ICBC launches robo-adviser service for wealth-management products
The nation’s largest bank by assets is first of China’s ‘big four’ lenders to offer automated advice and product service
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has applied the latest artificial intelligence-led technology to its wealth-management operations, reflecting just how the country’s big banks are now fighting hard to gain an edge over rivals in the sector.
Its newly launched “robo-adviser” service will see computer programmes dish out investment advice to retail investors over its mobile banking platform, becoming the first among the nation’s “big-four” state-owned lenders to unlock the potential of the hot new service being adopted rapidly by the industry, worldwide.
The value of China’s total robo-adviser services, including those offered by banks, assets managers and fintech companies, is expected to top 5.22 trillion yuan (US$783 billion) by 2020, according to data from consultancy Analysys.
Globally, the segment – started in the US – is projected to skyrocket to US$6.5 trillion by 2025, up from US$100 billion last year, according to global consultancy McKinsey.
ICBC is the nation’s largest bank by assets, but small- and mid-sized mainland banks including China Merchants Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Industrial Bank and Ping An Bank, have already tested the waters in using such robos in a bid to woo the nation’s tech-savvy younger generation and slash costs.
“The application of robo-advisers is an inevitable trend in the tech-driven transformation of the banking industry,” said Hu Jie, an affiliated professor at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.