2020 Vision: The Next Decade Of Investing

Technological advances and concerns around environmental, social and governance issues will inform how people invest over the next ten years.

- Brendan Peacock

Just as every industry has been disrupted and transformed by the adoption of technology, investment and asset management have come a long way from the days of the open-outcry stock exchange perception many of us still associate with trading.

Self-service brokerage and advice platforms driven by technology have revolutionised individuals’ ability to invest in a variety of asset classes, indices and funds, especially in the last decade. But what do the next ten years hold for investors and asset managers?

How will we invest?

Pieter Koekemoer, head of personal investments at Coronation Fund Managers, says technology has made it easier to implement an investment decision once you have decided what to invest in and who to use as a provider, but pure-play robo-advisers have so far failed to make significant inroads.

“Most of the successful online advice models globally depend on a hybrid of traditional human-to-human interaction and online tools and calculators,” Koekemoer says.

“That said, when the investment value is relatively low and for a single need, investors tend to go direct, such as investing R33 000 in a tax-free savings account.”

Most of the technological developments are taking place out of sight of the customer, such as the deployment of distributed ledger technology (the blockchain) to increase efficiency for service providers.

“This removes the need for reconciliations and simplifies the trade and settlement process. Increasingly sophisticated approaches to digitally establishing your identity as an investor may mean you soon won’t have to send a copy of your ID and proof of address to service providers,” Koekemoer says. “This means less cost and hassle.”