Link’s turnkey, tech-first solution helps investment advisors build vital relationships with clients
Coming out of COVID-19 in 2020, investment advisors have another big hurdle to clear in 2021.
That would be a know-your-product assessment when making an investment recommendation, as part of client-focused reforms being launched by the Canadian Securities Administrators.
As David Reeve writes in Investment Executive, technology can handle such an assessment where humans simply cannot.
A typical day for an investment advisor involves five evaluations or investment recommendations from an open-architecture product shelf of about 35,000 products, he writes. Based on the CRA’s new know-your-product assessment, “this will require processing over 1,000,000 data points daily (5 recommendations x 35,000 products x 6 suitability points),” says Reeve.
“Leveraging technology in this situation reduces both time delay and risk . . . let technology do what no human is capable of—processing millions of data points instantaneously—while humans do what no technology is capable of: building client relationships based on human understanding, empathy and optimism.”
As an innovator in employer-sponsored compensation plans, Link Investment Management can help portfolio advisors play to their strengths in dealings with their small to midsize businesses within their clientele.
Link’s robo-advisor, using a proprietary built-in algorithm, steers our investment strategies for pension and equity plans—creating prescriptive retirement portfolios tailored to an employee’s risk tolerance and investment objectives.
“Our robo-advisor takes care of data analysis, and allows portfolio advisors to do what they do best—provide personalized service to plan sponsors,” says Brian McClennon, President and CEO of Link. “Link is a disruptive innovator in the industry, and in harnessing the latest technology we can make the process easier for advisors, their clients, and those clients’ employees.”
In addition to our robo-advisor algorithm, and an experienced portfolio management team providing guidance, Link offers a number of other benefits to plan sponsors:
- Our proprietary, easy-to-use digital platform featuring 24/7 access and quick online enrolment
- A passive investing model, using low-cost, index-tracking Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs)
- Regular, automated portfolio rebalancing
- A lower and completely transparent fee schedule
For employers, the Link solution lightens the administrative and compliance burden and the fiduciary risk. For employees, it can mean reduced costs and better retirement outcomes.
“Ultimately, Link’s solution offers small to midsize employers and their employees simple, low-cost, attractive, well-diversified investment solutions,” says Mr. McClennon. “And for investment advisors, we offer a very attractive advantage—being able to combine technological anaylsis with human advice.”