Barclays is offering £100 cashback to new customers who sign up to its recently launched digital advice service.
In an update today (October 13) the banking giant said it was running the offer, exclusively available to new customers of Barclays Plan and Invest, until December 7.
Barclays launched the digital advice service in July, initially for its current account customers with a minimum of £5,000 to invest. It said it was in a bid to help close the much-talked about advice gap.
Plan and Invest offers active and passive funds through a managed portfolio to customers in partnership with robo-adviser Scalable Capital.
The robo-advice service will charge an ongoing annual fee of between 1.39 per cent and 1.59 per cent — 1.14 per cent for service costs alongside product costs ranging from 0.25 per cent to 0.45 per cent.
To receive the £100 cashback reward, customers’ Plan and Invest accounts will need to place the £5,000 minimum within 90 days of opening.
It is the latest provider to launch offers and deals in a bid to entice new customers.
Just last week, Interactive Investor announced it was offering £100 cashback for Isa transfers and had paused Sipp fees.
Robo-advisers have come and gone in recent years. The sector has attracted capital from large financial services firms such as Schroders, which backs Nutmeg, Aviva, which backs Wealthify, and LV, which funds Wealth Wizards.
But some have not fared as well as expected. In May last year it emerged Investec was closing its Click and Invest robo-advice business following two years of losses while Moola shut its doors in January this year.
Commentators have said the challenge faced by many robo-advice firms was the heavy cost of advertising and marketing to acquire new customers, while others have predicted they will have to evolve into technology providers in order to survive.
Last week, Nutmeg’s accounts showed its losses had widened for the eighth consecutive year to more than £21m for 2019.
imogen.tew@ft.com
What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on fa.letters@ft.com to let us know.
