Simplified advice

Investment giant BlackRock has acquired US robo-advice business FutureAdvisor, through which it plans to reach out to the "mass affluent".

Generalist advisers will be put under pressure by cheap automated alternatives as consumers increasingly question the value of advice, online adviser Wealth Horizon has said.

A small IFA firm has used its love of social media to create an automated financial advice service for those priced out and cut-off from traditional advice.

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) policy director David Geale has dismissed concerns some retirees have been priced out of advice - but said the challenge was matching those firms able to serve lower income clients with the relevant consumers.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has laid the groundwork for firms to come to market with ‘robo-advice' models, its director of strategy and competition Chris Woolard has suggested.

Financial regulators in the US are warning investors and advisers to beware the limitations of automated investment tools.

US investment management giant Vanguard Group has officially unveiled its ‘robo' advice offering in the US, offering investors with minimum assets of $50,000 portfolio management for as little as 30bps annually.

Single out what clients actually want and only charge for that, rather than 'pandering to the wealthy' with expensive packaged bank account-style add-ons, an advice firm has said, as it launched its 'manifesto' for the coming years.

Life fund consolidator Phoenix Life has widened its partnership with Just Retirement to allow clients access to the government's new pension freedoms and simplified advice.

Does this extraordinary list prove there's a market for it?