Robo-advisers were given a thumbs-up by UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority in March 2016, opening up a potentially large market for European ETF providers. Barriers remain, though, before fund sponsors can be sure to see significant inflows.

Low-cost, online services constructing investment portfolios for retail investors have already seen success in US, with firms such as Betterment with assets of $3.9 billion and Wealthfront with just under $3 billion. In the past few years, the UK has seen the arrival of start-ups such as wealth manager SCM Direct, pension adviser Wealth Horizon, Wealth Wizards and Fiver a Day, which launched in September 2015 as a low-cost service. Nutmeg, which does not disclose how much money it manages, was the first online discretionary investment management company when it was founded in 2011.