Yesterday, Fidelity found that 69 per cent of investors who trade with their mobile apps feel it gives them an advantage over those who do not. More telling, over half said they placed their first mobile trade in the past 12 months, suggesting that the trend of mobile trading is accelerating.

Velia Carboni, senior vice president of the mobile channel at Fidelity, believes the industry is on the cusp of investors considering the role of mobile financial apps as being “not just nice-to-have, but a must-have.”

Back in Fidelity's Mobile Money study, 56 per cent of respondents were performing “sophisticated investing tasks” such as charting, technical research and trading. The most popular activity was, however, simply checking balances, with an overwhelming 92 per cent doing this at least once a month.

Beyond convenience, new data from the firm suggests that using a mobile app may wield a greater return on investment. Among those who use a financial app frequently, 41 per cent reported an ROI of over 20 per cent on their total investable assets in the past 12 months, whereas only 22 per cent of less frequent users reported similar returns.

“Having ready access to financial information such as research, charting, analyst reports, trading tools, market news, etc. on their mobile devices empowers investors to act on investing ideas in real-time,” Carboni told Family Wealth Report.

This is borne out in the finding that a third of mobile traders typically generate an investing idea and make the trade on the same day.

“You can imagine receiving a price trigger alert that one of the stocks you were watching hit your target price – if you weren’t at a computer, you’d miss the opportunity to act. But, because you are receiving the alert on your mobile device, you can make that trade at the price you want,” she said.

Tech threat?

Indeed, the growth of digital channels is a global, multi-sector trend. But the intensity of focus on information technology in the financial services industry is among the highest compared to other sectors, Ovum said in a report last year.

But for some advisors, “digital enhancements might be disruptive, as they see technology taking some part of their business,” noted Jaroslaw Knapik, senior analyst of financial services technology at Ovum.

With that said, “it’s hard to ignore the importance of leveraging technology to help address the significant demographic and generational shifts happening in our industry today,” Ed O’Brien, head of platform technology at Fidelity Institutional, told this publication.

“What’s important to note, however, is that many of these younger investors embrace the “validator” model – investors who want to make their own investment decisions, but have them validated by an advisor,” O'Brien said, adding that advisors can “use technology to their advantage.”

For Gen X/Y investors, “collaboration is one of the core benefits of technology in their advisor relationship,” he added.

It is certainly clear that advisors of all stripes are taking steps to embrace technology – particularly with younger investors. But what is still challenging? “Figuring out how to use it,” O'Brien said.

He noted that 95 per cent of the advisors surveyed see challenges in integrating or using technology. In May, Fidelity launched what it described as an “office of the future” at its Smithfield, RI, campus for financial advisors to experiment with some of the latest technologies in the sector. The office is a physical space as well as an online interactive experience for the “anywhere advisor” .

“It’s about finding that sweet spot that brings together human touch with technology,” O'Brien said.

Momentum

Fidelity began offering mobile apps in 2010 and in the last year through September downloads have increased by 34 per cent, Carboni said, adding that activity on these apps have grown similarly .

“With this kind of growth, it’s clear mobile financial apps are being used not just by early adopters and active traders, but by more mainstream users and less active investors,” she said.

Fidelity is enhancing its mobile brokerage apps, as well as its mobile NetBenefits app, which provides access to employees for managing their workplace savings and benefits plans.

As of November, the iPhone, iPad and Android brokerage apps will all be updated to include, among other features: multi-leg option trading; option chain enhancements; extended hours for all trading; positions visible as tax lots; margin trading in IRA accounts; improved balance displays; and trading of specific shares for stocks and ETFs.

The latest survey included 1,198 participants with investable assets of at least $50,000. Of note, Fidelity described them as “engaged” investors in that they use a financial app on their smartphone at least monthly.