Bayes experts helping to make financial advice more affordable
Business School analytics experts work with Fintuity to develop modelling for its new Virtual Financial Adviser app.
Academics from the Faculty of Actuarial Science and Insurance at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) have used their expertise in mathematical modelling to help Fintuity launch a new dedicated financial advisory tool.
Professor Vali Asimit, Professor of Actuarial Analytics and Dr Feng Zhou, Special Lecturer helped develop the machine learning sequence for Fintuity’s new Virtual Financial Adviser – a new technological platform that uses cutting-edge algorithms to fully automate the potentially lengthy and intensive advisory process in a matter of minutes.
The experts jointly created automated programming for calculating outcomes based on queries about insurance, pensions, investments and mortgages. From this overview of financial health, customers then receive the option to speak with a professional adviser.
Professor Asimit said it was rewarding to work on a project with such significant potential benefits to users.
“The project with Fintuity has allowed us to help target an area of the market that wasn’t previously always cost effective,” Professor Asimit said.
“Although financial advice is highly sought after, particularly in times of economic struggle, it can be both prohibitively expensive and time-consuming.
“The aim of Fintuity is to disrupt the independent financial advice market by creating the means for a quick and reliable service for customers and clients. Our challenge was to identify a model to bypass these problems that was also both sensitive to individual needs and reliable. The AI platform we have helped devise takes a holistic overview of a consumer’s financial needs, and it is very satisfying to help people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford professional advice.
Dr Alexander Stepanenko, Head of Research at Fintuity said Professor Asimit and Dr Zhou had played a vital role in the development of the Virtual Financial Adviser.
“It was excellent to work with Bayes Business School to launch our Virtual Adviser,” Dr Stepanenko said.
“We at Fintuity believe in equality of access to financial advice to empower people to make the right financial decisions, and it is important for us to work with partners and developers that also embody these values.
“By harnessing the latest machine learning and AI, we have managed to develop a machine learning engine for a platform that has the potential to extend support to the millions of employees and customers that need it most. The expertise of Professor Asimit, Dr Zhou and their colleagues have helped make this possible.”
Read about the MSc Actuarial Science programme at Bayes Business School.