and integrated everything into PostFinance’s existing e-finance environment.
This means that from May 5, 2020 our customers have been able to benefit from professional asset management with investments starting from CHF5,000.
Self-service, discretionary and advisory – all digital
The idea behind the new investment solutions is to be digital first, but catering to all clients’ preferences.
Where self-service, our clients can oversee and control their full investment portfolio, including ETFs and funds, through an intuitive tool.
Where advisor-assisted, the solution has features that allow for strong engagement while also giving the advisor the tools to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible, such as instant proposal generation and ‘one-click’ consent management.
Expertly monitored
Within the discretionary e-asset management, customers opt for one of these three investment focus options: “Switzerland”, “Global”, or “Sustainable” and delegate their asset management to PostFinance.
From there, PostFinance’s house view and investment experts continually monitor the portfolio and make adjustments if necessary. A range of carefully selected third-party funds and exchange-traded funds make up the investment universe.
With this product, customers can independently act to increase or reduce the amount invested at any time.
Independently managed
Optionally, PostFinance customers can assume personal responsibility for executing their own securities transactions online. They can make their investment decisions independently with fund consulting basic.
Should they wish it, clients can also take advantage of comprehensive personal advice from PostFinance experts, either online or in person.
For this product, the investment options consist of a proven range of PostFinance Funds as well as carefully selected third-party funds.
Proficiently advised
When opting for investment consulting plus, PostFinance customers select an investment strategy with either a “Switzerland”, “Global”, or “Sustainable” investment focus. At the same time, they receive comprehensive personal advice according to their preferences: either digitally or from a specialized customer advisor.
If the investment portfolio diverges from the selected investment strategy, PostFinance automatically notifies its customers and presents them with new investment or reallocation proposals digitally. The range of investment options consists of carefully selected third-party funds and exchange-traded funds.
Autonomously invested
For customers who are more familiar with investing, we launched fund self-service. With it, clients make their own investment decisions without any customer-specific advice.
They select from the range of proven PostFinance Funds and third-party funds and execute their investment transactions completely online.
Each of these four products caters to customers’ need for accessible products that can improve their financial wellbeing, making them resilient to unpredictable changes.
To build these products, we matched our financial expertise with a partner whose capabilities are primed for the digital-first world we now operate in.
Why we chose additiv for this fully digital investment platform
Thanks to innovative financial software from additiv, our customers benefit from simple, user-friendly access to the new products. Clients can easily open accounts in under 10 minutes and then manage their investments anywhere and anytime with uninterrupted online access to their portfolio’s performance, expert investment advice, and supporting information.
Working with additiv was invaluable to balancing speed, efficiency, and quality while developing and launching a new, 100% digital investment platform.
Their intimate knowledge of the wealth management industry made it easy to align, prioritize, collaborate, and execute based on our shared understanding of customer priorities.
Using additiv’s market-leading Hybrid Wealth solution, we were able to provide a brand-new offering that supports both self-service management and advisor-assisted interactions under the same data-decision platform.
What’s more, their quick and highly qualitative delivery process meant each of the new PostFinance investment products comes with a rich, immersive user experience that serves customers according to their individual needs and expectations.
As digitization accelerates, we also looked at the long-term potential of our collaboration. We know we can always tap into additiv’s API-first approach and the intelligence incorporated into their solution to power new services and add even more flexible options for our customers – fast.
Providing wellbeing
From business owners to employees, everyone needs easy access to accumulation and decumulation financial solutions that help them cultivate stability and prosperity even – and especially – under cascading transformations.
Our collaboration with additiv is an important step for PostFinance, setting a strong foundation to build towards becoming a leader in digital investment management.
Today, 1.8 million of our customers have access to e-finance. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for millions more to reap the benefits of fully digital investments.
Read the original article in German
See original blog: https://additiv.com/2020/07/28/supporting-financial-wellbeing-with-digital-first-investment-solutions-guest-post/
