Paper Title
Robo-Advice: An Essential Element of Future Banking?

Abstract
This paper aims to elaborate from a bank customer point of view on the question if robo-advice is an essential service in future banking. Especially after or during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is of great scientific interest to assess the investment behavior of customers to see if banks should adjust their strategies. In doing so, a literature review was conducted to aggregate the most important findings in the current literature debate. Based on that, an interview guideline was developed to perform qualitative in-depth interviews (n=11) with German bank customers. The interviews were transcribed and underwent a structured content analysis to funnel the key information. The research shows that robo-advisors are still lacking in terms of dealing with financial complex situations. Standardized products may not seem to satisfy the mass retail clients, even though their financial needs are not as complex as from HNWIs. In addition, German customers still want to possess the opportunity of reaching to human services or advisors, especially in times of crisis. There is no evidence in our sample that the Covid-19 pandemic led to higher acceptance in the digital advisory service. Keywords - Robo-Advice, ETF, Passive Investments, Disruption, Banking, Retail Banking, Financial Innovation, Digital Financial Services