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Technology and Financial Advisory

Luke T. Smith

Professor Palacios
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Technology and Financial Advisory

In writing this annotated bibliography, the focused research will pertain to the future of

the financial advisory field as technology advances and if people are going to start preferring

online financial services rather than traditional face-to-face financial advisory. To help answer

this question, five separate sources were compiled with four of the sources being scholarly and

peer-reviewed while the last source is a “popular” non-scholarly article. All sources share a

common similarity in the design and structure of the articles due to the business discipline

requiring specific formal and logical language conventions in addition to credible references.

The publishers of the scholarly peer-reviewed journals are as followed, Journal of Financial

Counseling and Planning, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems Research, Account

Finance, and the “popular” non-scholarly article, Financial Planning. Every peer-reviewed

source compiled in this annotated bibliography the authors convey their arguments by pulling

data from credible sources and adding proper references, while the non-scholarly article is using

references from authors working in Financial Planning and other credible professionals. The

articles from Account Finance, Information Systems Research, and Decision Support Systems are

most similar to each other in regard to discussing statistics or behavioral science towards online

financial services. In these three sources, information about FinPathlight, a modified FinTech

service used in online financial planning, digital financial inclusion in China, and usage of robo-

advising through peer-to-peer lending are analyzed. These three sources are similar in talking

about what these online financial services can offer and will aid in determining the impact

technology is having on the future of the financial advisory field. Moving on, the popular article

from Financial Planning and the peer-reviewed article from the Journal of Financial Counseling

and Planning are similar in explaining why traditional financial services are failing as one source
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refers to communication mediums as the cause and the other digital banking. They also both

share similarities in their suggestions of improving traditional financial services. These two

similar sources are different from the first three as they talk more about traditional financial

services which is helpful in comparing them because insights can be found in the effect

technology is having on the advisory field.

Citation 1:

Bunnell, L., Osei-Bryson, K.-M., & Yoon, V. Y. (2020). FinPathlight: Framework for an

multiagent recommender system designed to increase consumer financial capability. Decision

Support Systems, 134, N.PAG. https://doi-

org.ezproxy2.library.arizona.edu/10.1016/j.dss.2020.113306

In the peer-reviewed journal published by Decision Support Systems titled, “FinPathlight:

Framework for an multiagent recommender system designed to increase consumer financial

capability” (2020), Bunnell, Osei-Byrson, and Yoon assert that there are no current financial

services that specifically recommend and track goals like a FinTech’s multiagent recommender

system could do. The authors set up the journal in standard business conventions pertaining to a

peer-reviewed journal and they structure it first with an introduction, 12 tables, and then a

conclusion. The authors clearly state the purpose and reasoning towards the research chosen in

the introduction. The 12 tables throughout the journal are set up to test, measure, compare,

contrast, define, and characterize ideas in regard to FinPathlight, as the constructs used in their

argument focus on the level of usefulness and level of trust FinPathlight may provide. The

authors are informing their audience that a framework of a multiagent recommender system

called FinPathlight, can be built into a FinTech application that provides users with financial

recommendations and increased financial capability. An analysis of how FinPathlight would

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realistically help people in financial recommendations is given in addition to benefits of ontology

usage in order to convey that “trust” and “usefulness” are evident for a person’s financial life

using FinPathlight. Specifically, the authors are informing any clients from financial services,

people who work in finance or FinTech services, or people interested in their future finances like

retirement the several benefits a multiagent recommender system could give. The authors know

that the business field has a formal audience and calls for formal understandings and is why they

provide such lengths of logical and visual data in order to provide credibility to their information

and convey their arguments.

