“We either get the blocks, the universe that we can choose from is too small because we're tactical asset allocators and we're quite dynamic in that respect, or there's restrictions on how our clients can take their income, and that affects how we manage the assets, which can you believe in 2024 still is a problem. Or a combination of those two things.
"That is the perfect kind of world we're looking for that just doesn't quite exist.”
That is why Iron Market again is now speaking to other fintechs to see if they could power an alternative product instead of using wealth tech providers.
These would not offer a front end like other platforms but would provide the right APIs so the firm can manage everything in the back end, and then ensure the right valuations come through the reporting.
“Literally all we want is the ability to trade the entire universe that’s available, and the tech to talk to our portal, whatever that is, and the rest we'll do, because we do it anyway," says Wilkes.
“We've kissed a few frogs, we thought that one or two could do it but when it got down to the bottom line of it, for example, they couldn't trade ETFs fractionally or the universe was limited.
"So that got a little bit frustrated, but fingers crossed, we we might have found somebody now.”
Another self-built tech
Trying to build its own back office system from scratch was one of the big mistakes the firm has made to date, Wilkes says.
Despite this he has recently launched another app, which he has built with former world champion ballroom dancers turned entrepreneurs AJ and Curtis Pritchard, as well as a tech adviser and two investment specialists.
It’s a type of robo-adviser, designed to entice the younger generations to invest and offering portfolios which are risk rated but have a slight tilt Wilkes believes will be of interest to those investors, such as AI, e-sports and climate change.
It was inspired by the euphoria Wilkes observed in 2020/21 around things such as NFTs and meme stocks.
“What we want to do is harness all that energy to get people investing, but actually help them along the journey, put some guardrails in place so they don't have a bad experience,” he says.
The app will be accompanied by an education tool built in partnership with a local university and with integrated AI.
The third phase will see the ability to connect to open banking and the integration of cashflow planning tools.
The way Wilkes wanted this done, allowing him to offer elements of education, to manage the portfolios in house as well as offer the tilts, meant he could not buy the technology for it but had to build it himself, he says.
