Investors Skip the Trading App

When ChatGPT Becomes the “Front Door” to Investing, Bank Self-Directed Platforms Get Disintermediated.

By Catharina Lusser, Business and Account Executive

For years, banks have invested heavily in execution-only and self-directed investing experiences: cleaner UX, broader product shelves, smoother trading flows, and richer information. The underlying idea is straightforward: when investors can research and transact in one place, it can strengthen engagement and support long-term relationships. 

Generative AI doesn’t replace those investments—but it does add a new starting point for many investors. Instead of beginning with a platform or a research portal, more people begin with a question: “Is this stock cheap?” “What drives dividend quality?” “How would I think about risk here?” Large language models make that kind of inquiry fast and accessible, especially for early-stage research and sense-making. 

In practice, this means the “front door” to investing is widening. Alongside broker apps, financial media, and analyst content, conversational AI is becoming another interface investors use to explore ideas and form an initial view.

The shift is measurable

Early evidence suggests this is no longer an edge case. Multiple 2025 surveys and studies indicate that a meaningful share of retail investors already use generative AI - primarily to gather, summarize, or interpret market and company information. Other widely cited consumer research points in the same direction, suggesting that AI tools are increasingly part of how people look up financial information and make sense of options.

This matters because research habits influence channel choices. When investors form their initial conviction elsewhere, the platform experience can shift from being a place to decide to being a place to execute. That changes what “good” looks like: not only smooth trading and competitive pricing, but also the quality, clarity, and governance of the information environment that supports decisions.

The strategic response: bring the decision workflow back inhouse

To prevent self-directed investors from migrating to the cheapest discount brokers,

premium trading platforms have no choice but to strengthen the investor information

section on their web and mobile trading apps. Standard market data, charts, news, and

broker recommendations are no longer enough.

Content is king

• Answers the questions investors ask before they trade

• Outperforms generic LLMs on reliability, consistency, and trust

• Differentiates the platform from competitors

The first point isn’t to compete with ChatGPT on being conversational. The goal is to

deliver what investors actually need: governed insights and consistent analytics that

support self-directed investors without crossing into personalized recommendations

Historically, trading apps differentiated themselves through the quantity of data and the complexity of available functionalities. The new paradigm will be smart reduction: fewer numbers, more meaningful, fact-based judgments.

If investors ask “what should I do” the conversation will happen somewhere.

The only question is whether financial institutions host that moment — within a compliant, curated environment they control — or watch it move elsewhere, leaving them to compete on execution and price alone.

Executive Summary

AI is becoming a common starting point for investment advice. When investors form their views outside bank and broker platforms, those platforms risk being reduced to execution and price competition.

The strategic response is not better chat, but better information. Platforms that provide clear, trusted, and well-governed investment insights can keep decision-making on their platform.

In an AI-first world, owning the trade is not enough. Owning the decision moment is.