The article, “FinPathlight: Framework for an multiagent recommender system designed

to increase consumer financial capability,” from Decision Support Systems is a peer-reviewed

scholarly article. The author Lawrence Bunnel has a PHD in Information Systems, a Master of

Science in Information Systems, an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and is

currently working as a data analytics and business intelligence executive for the financial

services industry. Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson is a Professor of Information Systems at Virginia

Commonwealth University and has his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of

Maryland, a B.Sc. in Natural Sciences from the University of the West Indies, and an M.S. in

Systems Engineering from Howard University. The last author Victoria Y. Yoon is also a

professor in the Department of Information Systems at Virginia Commonwealth University

specializing in AI and has her Ph.D. from the University of Texas and her M.S. from the

University of Pittsburgh. Apart from the three leading authors, this article is edited by scholars

and top professionals in the financial advisory field. In regard to the future of the financial

advisory field as technology advances, this article provides insights in what an online financial

service can provide in the future. The authors go over a framework of what FinPathlight could
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give users by incorporating aspects of trust and usefulness, constructs that are not properly

assessed in current FinTech applications. Although this article discusses the framework of

FinPathlight, if in the future the application is launched it could mean serious problems for

traditional financial services but is helpful in this annotated bibliography for providing important

insights to the financial advisory field as technology advances. Researchers looking into this

article will understand how FinTech applications (robot-advisory) work and what benefits are

possible with the framework of FinPathlight. Questions concerning portfolio capability, asset and

risk management, communication with AI, and more are answered throughout the article.

Ultimately, this article addresses possible technological development in financial advising and

adds to the conversations of determining whether people will opt for online financial services

rather than traditional financial services.

Citation 2: Scholarly Article:

Ge, R., Zheng, Z., Tian, X., & Liao, L. (2021). Human–Robot Interaction: When

Investors Adjust the Usage of Robo-Advisors in Peer-to-Peer Lending. Information Systems

Research, 32(3), 774–785. https://doi-org.ezproxy4.library.arizona.edu/10.1287/isre.2021.1009

In the peer-reviewed journal published by Information Systems Research titled, “Human-

Robot Interaction: When Investors Adjust the Usage of Robo-Advisors in Peer-to-Peer Lending”

(2021), Ge, Tian, Liao, and Zheng determine the behavioral science for human to robo-advisory

interaction by looking at peer-to-peer lending so that new insights can surface in regard to why

robo-advising is rising or falling. The authors are using standard business conventions meaning

the grammar and tone are formal pertaining to a business discipline peer-reviewed journal,
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including references throughout the paper. The paper has an introduction, 3-research questions,

tables and data to go over, a conclusion, and a reference list. The main focus of this article is to

investigate the interaction, usage, and adoption investors have towards robot advisors and how

this information affects an investor’s portfolio capability. The authors provide this analysis in

order to gauge audiences like clients involved in financial services, and RA marketers and

designers themselves to help them better understand and predict behavior in human to RA

adoption and usage. The authors provide a formal relationship with the audience using only

logical data, references, or visualizations to convey their arguments and establish credibility.

The article, “Human-Robot Interaction: When Investors Adjust the Usage of Robo-

Advisors in Peer-to-Peer Lending,” from Information Systems Research is a peer-reviewed

scholarly article. The author Ruyi Ge is at Shanghai Business School in the Department of

Electronic Commerce and Zhiqlang Zheng is at the Jindal School of Management at the

University of Texas, Dallas. Xuan Tian is at the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University,

Beijing, China. Lastly, Li Liao is at the Institute for Farm Products Processing and Nuclear-

Agricultural Technology at the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Science in Wuhan, China.

Missing information is subject to these authors with three out of the four attending school in

China. Apart from the leading four authors, this article is in a collection edited by top scholars

and professionals in business. The authors are studying the enabling and disabling of RA

services and concluded that people who experience more financial difficulties will less likely

adopt an RA, however, people who use RA’s will adjust their usage more frequently depending

on recent RA performance. The article also highlights communication in RA services suggesting

more transparency in the inner workings of the RA service to provide unsure users more comfort.

Based on that information, this article is relevant to the impact technology is having on the
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financial advisory field because it covers current RA usage determining why a person is actually

using the service. In addition to the article suggesting more transparency of RA services thereby

hinting why RA is not as successful but how it could be.

