Financial advisors hungry for AI, study finds

Financial advisors expect artificial intelligence to play a major role in the future of financial advice, according to a recent study by IT consulting firm Accenture.

The survey comprised of 500 North-America based financial advisors and explored areas including the client experience, value, and industry change.

According to the study, nearly all respondents (98%) believe AI is transforming how advice is created for, delivered to, and consumed by clients, while an additional 99% said AI plays a role in the future of financial advice.

A survey taken at the beginning of last year suggested that Brazilian banks are already making AI, as well as security, a top priority.

“Being digital, innovative and modern, and above all safe and reliable, has always been in the DNA of banks,” said the president of The Brazilian Banking Federation Isaac Sidney.

Within the next 18 months, 83% of financial advisors are confident that the technology will have a direct, measurable, and consistent impact on the client-advisor relationship, and the same number said it will ultimately leave FAs competing with an algorithm for clients.

Over half of respondents also believe, to a great extent, that AI will have a revolutionary effect on the future of financial advice within the next three years.

However, the predicted AI overhaul will not be without its challenges. Only 5 out of 10 advisors feel like their firms are challenged to act on their AI vision and 55% of respondents said the insights generated by AI were too complicated to use, according to the study.

41% of FAs also believe that AI-driven client insights were not as impactful as they would have hoped.

Yet 87% of financial advisors are ready to adopt AI if the benefits are clear to them, an area that may need a bit of work given 37% believe adopting AI won’t solve a business problem of theirs or save them any more comparable time.

Take a look at our AI  predictions for 2023