LPL isn't the only independent broker-dealer to catch robo-fever.

Mark Casady LPL Financial Chairman, Chief Executive Officer

Alessandra Malito of InvestmentNews reports that, per the trade publication's 2015 IBD tech choices survey, 63.2 percent of the 42 indie B-Ds surveyed plan to add a roboplatform for their advisors. And 75 percent of those plan to launch their roboadvice service in 12 monhts or less.

"This is coming fast and furious right now," Chip Kispert, an indie B-D consultant at Beacon Strategies, reportedly tells InvestmentNews.

Over the summer LPL's revelation of its plans to launch a roboadvisor sparked lots of media interest. And Commonwealth is working on a roboplatform to launch perhaps in the second half of next year.

Some in the press and elsewhere like to portray the rise of roboadvisors as somehow bad for human financial advisors. Yet some roboadvisors have already inked parternships with the likes of Fidelity specifically to support RIAs. And the interest from LPL and other indie B-Ds show that roboadvice can be a tool that supports financial advisors by enabling them to refocus their efforts on the things that computers do poorly and humans do well: build relationships, listen to clients, talk them down from making poor decisions, and more. The roboadvisor can handle asset allocation and automatic rebalancing, while potentially integrating in other features like mobile check deposits and the like. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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