Charles Schwab has launched Schwab Investing Themes in the UK market.
The offering from the American firm features 45 curated thematic areas. Schwab said it enables investors to easily research, customise and invest in areas aligned with their interests.
Available themes include Artificial Intelligence, Electric Vehicles, Blockchain, Renewable Energy, and Big Data – each consisting of up to 25 US stocks, selected by Schwab researchers using a proprietary algorithm.
The algorithm uses natural language processing to mine data and public documents, including patents, clinical trials, and regulatory filings, to objectively identify publicly listed companies aligned to specific investment themes.
See also: IHT take jumps again as annual total reaches £8.2bn
The service has an investment minimum of $250, with no access fee.
Richard Flynn, managing director at Charles Schwab UK, said: “Retail investors are increasingly looking to align their portfolios with the areas they care about most, but it can be complex and time consuming for individuals to incorporate distinct themes into their portfolio by themselves.
“As ever, Schwab is committed to providing intuitive and easily personalised ways for UK traders to invest in the opportunity-rich, but often intimidating, US market. Schwab Investing Themes does just that – combining a powerful AI-driven system with insights from our research team to help our UK clients seamlessly invest in the themes and industries that are meaningful to them within the world’s largest economy.
“This new tool builds on Schwab’s growing suite of capabilities available to UK investors, including the recent launch of fractional share trading, further expanding access to the US market.”
See also: Only one in three advisers view in-person new client meetings as essential