The Indian investor diaspora is very unique. Investors are highly cost conscious, often not well informed about financial products, and demand top quality services. Further, the ubiquity of digital solutions in various other sectors has created a preference for seamless and holistic products and services that optimally leverage technology to improve the customer experience. This has created several challenges for Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) who are looking to scale their business and provide their clients with a comprehensive suite of services in a seamless and cost-efficient manner. The WealthDesk platform is envisaged to act as a bridge between RIAs and investors and serve a two-fold purpose:
- Empower RIAs to position themselves as premium providers of investment solutions
- Enable investors to access the best-in-class wealth solutions in an efficient and cost-effective manner
The only aim is to provide solutions for ‘wealth creation’
At WealthDesk, we advocate the importance of full stack wealth management solutions for the retail customers who, till now, have either been investing in non-optimal products not linked to Equities like FDs, insurance policies, etc., or have not been able to access premium investment solutions in Equities and ETFs. This means going beyond transaction-based relationships and offering retail customers holistic wealth creation solutions. As a result, WealthDesk is positioned as a platform for serious wealth creators and is well-suited for individuals who are looking to create wealth across time frames.
A larger slice of the pie
Inarguably, the retail/mass affluent market in India is expanding at a fast clip. The opportunity firmly lies with the fast-growing middle-class segment who can’t afford a minimum investment of INR 50 lakhs but can easily afford investments of INR 5-10 lakhs. The WealthDesk platform is the gateway to accessing this large untapped opportunity. This is further augmented by:
- Premium visibility : It is our responsibility to offer our customers the best and premium quality portfolios. Thus, we run a stringent due diligence on the advisors before onboarding them on our platform to maintain the high quality of the offerings. Since we will never have a crowded RIA space, those on the platform will always be distinguished from the crowd.
- Technology: Cutting-edge technology that enables both advisors and investors to seamlessly transact. Also, WD is the only platform to have offline to online (O2O) technology which enables customers who have been placing orders through their dealers, to access premium portfolios seamlessly. This is the untapped segment which forms the majority of the AUA we have seen transacting on our platform through various brokers.
- Ease in portfolio creation: The WealthDesk platform provides sophisticated and new edge technologies that can be leveraged to create active and passive portfolios / WealthBaskets. The platform makes it very easy for RIAs to create and manage portfolios that follow unique investment strategies and models that they can then make available to the low ticket size investors.
- Broker relations: WealthDesk is integrated with almost all major brokers and distributors of India, with an aim to capture 90% of active demat account holders.
- EOD Reconciliation: Our robust automated reconciliation of EOD holdings at a broker level gives comfort to the end customers in case they do a transaction not suggested by the advisor. This functionality takes care of short-sale, margin issues, etc. We are also integrated with ODIN for plug and play on boarding of any broker on our platform.
- Marketing support: We give our RIAs end-to-end sales and marketing support, helping them scale up their distribution through regular webinars, social media posts, sharing of infographics, and other marketing collateral empowered by our broker partners along with a high quality and responsive customer support team.
- Ease of transaction: To ensure that investors are able to efficiently purchase RIA created WealthBaskets, we have enabled subscription fee collection through payment gateway. We have also partnered with · ICICI Bank to create a better, seamless, and automated process of subscription fee collection through a bank mandate. In addition to this, we are also in the process of launching user level curated subscription plans that will become a compelling value proposition for investors.
- Fees and Investment Amounts: The SEBI regulations give an option to charge either a flat fee or a % of AUA. The % AUA fee adds some complexities for advance fee calculations. In this case, WealthDesk has the technological capabilities to handle advance payment on % based AUA mode of fees. On the WealthDesk platform, the RIA has the flexibility to decide on the minimum investment amount, additional amount, SIP amount, fee charged, etc. We merely act as a technological facilitator.
- Regtech: WealthDesk believes in adhering strictly to the regulations, even foreseeing some of them which may come in future. In order to achieve that, we run stringent checks and balances to safeguard the RIA, the broker, and ourselves rather than making false use of any grey areas on the regulations. We have also created additional layers to support you and your business. From an operations perspective, these include automation, Aadhaar based agreements, and seamless integration of KYC data..
We have created an investment ecosystem where the sum of the parts is greater than the value created by each component. Our range of services and support will ensure that the RIA can ably navigate the challenges of the current environment, scale up the business, and become a trusted wealth creator for its clients. For an RIA registered on the platform, 1 plus 1 will not equal 2. Rather, it will equal 11.
