Another new online entrant to the UK wealth management scene - Nutmeg - has opened for business, aiming to open up investment management services to those with as little as £1,000 ($1,600) to invest.

Nutmeg is aiming to deliver a simplified discretionary investment management offering whereby clients simply specify their risk level, timeframe and preferred contribution levels to get started. It would seem that there is dire need for such a service among the general UK populace, since – shockingly – a recent survey by Harris Interactive for Nutmeg revealed that more people keep their savings in cash at home than invest them in stocks and shares ISAs.

As well as the rock-bottom minimum investment threshold, Nutmeg is also making much of its annual management charge, which starts at 1 per cent and can be reduced further for loyal clients (clients can collect “nutmegs” to reduce their fees by upping their investment or making referrals, to as low as 0.3 per cent).

Nutmeg was founded by chief executive Nick Hungerford, who formerly worked for the likes of Barclays and Brewin Dolphin. He has spoken of his frustration during his former career at not being able to help investors who aren’t millionaires.

Nutmeg recently completed a second round of venture capital funding which was led by UK-based venture capitalists Pentech and Daniel Aegerter, the Swiss chairman of Armada Investment Group, and which garnered £3.4 million.

While the concept of wealth management and such low-cost online providers might not seem to marry well, the industry is in general moving towards more transparency on fees since costs are high on the agenda of all clients now. Saxo Bank’s Modern Wealth Management platform is another such online service which firms would do well to look out for as they compete for wallet share.