New robo-advisor VirtualWealth™ allows Qtrade Financial Group partners to offer digital advice
VANCOUVER, Feb. 16, 2017 /CNW/ - Qtrade Financial Group has started rolling out a new robo-advice service, VirtualWealth, that allows its 150-plus financial institution partners across Canada to immediately enter the digital advice market.
VirtualWealth is an online investment service utilizing professionally managed, low-cost ETF portfolios that are tailored for a range of investor profiles and goals, and are automatically rebalanced to the investor's target asset allocation.
"We're really excited about introducing a high-quality digital advice platform that will help our partners remain competitive in a fast-changing marketplace," said Catherine Wood, Senior VP and Head of Online Brokerage and Digital Advice with Qtrade Financial Group. "VirtualWealth extends our partners' suite of seamlessly integrated wealth management solutions, and enhances their ability to meet the advice preferences of all their clients. Investors who value a face-to-face relationship can have great advice from a qualified advisor. Those who want to self-manage some of their own investments can choose online brokerage. Now, robo-advice is another option in that broad continuum of wealth services."
VirtualWealth is designed for investors who want professionally managed investments but who don't want to spend time monitoring them or making ongoing investing decisions. "It delivers the ease of use, convenience and personalized approach that investors now expect from digital services," she said.
Getting started with VirtualWealth is quick and easy. Investors answer a carefully designed set of risk- and goal-based questions. An intelligent investor diagnostics engine then suggests a well-diversified portfolio designed to deliver the right balance between growth potential and capital protection. The entirely digital (paperless) onboarding and funding process takes just a few minutes to complete. The platform allows clients to easily track progress toward their investing goals, thereby promoting a healthy, longer-term focus. Clients who have a question or need an issue resolved can expect prompt, accurate, friendly service from registered representatives and client support specialists.
The partners who are adopting VirtualWealth love the design and functionality of the platform, and are equally impressed by the infrastructure behind it, Wood said. "VirtualWealth reflects all the capabilities we've gained over 17 years of helping financial institutions to succeed and thrive. Our partners feel confident that the portfolio solutions are well-constructed and that their advisors and staff will continue to receive excellent support from our team in the field. It's also critical to them that our technology is proven to be stable and secure, and that the platform meets the highest standards of regulatory compliance."
A proprietary platform, VirtualWealth capitalizes on the award-winning fintech capabilities of Qtrade Financial Group's online brokerage, Qtrade Investor, as well as the asset management and portfolio design expertise of its asset manager, OceanRock Investments Inc. Qtrade Investor has been a top-ranked choice for self-managed investors for well over a decade, winning first-place honours in the past year alone from MoneySense, Surviscor, and The Globe and Mail. OceanRock has been recognized in the past few years for the performance of its funds and the quality of its portfolio management team, with awards from Morningstar and Fundata Canada.
About Qtrade Financial Group
Qtrade Financial Group is a national, award-winning, integrated financial services company, with over $13.6 billion in assets. Qtrade provides online brokerage services to individual investors along with full-service brokerage, wealth and investment management platforms and services, custodial services, introducing broker services, insurance solutions, and now, robo-advice, to meet the diverse needs of over 150 financial institutions, as well as their members and clients, across Canada. Qtrade's partners include credit unions, banks, trust companies, insurance companies, investment dealers, portfolio managers and financial planning firms. More information is available at www.qtrade.ca.
SOURCE Qtrade Financial Group
Sean Kelly, Senior Communications Specialist, Qtrade Financial Group, 778.328.7583, [email protected]
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