Stuttgart, 15 November 2010 – The international IT company GFT Technologies AG will be presenting its new Touch Banking solution for financial advisors at the Euro Finance Week in Frankfurt from 15 to 17 November 2010. Intelligently coordinated processes, available on both the iPad and stationary flat-screen monitors, will launch a new generation of IT-assisted financial advice solutions for private banking and wealth management. “GFT’s a-touch solution will make a decisive contribution towards raising the quality and transparency of the financial advice process. Complex products can be clearly illustrated and any changes in the existing investment strategy are clearly documented. At the same time, the solution provides system-based support to meet the legal requirements for financial advisors. In future, banks will come to rely increasingly on intelligent IT applications to fully comply with growing regulatory demands,” explains GFT’s CEO Ulrich Dietz.

GFT will be displaying a pre-release version of its “a-touch – advice at your fingertips” at booth No. 2.04 over three fair days, from 15 to 17 November. The solution will already be available for select customers this year.

Whether on the iPad or a large flat-screen monitor – the multi-touch display will make financial advice a refreshingly new experience, compared to traditional paper-based or PC-assisted sessions. The client and advisor can jointly develop a suitable investment strategy on the display with the aid of multimedia support. Above all, the a-touch’s software offers a significant added value. It documents all the necessary steps of an investment advice session in compliance with investor protection legislation – from an understandable explanation of the risks and opportunities of the investment products to the provision of a record of the financial advice session. The software supports a structured approach and ensures that investors are only recommended those products which are best suited to their investment objectives and risk profiles. This significantly reduces the risk of banks being held liable for incorrect advice.

Financial advisors who wish to advise their clients outside the bank’s premises can also deploy the a-touch on mobile devices. In such cases, the software is controlled by Apple’s iPad device. Equipped with additional security elements, the mobile solution offers the same functionality as the a-touch for stationary use: clients simply touch the screen to access any details of particular interest to them, or create sample portfolios and conduct performance comparisons. Further support is provided by short informative films on complex products, or by specially generated graphics showing the current portfolio composition, prospective investment returns and possible loss risks.

The a-touch can therefore play a key role in helping banks implement their “suitability” requirements. Suitability is a groundbreaking new value system that is currently being hotly discussed by the financial community. At its core, it describes the challenge of recommending only those financial products which are suitable for the client, based on a pre-defined profile. The aim is to significantly improve the quality of the financial advice provided.

“Both banks and investors will benefit from our a-touch solution: financial institutes can minimize their risk of liability, while at the same time significantly enhancing the quality of advice given to investors,” states GFT’s CEO Ulrich Dietz.