The wealth management sector is facing tremendous changes fueled by technology and changing customer expectations.
Wealthtech, which stands for wealth and technology, has become one of the hottest sub segments of fintech with companies in the space raising over US$12.2 billion in funding over the last five years, according to a research by Fintech Global.
Wealthtech encompasses all innovations and technologies that help wealth management related companies in their activity. Wealthtech companies leverage cutting edge technology to enable more effective portfolio management, better assets liquidity, improved customer experience, cost transparency, improved advice, and clearer transaction technologies.
In Europe, there are more than 100 wealthtech companies spread across 12 countries. Unsurprisingly, some of the region’s biggest and most successful wealthtech companies come from Switzerland, the UK and Germany, three countries known for hosting large tech startup communities and being important financial hubs.
Here are ten wealthtech players from Europe which Singaporeans, or anyone really, should know about:
Investsuite (Belgium) B2B Robo-Advisory
Launched in June 2018, Investsuite is a European B2B wealthtech provider which offers a suite of white-label wealthtech products-as-a-service platforms that includes: a robo-advisory platform, a trading platform, and a humanized portfolio storyteller that cuts through the financial jargon to help end users better understand the performance of their portfolio.
The company has a presence across Europe in Leuven, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Amsterdam, London, Luxembourg and Madrid, and has been looking to expand to the Middle East and Asia.
It won several awards and accolades including the Public Prize Belgian Finance Club, Brussels in 2018, the Best Pitch Alior Rebels Program, Warsaw in 2018 and was the winner of this year’s Finastra Universe in Frankfurt and closed a EUR 2 million funding round in November 2018.
Investsuite will be attending the MoneyLIVE Digital Banking APAC 2019 conference taking place on July 2 and 3 at Suntec, in Singapore.
Aixigo (Germany) API-Platform
Founded in 1999, Germany’s Aixigo is one of the largest independent international providers of software for financial institutions. The company claims its API platform, which offers over 100 services for various customer experiences, is the “world’s fastest API-based technology platform for wealth management and investment consulting.”
Aixigo employs a total of 120 people and counts among its customers the likes of BNP Paribas, Targobank and Commerzbank. Earlier this year, the company won the German Innovation Award 2019 in the category “Winner Excellence in Business to Business | Information Technologies | Industry Specific and Service Software.”
Calastone (UK) Fund Processing
London-headquartered Calastone provides a global funds transaction network that connects many of the world’s leading financial organizations. Calastone’s network uses efficient and automated approach for funds processing, enabling clients to reduce cost and risk, respond to regulatory changes, take advantage of international investment opportunities and facilitate efficient global distribution.
Calastone serves over 1,800 customers in 41 countries and territories, including JP Morgan Asset Management, Schroders and Invesco, and processes more than nine million messages and £170 billion worth of transactions each month. Earlier this month, the company announced that it had successful launched its Distributed Market Infrastructure (DMI) and migrated the technology underpinning its network to the blockchain-enabled market infrastructure.
Gambit (Belgium) Client Profiling
Founded in 2007 by a group of scientists at HEC Business School at the University of Liege, Gambit Financial Solutions provides top-tier financial institutions in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland and Brazil with a full set of modular frontend and middleware algorithmic tools to profile clients, optimize portfolios, and manage risks and performance.
The company counts more than 1 million users and has EUR 40 billion of assets under management with locations in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Singapore.
Nutmeg (UK) Robo-Advisory
London-based Nutmeg provides digital wealth management services designed for easy access to investing. The company invests customers’ funds in line with their investment goals and appetite for risk, focusing on listed securities, debt, cash, commodities and other investment asset classes, primarily, but not exclusively, via exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Founded in 2011, Nutmeg has since grown to be one of the largest digital wealth managers in the UK, managing over £1.7 billion for more than 70,000 customers.
Nextmarkets (Germany) Trading Behavior Solution
Nextmarkets specializes in curated investing. The company enables individual investors and traders to benefit from the expertise of investment professionals who provide real-time trading insights via web or smartphone on more than 1,000 markets, including equities, indices, foreign exchange, and commodities.
Nextmarkets’ application offers tools that anticipate financial scenarios and let users understand why they should trade or not. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Cologne.
NeoXam (France) Entreprise-Wide Data Software
France’s NeoXam is a global expert for enterprise-wide data management and transaction software, serving banks, insurance companies and investment managers. The company provides cost-efficient, proven and mission-critical solutions that cover the complete value-chain, from central data management and front-office, to back-office facilities.
NeoXam’s solutions include NeoXam Compliance, a solution for pre and post-trade regulatory and client compliance checks, NeoXam DataHub, which provides a set of functional modules that answer to the specific requirements of financial institutions, and NeoXam Manager, a front-office solution for large asset management companies.