History of innovation

Founded in 1993, the initial idea behind tetalog remains a core element of our software solutions and inspires our way of thinking: the combination of the psychological with the financial, mathematical approach. So, 25 years ago we developed our first pioneer product, at a time when people would have thought “robo-advisor” to be a Marvel Hero. Today, we develop user-centric software products for the entire investment advisory process that are used internationally.

Robo-advisor made of cardboard

Correctly implemented, a good idea on paper works just as well as an algorithm in a modern application. And so our first step was the development of a robo-advisor for Union Investment – made of cardboard! Today we may smile at this, but the complex cardboard construction with its rotating wheels already provided an exact, scientifically based typologization of one’s own risk personality. Using the robo-advisor we created – for the first time – the entire unified process from initial profiling and feedback to the translation of this into investment strategy and product recommendation. The tool was immediately usable and worked independently of the technical environment of the consultant’s workstation, even though the configuration options of the 1996 solution were admittedly limited.

Emergence of an industry in fast motion

The next consistent step on our innovation path – the combination of psychology and financial mathematics – was the implementation of this idea as software. In 1997 we realized this with Allianz Anlegeranalyse (AAA) and in 1998 with DAB Investment-Ratgeber. The latter was the first “real” robo-advisor with a digital transaction interface. Since the introduction of the Securities Trading Act in 1994, and furthered by the subsequent EU Directives MiFID and MiFID II, a rationally justifiable investment recommendation based on a well-founded assessment of the investor´s risk personality is required – these are features and capabilities that are deeply integrated in tetralog software and which therefore belong to our central assets to this day.