TORONTO -- Royal Bank of Canada has rolled out its robo-adviser platform across the country as demand grows for lower-cost, digital investing options.
The bank launched InvestEase last November on a pilot basis in three provinces, but it has now officially opened up the service to new and existing customers across Canada.
The national rollout comes as competition in the robo-adviser space between both incumbent banks and fintech startups heats up.
Toronto-Dominion Bank recently partnered with U.S. firm Hydrogen to launch its own "robo-guidance" product, and the Bank of Montreal launched its SmartFolio digital investing platform back in 2016.
Meanwhile, robo-adviser Wealthsimple now has roughly 100,000 clients in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. and manages more than $2.5 billion in assets.
RBC InvestEase senior director of strategy Rebecca Peacock says the platform was developed to cater to the "growing middle" segment of clients who want investment advice but do it all online.
