In this interview, our CEO Martin Daut explains how quirion supports you in building wealth — for investment goals such as retirement provision, for example. He also shows what role artificial intelligence plays in this.
More than three billion euros in assets under management, more than 100,000 clients: quirion continues to grow strongly. Where does the demand for your offering come from?
Interest in investing in the stock markets has grown in Germany — especially among younger people. That's shown by figures from the Deutsches Aktieninstitut. According to these, around 14 million investors put money into shares in one way or another in 2025, two million more than in 2024. And 60 percent of the increase comes from the under-40 age group. This group is particularly keen on ETFs — and on digital asset management, too. Investing money efficiently without having to take care of it yourself: I'm firmly convinced that there is far more potential in this promise.
There is strong competition, however …
That's true. Yet in Germany there are still tens of millions of people leaving the return opportunities of the markets untapped — even though investing would make sense for them. Digital asset management is exactly the right thing, especially for those who don't want to spend a lot of time on investing themselves. You don't need a large fortune for it. With us, you can get started with a savings plan from as little as 25 euros a month.
But we see growth potential not only in this target group. We also see it among the many investors who are still taking on too much risk and accepting costs that are too high. Our investment strategy avoids speculation and is based on scientific findings. That's how you make use of return opportunities without unnecessary risks. Thanks to ETFs and digital technology, it still stays affordable. It's not without reason that Börse Online, Euro and Euro am Sonntag have just named us "Robo-Advisor of the Year" for the third time in a row.
Where do the challenges lie, and where are the areas for growth?
One challenge is drawing attention to our service. Unlike large banks that offer current accounts, we can't simply build on existing customer relationships. And unlike so many others, we don't constantly put something new in the shop window that is supposedly especially well suited for investing right now. Because — in the interest of investors — we pursue a steady-handed investment strategy. With it, the right moment to get started is "always now".
Conveying that is both a challenge and a growth opportunity. We don't put individual products at the centre, but people's personal investment goals. We want to turn investing from something abstract into concrete support for your own life planning. Particularly important in this respect: the goal of being financially secure in retirement.
With the plans for retirement-provision accounts and the early-start pension, something is finally set to move politically on this topic. Are the plans heading in the right direction?
I warmly welcome the fact that something is finally happening on the incentives front.It's high time. Even if I'm not happy with every detail of the plans. From my point of view, it's once again being made unnecessarily complicated. Because instead of looking for the best solution for the investment goal, people are looking for compromises — to reconcile various political interests and the economic interests of all kinds of parties involved, from banks and trading platforms to insurers. That's why many of the new offerings will surely end up more expensive than necessary again. Though I can already assure you of one thing: when the incentives launch, we'll have an attractive solution ready — one that lets you efficiently harness the long-term return opportunities of the capital markets for your retirement provision.
If, as an investor, I want to know more precisely how I can reach investment goals such as retirement provision: where can I find out from you how to go about it?
Right from the start on our website, in our app — or by turning to our financial AI, quirion.Ai. It has been around since September 2024, the only one of its kind in Germany. Unlike ChatGPT, for example, quirion.Ai specialises in investing and building wealth.
So that the AI bot doesn't draw indiscriminately on content from the web, we've trained it with our expertise. It provides concrete calculations for investment goals. It explains how things connect in an understandable way. And it keeps getting better. Right now we're working on making it possible to set up digital asset management with us via a chat with quirion.Ai, instead of via the current application process on the web. That will make it even simpler.
So if quirion is making greater use of AI: how important do people remain?
We use technology everywhere it simplifies processes. And in doing so, we make sure our offering is as easily accessible and efficient as possible. But people are at the centre, and that's not just something we say. For one thing, people shape our investment strategy. Our experts set the course and select suitable products.
For another, it's very important to us that you can still find a real person to talk to in our client support. Money is a sensitive subject. It's about trust. Sometimes you simply want to speak to a human being when you have a question or a problem. Whether in client support, in our use of AI or in our investment strategy: we're proud to go a different way from many others in the competition in so many places.
You can find out more about how to invest in your goals here.
