In what has been a busy period for Schroders in terms of joint ventures and an M&A deal, it talks about its recent Asia-focused deal with Citibank.

Schroders intends to explore other distribution partners for its behavioural finance know-how, having recently rolled out investIQ with US banking giant Citibank.

The offering with Citigroup will be provided via the Citi Wealth platform in selected markets across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The digital tool blends behavioural finance and investment education. The offering will be exclusively available to Citigroup clients in Singapore, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, the UK, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Poland in the first half of 2019. It will be gradually rolled out in more Asian markets in the second half of 2019. 

Recent months have been busy for Schroders internationally and its domestic UK market. In February this year Schroders bought Singapore-based independent asset manager Thirdrock. Last October, the UK-listed firm agreed to form a UK wealth management joint venture with Lloyds Banking Group, seen as a pitch to grab market share in the mass-affluent and high net worth market.

“The Citi collaboration developed from our distribution side of the business is about building closer relationships with our distribution clients, and we do that by providing a wide range of innovative products and solutions to provide holistic propositions for our clients,”, Michelle Han, head of marketing, Asia, Schroders, told this news service yesterday.  

Last December, Schroders launched the investIQ offering with Ant Fortune, a subsidiary of Ant Financial Services, the affiliate business of China's Alibaba. 

"We are in conversations with other distribution partners on investIQ," Han said.

Her colleague, Rosalind Bazany, who is relationship director in the Private Banks and Global Financial Client Group, Asia, Schroders, elaborated on what is specific about the Citibank partnership.

Unlike other investIQ distribution deals, the Citi one is co-branded. The deal with the US bank is exclusive in select markets for six months (those markets don't cover China, because it is covered by the Ant Financial agreement), she said. 

The latest move reflects how behavioural finance continues to gain attention, the Schroders managers said. 

"We are aware that behavioural finance has been around for a while. The difference here is that Schroders has developed a tool that applies behavioural science that can be accessed digitally by end-clients and is also fun to do," Bazany said. The insights gathered from the tool will inform our distribution partners of their clients’ behavioural traits and guide their clients to make better investment decisions,” she added.