Citation 3: Scholarly Article

Lu, X., Guo, J. and Zhou, H. (2021), Digital financial inclusion development, investment

diversification, and household extreme portfolio risk. Account Finance, 61: 6225-

6261. https://doi-org.ezproxy3.library.arizona.edu/10.1111/acfi.12863

In the peer-reviewed journal published by Account Finance titled, “Digital financial

inclusion development, investment diversification, and household extreme portfolio risk” (2021),

Lu, Guo, and Zhou assert that digital financial inclusion is actively benefiting investors in China

and minimizing household portfolio risks. The authors are following standard business

conventions for a peer-reviewed business journal setting up their paper with an introduction,

summary, and analytic information with table sets, data visualizations, and a conclusion. In

seeking how digital financial inclusion is helping Chinese investors the authors pull information

from credible sources like data from the CHFS and from the Peking University Digital Financial

Inclusion Index of China. The purpose of this article is to access how and why digital financial

inclusion is benefiting investors in China in overall household portfolio risk in order to reach less

financially invested communities who have not benefited from traditional financial services. In

addition to reaching audiences involved in business, business finance, financial advisory, etc. the

authors are forming a business formal relationship with the audience focusing on logical

explanations and credible references to convey their arguments.

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The article, “Digital financial inclusion development, investment diversification, and

household extreme portfolio risk,” by Account Finance is a peer-reviewed scholarly article. The

author Xiameng Lu is involved at the Survey and Research Center for China Household Finance

at the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu, China. The author

Jiaojiao Guo is working for Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai, China. Lastly, Hailing Zhou is

at the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University in Jinan,

China. Apart from the leading three authors this article is in a collection and edited by top

scholars and business professionals. The authors ultimately concluded that digital financial

inclusion reduces household portfolio risk, positively affects poorer communities in households

that take extreme portfolio risks, and could replace areas with poor traditional financial

development resulting in greater risk-return tradeoffs in households. In regard to technology

impacting the future of the financial advisory field, this article is incredibly relevant in showing

how digital financial inclusion is taking over as the information proves its direct dominance over

less wealthy communities. This breakthrough ultimately adds to the conversation of people

preferring online financial services over traditional services and shows the impact technology is

having on the financial advisory field.

Citation 4: Scholarly Article

Tharp, D. T. (2020). Potential Consumer Harm Due to Regulation on Financial Advisory Communication

in the FinTech Age. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 31(1), 146–161.

http://ezproxy.library.arizona.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tru

e&db=eric&AN=EJ1279987&site=ehost-live
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In the peer-reviewed journal published by the Journal of Financial Counseling and

Planning, titled, “Potential Consumer Harm Due to Regulation on Financial Advisory

Communication in the FinTech Age” (2020), Tharp asserts that advisory communication

regulations are contributing to advisor misconduct or wrongful accusations towards advisors

because the communication mediums used through regulatory bodies do not provide permanent

records of financial advice if the advisors are communicating through telephone rather than text

message. The author and editors are structuring the journal through business conventions

keeping it formal with proper language choice, and grammar. The journal also follows language

conventions found in peer-reviewed non-scholarly journals so there are many in-text

parenthetical citations as well as a full bibliography at the end of the journal. Using references

and the bibliography, the author can support his arguments through credibility and non-bias

opinions to support his analysis of why advisors are facing misconduct. In investigating all the

determining factors contributing to advisor misconduct or wrongful accusations of advisors, the

authors compile background information like common communication mediums used by

advisors, and studies showing how these financial regulations are influencing advisors’ adoption

of technology and advisor behavior. The author and editors are not trying to specifically

persuade any audience, they just want to layout new information in regard to advisory

regulations and communication mediums. However, this thorough analysis is done in order to

spread awareness to clients of financial advisors that there are problems with communication

mediums between advisors and clients and also to advisors themselves in hopes that they re-

evaluate their current advisory regulations and access how they should go about their

communication in regard to their clients. With an audience like this, the author knows it helps

that the article is peer-reviewed and has formal business conventions with credible references
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and logical evidence in order to provide better-supported arguments for the audience to interpret

and understand better.

