Robo advisors

Come the second quarter of 2024, JPMorgan Automated Investing will be no more.

As we look ahead to fresh innovations in fintech, we should try to reconnect with a deeper, more intentional set of human relationships foundational to our experience of money.

The automated investment service is the latest offering from the U.K. challenger bank as it works to break into non-European markets.

Ally Financial and Truist Financial took different approaches to achieve the same aim: giving digital investing clients the option of speaking with an advisor.

The Charlotte, North Carolina, bank is one of several that have embedded automated investing in their online and mobile banking, alongside access to human advisors.

The Alabama bank hopes that its new InvestPath platform, which combines automation and personal interaction, will attract first-time investors.

The new service, which will offer one-on-one advice, is open to people with at least $100,000 in investable assets. It’s part of the company’s ongoing efforts to build a full suite of retail banking products.

UBS agreed to buy the U.S. robo advisor Wealthfront for $1.4 billion in cash, the first major acquisition of a fintech company under Chief Executive Ralph Hamers.

The robo advisor for socially conscious investors will benefit from becoming part of the largest U.S. bank, but "we also want to maintain the dynamic ... that made OpenInvest what it is," one of its co-founders says.

Amerant Bank has invested $2.5 million in Marstone to provide a digital alternative to personal wealth advisors for new and existing clients. The technology "gets planning capabilities into the hands of any customer that wants them," says Jerry Plush, the Florida bank's new CEO.

The joint checking account is similar to its individual checking feature, launched last April, and will target millennial couples in particular.

As it does with savings, Digit's algorithm calculates how much users can siphon off their earnings into retirement without missing the funds.

Clients of the challenger bank's robo-adviser are able to see one another's trades, add comments and watch a leaderboard of top investors.

The fintech Wealthfront's latest wrinkle gives clients a high level of control over their money, including the ability to set automatic transfers to savings accounts or exchange-traded funds.

Fintechs are facing unique challenges in the pandemic. There might be a resurgence in funding on the horizon, but startups are looking to see what they can do now to weather the storm.

As PPP enters forgiveness phase, some banks see outsourcing as best move; after the Fed’s stress tests, Wells Fargo to cut dividend while other big banks boost capital buffer; Supreme Court strikes down CFPB leadership structure; and more from this week’s most-read stories.

Citizens Bank and Citigroup are among the financial institutions plugging away at a service that has gained little traction among customers.

Betterment has debuted a bank account, in conjunction with partner nbkc bank in Kansas City, Mo., that is targeted at millennials and marketed as a complement to its long-term savings products.

Andy Rachleff, the fintech's CEO, discusses the digital bank it's developing and the concept of "self-driving money."