Wells Fargo Advisors' Intuitive Investor robo-adviser technology files ADV registration

Wells Fargo Advisors revealed details of its plans to launch a robo-adviser in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The service will require a minimum investment of $10,000 and charge a 50 basis point fee, the firm said in a filing of its ADV registration documents for the digital service. The fee also includes access to financial advisers as needed via phone support. The service, known as Intuitive Investor, will target younger clients who don't have an investment relationship with Wells Fargo Advisors, the firm said in announcement last year. ETFs offered in the robo's portfolios will be a mix of passive broad-based index and smart beta strategies selected by the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, which also designed the asset allocation models. Management of the portfolios will be done by SigFig, an independent, San-Francisco-based wealth management technology company, whose algorithms will rebalance the portfolios and harvest tax losses when appropriate, Wells Fargo said. A pilot roll-out of the robo-adviser among Wells' brokers will begin in the second quarter, the bank said. A customer pilot is expected in the summer. The latest research from InvestmentNews finds that offering a robo-advice platform may not be right for all advisory firms, but that all firms can learn how to harness technology to offer innovative service. The "2017 InvestmentNews Adviser Technology Study" details how independent advisory firms are approaching the quickly evolving robo-advice technologies at their businesses.