Research has revealed major gaps in the wealth management industry’s ability to engage younger demographics. Tellingly, less than half of younger investors feel comfortable with basic investment principles.
With an estimated $84trillion poised to transfer from baby boomers to younger generations in the coming years, the wealth management sector must evolve rapidly, says Invessed.
Its research points to a broad disengagement among young investors, with many feeling overwhelmed by investment principles and dissatisfied with the control they have over their financial decisions.
We meet Theo Paraskevopoulos, CEO and founder of Invessed, to learn more about how it is shaking up the asset and wealth management industry.
Tell us more about your company and its offering
Theo Paraskevopoulos, CEO and founder of Invessed
Invessed provides asset and wealth managers with innovative solutions to engage clients effectively. These include a secure client portal and mobile application featuring extensive wealth reporting tools. Built on a cloud-native platform, Invessed improves wealth and asset management processes by delivering robust engagement and management solutions, simplifying client interactions and financial oversight.
Unlike traditional wealth technologies, Invessed offers a scalable, modular platform that addresses key challenges for asset and wealth managers. It solves lengthy development cycles, simplifying complex integrations and maintenance. Additionally, it ensures consistent brand identity and allows customisation to meet unique business requirements. This facilitates easier management and expansion of digital services.
What problem was your company set up to solve?
For some years now, there has been a growing disconnect between wealth managers and their clients. We recently conducted some research in collaboration with YouGov, which really highlights this issue. The survey revealed that 56 per cent of young investors avoid professional advice due to high fees and outdated approaches. Additionally, 51 per cent of respondents feel they lack control over their finances, indicating a financial literacy and engagement gap.
At Invessed, we believe that much of this disconnect stems from the traditional working methods employed by wealth managers. These methods are often cumbersome and do not scale effectively, resulting in higher fees that alienate large segments of the market. That’s what we’re set up to address and to provide a service that tackles this issue by facilitating and simplifying digital interactions, enabling companies to scale their operations and better meet customer demand.
Since launch, how has your company evolved?
Invessed was incubated by a digital agency, GrowCreate, with a strong fintech pedigree and a long history of working in the investment management industry. The initial versions of our solution focused on the Client Portal and were designed to enhance client engagement. Over time, the solution has evolved to incorporate productivity tools for advisers. In future versions, we aim to introduce innovations that further streamline interactions between clients and advisers.
What has been the biggest challenge or most ‘tricky moment’ to overcome?
Starting a business always comes with ups and downs, and Invessed has been no different. Building an innovative solution from the ground up is never easy and demands considerable time and effort, not to mention ample amounts of stress. However, we have always focused on the long-term value of our work, driven by the ardent belief that we are creating a solution of significant value for asset and wealth managers.
For example, wealth management is notoriously hard to scale. Most firms work with multiple custodians that do not interface well with each other, making every customer-facing initiative a data integration challenge. We aim to solve this problem by shifting the focus from reporting to servicing. We understand that both advisers and clients are not seeking more data, but a space for collaboration and connection.
What are your biggest achievements or ‘proudest moment’ so far?
Few things are more satisfying for a product creator than validation from real-life users. Recently, we attended an event organised by a wealth management firm, where we had the opportunity to meet and interact with their clients. Watching them use the application we created and hearing their enthusiasm and feedback has been one of the highlights of the Invessed journey.
How would you describe the culture of your company?
In three words: creative, collaborative, and entrepreneurial. Adam and I began our careers as designers, so creativity is in the company’s DNA. We’ve grown through partnerships with our clients and like-minded companies, making collaboration a natural part of our work. Finally, what truly unifies our team is our ability to see opportunities everywhere. This fuels an endless potential for new ideas and ventures, keeping things exciting.
What’s in store for the future?
Buoyed by market and customer feedback, we are ready to dramatically elevate our ambitions. We believe that innovation is key to solving the industry’s challenges and enabling access to a segment of the population that typically opts for self-trading. For many of these younger, cost-conscious investors, accessing personalised financial advice could be the key to a more secure and confident financial future.
That point is further backed up by our recent research with YouGov, which highlighted that the need for solutions like ours is now more evident than ever. We cannot let this new generation of investors slip through the fingers of professionals; we must ensure that we are responding better to their needs. Fortunately, Invessed is poised to make a significant difference by addressing an urgent issue that demands immediate attention.
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