AJ Bell Youinvest has become the first UK investment platform to enable portfolio valuations and market quotes to be delivered via Amazon Echo, the voice activated speaker launched in the UK today.
Amazon Echo is a wireless speaker that connects to Alexa - Amazon's voice recognition service. Using voice commands, this enables it to:
- Play music from streaming services such as Prime Music and Spotify
- Control devices connected to a smart home hub such as lights, alarms and thermostats
- Answer questions, read the news, report traffic and weather and provide sports scores
The device has been well received in the US over the last 12-18 months and has launched in the UK today at a press event.
AJ Bell Youinvest has developed functionality for its investment platform that enables investors to authenticate with the Echo device via a companion smart phone app and then ask for a portfolio valuation or stock / fund price with Alexa responding with the requested information.
The objective behind the development is to make it easier for investors to get information about their investments and manage their DIY portfolios the way they want to. It builds on the existing mobile apps AJ Bell Youinvest offers via smart phones and it processing the first ever stock trade via Facebook Messenger in June this year - http://www.ajbell.co.uk/news/first-ever-stock-trade-made-facebook-messenger
Testing of Facebook Messenger service is ongoing with AJ Bell expecting to be able to make it available to customers by the end of the year.
Tim Huckle, director of digital strategy at AJ Bell, comments:
"We want to make investing as easy as possible for retail investors. Digital engagement is expanding to the 'Internet of Things' and Amazon Echo is an example of a number of voice activated personal assistants that we are looking to support as part of our ongoing mission to make our customers' interaction with us and their investment portfolios easy and part of their everyday life."
