The New Wave of Investments: making financial growth accessible to everyone

Investing is no longer a privilege reserved for a few, it’s becoming a necessity for individuals across the globe. This was the guiding statement from a recent roundtable we hosted at Vangwe, which I was more than happy to moderate.

Alongside Tony Lee (Global Head of Brokerage at Alpaca, an API-driven investing infrastructure powering fintech platforms globally), Julieta Barros (Co-Founder & Partner at Amber Latam, a robo-advisor making global portfolios accessible to Latin American investors), and Lucía Carbajales (Financial Advisor and MFin Cambridge), we explored how fintech platforms, automation, and human expertise are reshaping access to investment opportunities, particularly in markets like Latin America.

In this blog, we’ll highlight some of the key insights and thought-provoking perspectives that emerged during the conversation: from the forces driving the democratization of investing to the technologies, regulations, and human elements shaping the next wave of financial growth.

Democratizing access to investments

Tony Lee highlighted the need for broader access to capital markets:

“...You have this entire supply chain of individuals that are involved in the benefit of these publicly traded corporations, but then they can't actually invest in the public in those companies. (...) That, in essence, is unfair. Everybody should benefit if they have the tools and capability to do so”.

This sentiment underscores why API-first platforms like Alpaca are pivotal. By offering programmable infrastructure, fintechs can create localized experiences that reach small investors, breaking down traditional barriers imposed by private banking networks.

Julieta Barros added a regional perspective, especially for Latin America:

Amber’s platform simplifies global investing for Latam users, combining automation, trusted partners, and technology to provide full transparency and low costs: "The client defines his investor profile, opens his personal account in Interactive Brokers and invests in a BlackRock portfolio. And Amber automatically will rebalance his portfolio to keep it aligned."

The panelists highlighted both enormous opportunities and challenges for investment platforms: Tony noted: "There's still almost 2 billion adults around the world that have no banking services... specialization in the user experience is... there's still plenty of room to grow and lots of opportunities for new entrants". His recommendation was to diversify the services and create solutions that cater to the targeted audience, and not to replicate the strategy of another successful fintech product in another region.

Technology as the backbone

APIs, automation and effortless digital experiences were highlighted as critical enablers for modern investing.

"Gone are the days of daily reports, of end of day reports. Everything needs to be real time and on demand", stressed Tony. He explained that Alpaca's modular APIs allow fintechs to automate order execution, reporting, and other back-office processes, giving platforms the flexibility to build localized investing experiences at scale.

This way, fintechs increasingly collaborate, creating ecosystems where technology layers build trust and allow users to interact with investments efficiently. Julieta stressed that technology alone isn't enough to build confidence:

"Trust starts with transparency. People want to know where their money is, who keeps the money and where it's invested."
- Julieta Barros, Co Founder & Partner at Amber Latam

Amber addresses this by combining account opening with Interactive Brokers, automated portfolio management using BlackRock funds, and continuous rebalancing according to client profiles, ensuring users have full visibility and control over their investments. And regulatory compliance plays a complementary role. Julieta made special emphasis on the fact that regulation can be a great challenge for fintechs in Latin America, yet it's also a powerful way to build trust, specially when it comes to money in the digital sphere.

Tony added that this link between regulation and trust is crucial in regions like Latin America, where skepticism toward official systems runs deep.

He also pointed out that this dynamic is amplified in emerging markets: "People coming from these regions may not have had great experiences with other financial institutions in the past… It takes them too much effort to deposit money, to withdraw money, to open up accounts."

Together, their insights underscored that while regulation can slow innovation, it also acts as the foundation upon which lasting trust, and real inclusion, are built.

The human factor in a digital world

Despite automation and AI, the human element remains essential. Lucía Carbajales emphasized the behavioral dimension:

Even as robo-advisors democratize investing, clients still rely on human guidance for emotional and complex decision-making. Julieta reinforced this with respect to platform trust:

“Amber is not working with AI, but (we are working with) automatization. It's like a partnership: where the technical side can help the human one. The (robo)advisor on being more precise and more efficient… but it is very important to have a human at the end of the day to take care of the psychological or emotional part of the client.”

Looking forward: the future of investing

As investment platforms evolve, so does the role of human advisors. Lucía reflected on how globalization and complex tax regimes will demand more holistic financial guidance:

“Good advisors now… need to see clients as human and all that that contains. We should have more expertise in tax regimes, international taxation… understanding liquidity needs… It’s not the same to speak with someone that is in their 20s, saving for the long term, than speaking with someone that is 33 and maybe wants to buy a house with that money in a couple of years… So I think that's where we should be moving towards as advisors.”

Tony also highlighted innovation as a driver of future growth:

“With the advancement of tokenization, you can break a lot of those barriers in terms of the cost of extending credit… We need to figure out how the new technologies can break those barriers to allow the smallest investor to have access to the fullest breadth of investment vehicles.”

Conclusion

The discussion made one point crystal clear: investing is no longer an exclusive club. Platforms like Alpaca and Amber, powered by fintech expertise and human guidance, are democratizing access to global markets. Trust, transparency, technology, and human advice together form the pillars of this new wave of investments.

Investments are changing from being something reserved for a few to something that's more a necessity than a luxury. For individuals, fintechs, and advisors alike, the challenge, and opportunity, is to make investing accessible, reliable, and empowering for everyone.