The article, “Potential Consumer Harm Due to Regulation on Financial Advisory

Communication in the FinTech Age,” from the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning is

a peer-reviewed scholarly article. The author Derek Tharp is an Assistant Professor of Finance

at the University of Southern Maine and has his PhD from Kansas State University. This article

apart from the leading author is edited by scholars and top professionals in the financial advisory

field. The research question asks how technology is affecting the future of the financial advisory

field and the article highlights why traditional financial advisors are facing misconduct or false

accusations of misconduct due to the regulatory policies enforced by many financial services in

regard to the communication medium from advisor to client. Meaning advisors are dealing with

misconduct by how they talk with their clients through text message, face-to-face, email, or call

with the article suggesting texting to provide clients with permanent records of their given

advice. This source is important to the research question by understanding why traditional

financial services are failing and implies why online financial services are on the rise. This

article is useful because it provides the audience like current clients of financial services how

they should communicate with their advisor and aids in decision making when it comes to

choosing a financial service.

Citation 5: Non-scholarly Article

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Din, S., & Allocca, S. (2020, March 2). ‘Do more for me’: Clients demanding digital banking

options. Financial Planning. https://www.financial-planning.com/news/clients-want-

digital-banking-options-from-financial-advisors

In the article published by Financial Planning titled, “‘Do more for me’: Clients

demanding digital banking options” (2020), Allocca and Din determine that the new information

in regard to digital banking poses a threat to traditional financial firms and they offer suggestions

towards traditional financial services after going over the benefits digital banking is offering. The

authors divided the article into two parts using business conventions to construct a formal

framework of the paper to form analyses on the benefits and negatives of digital banking. The

authors use references of credible business people and the rhetorical appeal logos throughout the

paper to convey their arguments on both sides of digital banking. This thorough analysis is done

in order to investigate the future of traditional financial services based on the pros and cons

digital banking poses for it and the authors want to spread awareness to current or future clients

of any financial planning service in addition to people concerned about finance in business or

their retirement. The authors know with this kind of intended audience their paper must follow

standard business conventions and their references must be credible with logical evidence to

support their arguments.

The article, “‘Do more for me’: Clients demanding digital banking options,” from

Financial Planning is a “popular” non-scholarly article. Suleman Din, a technology editor of

Financial Planning, and Sean Allocca, a former associate editor of Financial Planning are both

professionally experienced in financial planning. Allocca is also currently the deputy managing

editor at InvestmentNews while Din is also an editor for American Banking. Throughout the
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article, the authors reference a separate related article of a technology editor from Financial

Planning, a CEO from Investment POD, and an advisor from the Omniwealth Group. The

publisher website, Financial Planning, reaches over 460,000+ experienced professionals in the

financial advisory field using the business information company Arizent to advance professional

communities by industry expertise and a data-driven platform to connect leading financial

service brands like Financial Planning, American Banker, etc. Moving on, the research question

asks the impact technology is having on financial advisory and in this article insights in regard to

what digital banking is doing to traditional financial services are evaluated. In addition to

suggesting methods to traditional advisors in how to compete, which connects to the research

question when it comes to if people are going to start opting for online financial services rather

than traditional ones. Since this article does not necessarily choose a side between online or

traditional services it is helpful to whoever is researching this topic in understanding why digital

banking is a threat to traditional financial services, how traditional financial planning services

could improve, and why digital banking is causing mistrust. Ultimately this article adds to the

annotated bibliography by providing a broader perspective on the future of the financial advisory

field and not leaning towards a given side like many of the peer-reviewed articles pulled.

The sources gathered for this annotated bibliography all address some aspect of how

technology is advancing the financial advisory field or why people may start preferring online

financial services as oppose to traditional financial services. With that in mind, we can see

positive effects of digital financial inclusion from people living in China, positive effects of what

the framework of FinPathlight can do, behavioral science in regard to peoples’ usage of robot-

advisory, misconduct issues for traditional financial advisors due to regulatory policies enforced

by specific financial firms, and the threat digital banking poses for financial advisory. In
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synthesizing the main points of these articles, we see an inclination towards technology

completely changing the future of the financial advisory field with a significant increase in

people using and preferring online automated financial services.