I have to confess that I scratched my head this week when I heard the news that JP Morgan Chase was buying the loss-making robo-adviser Nutmeg.
Has someone at JP Morgan gone a bit hazelnut, I thought? Why buy a loss-making business that on most accounts has under-performed since it was launched nearly 10 years ago?
And why buy into a sector, the robo-advice market, that most have already written off as failing to get off the launchpad.
On reflection, however, I think it could end up being a rather smart move in time – but perhaps not for obvious reasons. A study of the global wealth market published this week by Boston Consulting gives us some clues.
But first what has JP Morgan bought and why? Ostensibly it has acquired Nutmeg as a platform to launch into the mass savings market under the Chase brand. JP Morgan, by all