The Digitization of Investment Management – An Analysis of Robo-Advisor Business Models

The emergence of so-called Robo-Advisors (RAs) is disrupting the financial services industry. RAs are algorithm-based systems that digitize and automate the investment advisory process including portfolio recommendation, risk diversification, portfolio rebalancing, and portfolio monitoring. Scientific research in this field is still in its infancy and lacks a comprehensive understanding of the underlying business model (BM) of RAs to comprehensively understand the RA business and to further identify their potential to disrupt the financial services industry. Therefore, in this article, we conduct a multiple case study across the fifteen biggest US-based RAs to explain the basic characteristics and special features of RA BMs. Thereby, we distinguish between pure algorithm-based RAs and hybrid RAs with dedicated human oversight. Through an in-depth analysis of publicly available qualitative data, we contribute to the existing research by unleashing significant elements that underline the power of RAs to disrupt the financial services industry

What determines FinTech success? — A taxonomy-based analysis of FinTech success factors

Value creation in the financial services sector has been fundamentally transformed by digitally born financial technology (FinTech) companies. FinTech companies synthesize information systems with financial services. Given its disruptive power, the FinTech phenomenon has received great attention in academic research, practice, and media. Still, limited systematic research provides a structure and holistic view of FinTechs’ success. Aiming to enhance understanding of the factors enabling FinTech success, we classify success factors across extant scientific literature on distinct FinTech business model archetypes. Our analysis reveals that the “cost–benefit dynamic of the innovation,” “technology adoption,” “security, privacy, and transparency,” “user trust,” “user-perceived quality,” and “industry rivalry” are crucial factors for FinTech success and can be seen as “grand challenges” for the FinTech ecosystem. In addition, we validate and discuss our findings with real-world examples from the FinTech industry and two interviews with stakeholders from the FinTech ecosystem. Our study contributes to the knowledge of FinTechs by providing a classification system of success factors for practitioners and researchers

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Robo-Advice: The Digitalization and Automation of Financial Advice

Diese kumulative Dissertation umfasst fünf von mir mitverfasste und von Experten begutachtete Publikationen über die Digitalisierung und Automatisierung der Finanzberatung, dem sogenann-ten Robo-Advice (RA), und diskutiert diese kritisch. Die Dissertation behandelt dabei zwei For-schungsbereiche. Der erste Forschungsbereich befasst sich mit der Positionierung von RA in Wissenschaft und Praxis und bietet eine Struktur für tiefergehende Analysen. Aus wissenschaftlicher Perspektive wird die relevante Literatur über RA in einem neuen Organisationsrahmen für RA-Forschung systematisiert. Die praktische Positionierung von RA in der breiteren FinTech-Landschaft wird im Kontext mobiler Finanzanwendungen aufgezeigt. Der zweite Forschungsbereich befasst sich mit der gezielten Analyse und Gestaltung bestimmter RA-Komponenten. Eine Studie konzentriert sich dabei auf das Geschäftsmodell von RA und zielt darauf ab, die verschiedenen Elemente zu verstehen und die wichtigsten Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede zu ermitteln. Eine zweite Studie untersucht die von RA empfohlenen Portfo-lios, um zu verstehen wie sie sich insbesondere in Bezug auf Struktur, ausgewählte Produkte, Performance und Risiko unterscheiden. Schließlich werden in einer dritten Studie Meta-Anforderungen und Gestaltungsprinzipien für ethischeren RA vorgestellt, welche das Vertrauen in und die Akzeptanz von RA steigern können.This cumulative dissertation consists of and critically discusses five peer-reviewed and co-authored publications by me about the digitalization and automation of financial advice, so-called Robo-Advice (RA). The dissertation thereby covers two main research areas. The first research area addresses the positioning of RA in science and practice providing a struc-ture for more in-depth analyses. From a scientific perspective the relevant literature about RA is systematized in a new Organizing Framework for RA Research. The practical positioning of RA in the broader landscape of FinTech is approached in the context of mobile personal finance applications. The second research area addresses the focused analysis and design of certain RA components. One study focuses on the business model of RA, aiming at understanding their distinct elements and finding major similarities and differences. A second study focuses on RA portfolio recom-mendations, providing an understanding of how they differ, especially in structure, selected products, performance, and risk. Lastly, a third study presents meta-requirements and design principles for RA addressing the problem of unethical behavior that can decrease trust and the adoption of RA.2022-10-0

Taming the Next Wolf of Wall Street – Design Principles for Ethical Robo-Advice

Automated investing in form of Robo-Advice (RA) has promising qualities, e.g., mitigating personal biases through algorithms and enable financial advice for less wealthy clients. However, RA is criticized for its rudimentary personalization ability questioning its fiduciary duties, nontransparent recommendations and violations of data privacy and security. These ethical issues pose significant risks, especially for the less financially educated targeted clients, who could be exploited by RA as illustrated in the movie “Wolf of Wall Street”. Yet, a distinct ethical perspective on RA design is missing in literature. Based on scientific literature on RA and international standards and guidelines of ethical financial advice we derive eight meta-requirements and develop 15 design principles, that can guide more ethical and trustworthy RA design. We further evaluated and enhanced the design artifact through interviews with domain experts from science and practice. With our study we provide design knowledge that enables more ethical RA outcomes

More than Mobile Banking – A Taxonomy-based Analysis of Mobile Personal Finance Applications

Mobile personal finance applications cannot only assist users in daily personal finance activities, e.g., mobile banking, but can also guide users to optimize long-term financial decisions. Still, research lacks a rigorous classification of this critical mobile commerce domain. We provide insights by developing a taxonomy and conducting a cluster analysis of mobile personal finance applications. We classify 170 mobile personal finance applications into twelve dimensions, combining a technical artifact perspective with a financial services perspective. Additionally, we empirically identify ten distinct clusters of archetypical application configurations. While we classify the field and give inclinations for future research, financial service providers and application developers can understand their competitors and use our insights to improve their applications. Potential users of these applications can use our findings to select mobile applications to optimize their personal finance endeavors