The Royal Bank of Scotland fired 220 advisors and instead will use robots to answer customer’s investment questions.

by Mish

To talk to a real person you need £250,000. That’s about $362,000. RBS says this is what customers want.

RBS Fires 220 Advisors

Please consider RBS Cuts Hundreds of Jobs as FCA Approves ‘Robo-Advisers’.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced that it will be switching customer advice services over to automated ‘robo-advisers’ as it cuts 220 face-to-face positions.

The new online service will allow customers to log onto internet banking and receive free, tailored financial advice after answering a number of questions – expected to include ‘What are you saving for?’, ‘How much have you got to invest?’, and ‘How long do you want to invest your money for?’

Following the FCA’s recommendations, it is expected that other UK banks will soon introduce similar ‘robo’ services.

Other RBS Cuts

In addition to the 220 unneeded advisors, RBS is also eliminated 200 protection advice jobs.

‘Our customers increasingly want to bank with us using digital technology. As a result, we are scaling back our face-to-face advisers and significantly investing in an online investing platform that enables us to help a new group of customers with as little as £500 to invest,’ RBS said in an official statement.

Those customers qualifying for personalised advice will now need to have at least £250,000 to invest.

Here’s what’s really going on: RBS, which is 73 per cent owned by government, posted its eighth successive net annual loss, dealing a blow to government plans to sell off the bank.

The customer survey was specifically worded to produce the required result: Fire analysts, hire robots.

Look on the bright side. Robo-advisors that spew generic platitudes while essentially saying nothing, will likely provide advice at least as good as RBS’s real advisors.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock

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