Speaking to InvestorDaily ahead of his keynote speech at the 17th Annual Wraps, Platforms and Masterfunds Conference on 16-18 August in the Hunter Valley, Anders Sorman-Nilsson said the financial services sector needs to employ real-time data tracking technology in order to better engage investors.
Consumer expectations for data visualisation have been set very high, Mr Sorman-Nilsson said – citing fitness tracking apps produced by Nike+ and Uber's driver tracking technology.
He pointed to the high customer take-up of investment fintech Acorns Australia as an example of the benefits of real-time data visualisation.
"Australians want to see how their retirement savings are progressing, and they want to be able to do scenario planning based on that," he said.
Digital technology should also be used to better engage Australians about concepts like compound interest and retirement savings, Mr Sorman-Nilsson said.
As an example, he cited the 'Proteus effect' – the phenomenon whereby people are influenced by the changes in their digital 'avatar'.
"Stanford University found that Millennial students who had a digital photo taken of their face, and then had that photo aged to their retirement age, were much more likely to make contributions to their retirement savings," he said.
"That's where banks and financial services firms have probably been a little bit behind the eight-ball when it comes to behavioural economics.
"Wealth managers need to better understand how the digital interface can impact on our 'analogue' human behaviour today.
"If people really understood the decisions we make today and what they could mean tomorrow then we could be nudged into smarter financial decisions today. The mobile interface is a great way of being able to do that."
Mr Sorman-Nilsson will deliver the keynote speech at the 17th Annual Wraps, Platforms and Masterfunds Conference on 16-18 August in the Hunter Valley.
