Truist Financial is expanding its digital investment technologies with automated planning and goal setting and an option for advisor-driven advice.

The technology was created at the Innovation and Technology Center at the bank’s headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., and is offered in two channels: Truist Invest, a robot advisor that allows clients to use investment-planning tools on their own, and Truist Invest Pro, a hybrid approach of automated investing and financial advisor assistance, Kacy Howard, senior vice president of digital investing at Truist Wealth, told Bank Automation News.

The offerings bring together “the best of both worlds with the digital solutions and the investment professional,” Howard said, noting the bank is working with a “prominent vendor” that she did not disclose.

Algorithm delivers ‘expertise to the masses’

The automation technology leverages an algorithm that reviews every client’s goals, risk tolerance and the market daily, Howard told BAN.

“The algorithm that we’re using is customized to Truist,” she said. “We have an investment advisory group with collectively hundreds of years of experience in the investment profession and we’re levering this algorithm to deliver that expertise to the masses.”

Data is passed through a series of APIs and data-file transfers “so that the vendor can give us the portfolio recommendations on the account,” Howard said.

Truist Invest and Truist Invest Pro are expected to save clients both time and money in the investment space, she said, noting customers can open an account in less than 10 minutes, accounts can be funded as soon as the next day, and trades can take place within three days.

While the bank’s investment solutions currently do not use artificial intelligence (AI), “It is on our roadmap and something we intend to do in the future, so we are capturing as much data as we can and doing analysis over it,” Howard added.

See also: Truist acquires Zaloni data governance platform.

Bank Automation Summit Fall 2022, taking place Sept. 19-20 in Seattle, is a crucial event on automation and automation technology in banking. Truist’s Ken Meyer, divisional chief information officer and experience officer for consumer technology, experience and innovation will speak at the event.  Learn more and register for Bank Automation Summit Fall 2022.