~ Interactive platform offers a new industry standard for the provision of investment information ~

Instinct Studios, a fintech company that creates smarter digital customer experiences, has unveiled Fund Explorer – an investment information visualisation service designed to help investors make better informed financial decisions. Fund Explorer, a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, addresses the problem of static and out-of-date information within fund factsheets. It is designed to change the way people explore and consume investment information by offering a visually rich and interactive environment to view and interact with investments ‘on the go’.

Recent research from Instinct revealed that 92% of fund factsheets for some the UK’s largest funds, contained one-year performance data that was a month and a half out of date. Fund Explorer addresses this issue and also provides valuable insights into what’s driving performance anywhere, anytime and on any device. For fund groups, wealth managers, life & pension providers and retail banks, it represents the digital successor to the fund factsheet.

Fund Explorer has been launched to address the big challenge the investment industry is facing around how to better communicate with customers. The FCA continues to push for greater transparency and for customer information to be clear, fair and not misleading, while at the same time the digital revolution is changing the way customers expect to access and consume information.

“With Fund Explorer we’re setting a new benchmark in the delivery of investment information, and taking financial services to the next digital level. Fund Explorer is the digital successor to the traditional fund factsheet and people will finally be able to touch, feel and interact with their investments,” said Majid Shabir, founder at Instinct Studios. “We’ve been developing Fund Explorer for two years and a number of leading investment providers, like Old Mutual Wealth, have helped us refine and improve it during this time.

Tom Hawkins, head of UK proposition marketing, at Old Mutual Wealth, commented:

“Increasingly people want to engage with their investments. In all areas of life we expect information and data to be readily available to us electronically. This was one of the principles we took into the development of our WealthSelect investment service. Fund Explorer enabled us to deliver a fund and portfolio analysis centre that gives financial advisers and clients, rich data about their WealthSelect portfolios, ultimately improving engagement with their investments.”

Powered by Instinct Studios proprietary AMID Technology, a data processing and information delivery service, Fund Explorer will enable users to make sense of financial data. It will offer users:

• Rich data storytelling

Fund Explorer provides a visually rich and interactive environment to help customers consume and interpret investment information, encouraging them to unpeel layers of information.

• Access – anywhere, anytime, any device

Fund Explorer is an on-demand service that delivers a unique customer experience across web, mobile and touch-enabled devices.

• Context

Fund Explorer enables a fund manager to engage directly with customers, to provide valuable insights into what’s driving performance.

• A browser-like experience

By opening multiple fund tabs, customers can explore and compare up to three funds at the same time.

Majid Shabir commented, “The failure to offer accurate fund information is the next regulatory time bomb waiting to happen. The financial services market hasn’t been reacting quickly enough to digital; companies need to be doing more to deliver the kind of digital experiences that customers are already receiving from other industries. We believe Fund Explorer will help empower investors with a new level of knowledge and understanding, by allowing them to peel back layers of financial information whenever and however they want.”