Auckland-based fintech firm, Invsta, is about to switch on the front-end engine for its first client, Mint Asset Management, amid rising demand for digital solutions in the financial services industry.
In a release, Invsta co-founder, Rachel Strevens, said Mint was currently transitioning to its new client onboarding and investment solution system.
Strevens said the move would enable Mint to more easily service and acquire new retail clients through a digital platform that took care of front-end compliance – such as anti-money laundering (AML) checks – and allowed online investment choice.
Mint head of sales and marketing, David Boyle, said in the statement that financial advisers and direct retail clients could now “easily create an account and make an investment online” via the Invsta system.
“We knew that we weren’t able to achieve our strategic goals with our current manual processes, so we approached Invsta to help us create an engaging and compliance-driven onboarding and investment experience for our clients that also improves the administration efficiencies for our team,” Boyle said.
Following a short trial period, all Mint investors and advisers would soon be able to access the Invsta system.
And the Auckland fintech has a few more clients in the pipeline, including a “leading property investment group”, the release says.
“It’s not only retail-focused financial service providers that are looking to scale up their digital offerings. We’re also starting to see wholesale-focused companies actively looking to implement digital onboarding solutions and engaging client portals.” Strevens emphasises. “These companies have realised that difficult, manual processes are a barrier to potential investors. The loss of one customer has a big impact on their bottom line.”
She said following the COVID-19 outbreak Invsta has seen a large spike in queries from a wide range of financial services firms both in NZ and offshore as businesses have been motivated to “compress years of digitalisation into months”
“There is no doubt that Covid-19 was a resounding wake-up call for financial service providers,” Strevens said. “As companies start to experience the benefits of implementing emerging technology, we expect to see a rapid increase in key elements and processes of the client service model becoming digitised.”
As well as offering streamlined digital front-end tools – including advanced AML services such as ‘biometric authentication’ – Invsta technology is aimed at “improving back office efficiencies”, the release says.
Founded in 2016 by Strevens and Abhy Singla, Invsta has developed a number of “digital engagement solutions” targeting fund managers, wealth advisers and KiwiSaver providers. Like many NZ fintech players, the company has global ambitions with country managers currently in Australia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Last year, Auckland fund administration firm, MMC, took a small stake in Invsta. At the time, the-then MMC chief, said the Invsta technology dovetailed with its own administration capabilities.