Morningstar platform to drive robo-advice offerings

The platform, called the Wealth Forecasting Engine, simulates an investor's total future wealth and provides personalised recommendations for all life stages.

Morningstar head of adviser solutions Andrew Whelan told ifa that the research house has plans to launch the tool, which is already in use in the UK and the US, to the domestic market in the third quarter of this year.

Mr Whelan said the Wealth Forecasting Engine could be used by advisers as an engagement tool to demonstrate the value of advice, but it could also be used by self-directed investors as a stand-alone tool.

A number of advice groups have expressed interest, with one considering plugging it into their back office to drive the advice process.

“The tool can be plugged into the advice workflow and in future we could see it spitting out an SOA or recommendations that an adviser could use to plug into an SOA engine,” Mr Whelan said.

The Wealth Forecasting Engine can determine an investor’s projected income outlook, taking into account risk level, investment amount, ongoing contributions, salary, age, and time horizon.

“The methodology includes our proprietary research, including our patented human capital methodology,” Morningstar said.