The old methods of differentiation (price, speed and access) will become redundant as these smart technologies will commoditize these differentiators. The new battlefields for customer loyalty will be fought in customization, capturing their attention (engaging the users), and developing ecosystems beyond just finance.

The post-Corona era will be one of a realization that physical location is no more an imperative. Remote access for work and entertainment are not only now possible but are a reality for most of the population. This will also affect the way clients view the management of their wealth. In asset and wealth management (AWM), investors are now thinking in new ways about how their capital is handled. They’re embracing digital technology, changing the way they interact with firms. There is also a realization that nature is powerful and can inflict pain and economic disaster. This will affect not only the way clients will interact but also the way they invest. They are more and more interested in social responsibility and other non-financial parts of investing.

Perspectives are changing for asset managers too, especially as tension increases between appropriately exercising fiduciary duty on one side and providing consistent, excellent investment returns on the other.

If you’re a leader in an AWM firm, transforming your purpose, performance and operations to keep pace with investor expectations demands a major effort in using technology. But where do you begin?

Asset managers can no longer sit on the fence given the technological changes taking place. Going forward, financial institutions will be pushed to market extremes, amplifying the returns for large-scale players and creating new opportunities for niche and agile investors.

It is the mid-sized firms that will struggle to make the investments necessary to remain competitive, as incumbent firms will increasingly become smart technology service providers (their technology backoffices will become profit centres).

This transformation of the back-office will shift the competitive basis of firms towards the front-office. The old methods of differentiation (price, speed and access) will become redundant as smart technologies will commoditize these differentiators. The new battlefields for customer loyalty will be fought in customization, capturing their attention (engaging the users), and developing ecosystems beyond just finance.

The Swiss factor
We must all now urgently lead the way in setting the direction for our industry in the digital age. Geneva is the birthplace of private wealth management. We have 140 banks of which 62 are foreign banks. Employing 35,000 people.

“In Switzerland, we manage more than 10% of the worldwide assets under management. That is over US$11.3 trillion. That is CHF60 billion of value creation for the Swiss economy, thus contributing over 10% of Swiss GDP.”

We are not only the birthplace but the playground for all technologies related to wealth management. Over the last year, we have been leveraging three parties abundantly represented around the Geneva lake region:

• Private banks and wealth managers: providing the banking product and industry knowledge
• The educational and academic institutions providing top-tier teaching and research
• The Geneva State, providing the ecosystem for all stakeholders to successfully collaborate

Geneva WealthTech Forum
Geneva WealthTech Forum is a key part of this. A one-day conference, it brings together the industry leaders with the digital innovators, aiming to maintain and enhance Geneva’s position as the lead global wealth management centre.

Along with Geneva Council of Wealth Managers, the Forum is a tool to build a dynamic, resilient and inclusive ecosystem that drives a successful digital transformation in the wealth management sector, seeking to upgrade legacy systems, to digitize manual operations and to build new disruptive business models.

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This article originally appeared in The Wealth Mosaic's 2020 Swiss Wealth Technology Landscape Report. Click here to access and download this report:
https://docsend.com/view/2b56ksz