Christine Schmid, Head of Strategy, Additiv
Your Strategic Technology Partner for Digital Wealth and Investment Management
In the past decade, digitalization has permeated every facet of our lives, revolutionizing industries and shaping the future. The financial sector is no exception, with the transition from traditional brick-and-mortar institutions to online wealth management platforms reflecting these changes. As digital wealth management continues to evolve, it promises to significantly impact consumer behavior and the future of finance. To navigate this shift, wealth management firms are seeking innovative service delivery models, and one company leading the charge is additiv. 
In an insightful interview, Christine Schmid, Head of Strategy at additiv, shares the company’s unique position within the FinTech space, what sets it apart, and what lies ahead for its clients.
Positioning and Unique Selling Propositions
Established in 1998, additiv partners with leading financial institutions (FIs) globally, helping them harness the potential of digital wealth and investment management. Headquartered in Switzerland, with regional offices in Singapore, UAE, Germany, and Kenya, additiv benefits from a global network of partners.
What distinguishes additiv is its innovative cloud-native wealth platform, the Digital Financial Suite (DFS). DFS serves as an orchestration layer between client interaction channels and systems of record, enabling FIs to deliver multiple highly engaging experiences simultaneously, with seamless data integration across a single platform. While systems of intelligence are increasingly prevalent in other financial industries, additiv believes DFS is the first wealth platform to adopt this approach.
Designed with agility and efficiency in mind, additiv’s solutions enable clients to quickly realize the benefits of digitalization. Typically, a new IT platform can be rolled out within six months. The speed of delivery is crucial, and on average, additiv’s clients experience a 26-point improvement in NPS, alongside a 25% increase in new customer acquisition rates.
Innovative Product Offerings
additiv’s portfolio includes a range of solutions, such as the Hybrid Wealth Manager, Wealth Robo Advisor, and the Wealth Solution Builder.
- Hybrid Wealth Manager: A comprehensive set of digital applications designed to manage investments and client relationships. It includes Workbench, Mobile Advisor, and an advanced Client Cockpit that facilitates interaction with advisors. This solution automates routine tasks, allowing relationship managers to focus on providing personalized services.
- Wealth Robo Advisor: This set of digital applications offers self-service, remote chat, call-center support, screen sharing, and phone-in options, available 24/7. It combines the superior quality of traditional advice with the efficiency of automation.
- Wealth Solution Builder: An established IT foundation platform with an extensive range of API tools, allowing FIs to build their own digital wealth offerings. With support from additiv’s technical staff, IT developers can create and control every aspect of their system, avoiding the lengthy process of building foundational elements from scratch.
Building on the value of DFS, additiv has recently launched Embedded Wealth and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) models. These models utilize additiv’s extensive partner ecosystem to meet the growing demand for embedded wealth management solutions.
- Embedded Wealth: This model offers a range of wealth management products, enabling financial and non-financial institutions to embed investment services into their customer propositions easily.
- Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS): This model links regulated wealth management services with brands that want to embed these services into their offerings. It provides APIs for interaction and the intelligence needed to integrate services into context-relevant user journeys.
In a report by the Geneva-based consultancy Aperture, additiv was rated as a top ‘Transformer’ in the wealth management software space. The report praised additiv’s business model enablement, highlighting its flexibility and suitability for wealth management-as-a-service models.
Navigating the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges, but as an agile IT company, additiv was well-prepared for the transition to remote work. The impact on internal operations was minimal, and the company was already positioned to meet the evolving needs of its clients.
Even before the pandemic, there was a growing demand for quick, easy, and accessible wealth services. The crisis amplified this need, particularly for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). additiv’s Hybrid Wealth Manager product proved invaluable during this time, allowing clients to offer services tailored to individual needs, whether through human or self-service channels.
For example, during the initial COVID-19 confinement, PostFinance, one of Switzerland’s largest retail banks, launched its digital investment platform with additiv’s support. The platform quickly gained traction, adding around 6,000 clients and over CHF300 million in assets under management within the first nine months.
Exhibiting Excellence
additiv supports a wide array of leading financial institutions and non-financial brands, delivering measurable benefits such as a 26-point NPS improvement, a 25% increase in new customer acquisition, and 75% of total customer AUM in e-asset management.
A notable success story is additiv’s collaboration with the Commonwealth Bank in 2019. The bank launched a wealth management mobile app, SmartWealth, in Indonesia, offering customers a 360° view of their portfolios, personalized advice, timely financial news, and the ability to purchase government bonds directly from the app. The app has earned Commonwealth Bank three major awards, demonstrating the transformative impact of additiv’s technology.
