Openbank Launches an Automated Investment Service (robo-advisor) and Presents its New Developments and Features

Openbank, the Santander Group’s 100% digital bank, presents its new developments and features resulting from its vision today of the bank of the future. These new developments, presented at the Openbank Media Day 2018, are now available to all customers and include the launch of the first automated investment by objectives system with micro-investing. This service will allow customers to maximise the value of their savings from a minimum of 500 euros. Along with this feature, Openbank is also launching a password and data manager that stores each customer’s passwords using the strictest security standards, as well as a card and device management system.

New “We invest for you” service
Openbank customers now have one of the most modern and comprehensive investment platforms in the market. With an open architecture system offering more than 2,000 funds and ETFs from more than 50 fund managers and 35 pension plans from 5 managers, the bank is going one step further when it comes to offering investment advice through We invest for you. This new system makes the best investment management and advice available to everyone by combining three services in one:

• Micro-investing, that allows Openbank customers to save from 1 euro per day, week or month, automating a process that was previously tedious and required dedication.
• Investment by objectives, which allows each customer to define their financial goals (the purchase of a car, a house, a trip, higher education or, simply, to increase or maintain their capital). This new system allows for the creation of investment portfolios for each objective, adjusting the strategies to the amount and term.
• Robo advisor, which regularly modifies the investment strategy to adapt it to market movements, without the customer having to do anything. In this way, the investment team at Openbank, with the advice of BlackRock, is responsible for keeping the customers’ investments updated at all times.

To achieve this objective, they are offered five risk alternatives (low, medium-low, medium, medium-high and high) with an estimated forecast of the profitability that they can achieve with each of them. The options consist of a diversified portfolio of up to 15 investment funds indexed to equities, fixed income, monetary assets, real assets and assets that are uncorrelated with the financial markets, such as inflation, property or infrastructure.

Each model calculates the minimum and maximum expected profitability, as well as the time taken to achieve the desired objective, taking into account the initial and regular contributions. This system means that everyone can now use a service that previously was only available to those with a high net worth, while simplifying the world of investment funds, allowing access to these products in a way that is simple, intuitive, transparent and aimed at achieving specific objectives. The cost of this service is also among the most competitive in the market, starting at 0.55% of the amount invested and an initial minimum investment of 500 euros per customer.

New password manager
Openbank is the first bank in the world to offer its customers a password and data manager completely free of charge. Thanks to the flexibility and high security standards offered by the technology used by the bank, all customers have a space within the bank’s app (iOS and Android) where they can save the main passwords and details that they use in their daily lives.

Email passwords, pay-TV platforms, blogs, sports apps, e-commerce apps, and more. An unlimited number of passwords can be stored in the Openbank platform with maximum privacy and security. The customer must first create a space in which to store their passwords, protected by a unique password that they must remember. Not even Openbank will know these passwords. Once customers have entered this personal area, they can see each stored password by simply sliding their finger or check the details for them by entering the section for each.

New account aggregator
Having a panoramic image of our financial situation, even if we have accounts and products in other banks, is now possible in Openbank. Customers can view data from their accounts, loans, mortgages, insurance, deposits and investment products in other banks to understand their overall financial position and so make better decisions with more complete information.

To access this feature, customers simply need to select the bank in question from a list of more than 70 available banks and enter their login details for the corresponding bank. The system will automatically load the figures and present them in detail, segmented by bank or aggregated globally by product (savings, debt, investment, etc.).

New card control and device management service
Openbank customers now have the most complete menu they can use to configure where and on what channels or devices their cards can be used. On the bank’s website and app, a dashboard is now available where customers can adjust, in the first place, the countries of the world where their different payment instruments can be activated or deactivated. So a customer can choose to have their cards blocked on a particular country and can later unblock them in a minute if they travel there.

In the same way, users can also restrict the use of their cards through different channels: ATMs, online purchases or physical purchases. This dashboard provides full customer control over the security and operation of their payment methods.

In addition, another of the new features available from the website and the app is the possibility of managing the devices from which the customer can access the Openbank account, being able to see the terminals from which the bank has been accessed in the last 30 days. Within this list, the customer can block one or more devices, for example, a hotel computer.

Source: Santander