RBS to replace advisers with robo-advice

The Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to replace around 220 investment advisers with automated telephone and online systems.

Related topics:  Finance News
Rozi Jones
14th March 2016
rbs royal bank of scotland

Face-to-face investment advice will only be available to customers planning to invest over £250,000.

A further 200 insurance advisers are also expected to be replaced with a similar robo-advice platform.

The cost-cutting initiative follows RBS' full year results, which revealed a loss of £1.98bn for 2015 - its eighth annual loss.

Recent research found that 65% of investors would use robo-advice up to £1,000 before opting for a professional adviser. Fewer than 10% would invest more than £5,000, and only 22% of investors would trust robo-advice as a full replacement to a professional financial adviser.

An RBS spokesperson said:

"The demand for face-to-face investment advice is changing. Our customers increasingly want to bank with us using digital technology.

"As a result, we are scaling back our face-to-face advisers and significantly investing in an online investing platform that enables us to help a new group of customers with as little as £500 to invest."

More like this
CLOSE
Subscribe
to our newsletter

Join a community of over 30,000 intermediaries and keep up-to-date with industry news and upcoming events via our newsletter.