This panel looked at technology trends (and challenges) in wealth management. It featured Arash Sorouchyari, Independent Strategic Technology Adviser; Elie Yazbeck, Head of Digital Wealth Management, Managing Director, at Julius Baer; Maryann Umoren Selfe, Managing Director and Head of Investment Solutions at Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL) Switzerland; and Roger Furrer, Director at ERI.
Topics covered included:
- Client engagement tools
- Process automation
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption
- Cloud considerations
- Talent acquisition strategies
- Organisational silos, and how to overcome them
Priority areas for technology investment
Current goals cited during this panel discussion included client activation, client satisfaction, and growth in share of wallet. Indeed, participants acknowledged that by providing a better and value-added client experience, a client is less likely to look to switch wealth managers and may even increase their share of wallet with their existing wealth manager. In turn, this leads to increased assets under management (AUM) and organic growth for the wealth manager in question. This is something every wealth manager is conscious of and most likely working towards.
Specific areas highlighted as needing a technological boost by panellists were client engagement, automation, and advice. All are seen as priority areas in the quest to better serve evolving client demographics and exceed ever-changing client expectations.
The advisory process was singled out by Sorouchyari: “It's not always a smooth end-to-end process. From the inception of ideas, to curating the investment universe, finding the right signals and stories, and then filtering the right clients to approach is often tricky because of nonintegrated technology pieces and systems that don’t talk to each other.”
Many steps in the advisory process, such as manufacturing ideas and defining filters based on client domiciles, risk profiles, other regulatory topics, as well as client preferences and restrictions, are manual and require the use of multiple systems. This is the source of internal inefficiencies.
Additionally, improving digital channels received particular attention from the panel, as they describe it as a practical way to share relevant information and investment recommendations in a timely and personalised manner, driving much sought-after client engagement.
External technology partnerships, meanwhile, can help boost capabilities and drive speed of delivery and differentiation. It is now generally accepted that not everything can, or should, be done in house and that collaboration with third-party providers can make for a better overall offering that reinforces the all-important client experience.
Open platforms, APIs, Cloud – the way of the future
To the aim of componentisation, Furrer pointed out that every platform needs to be open to APIs to offer the connectivity required: “It is important to be able to easily add new modules to suit the bank’s own set up and have a flexible and adaptive approach when doing so. The other is to go into the market with a Cloud-agnostic solution. The future goal will be that we can go to an embedded finance platform model, so that we are really very open.”
Indeed, the Cloud is another consideration. Although some wealth management firms have previously been hesitant about placing sensitive data in the Cloud, the benefits of such an approach are now largely accepted to significantly outweigh any related security issues. Indeed, the Cloud is now highly secure, as long as banks create a robust data governance and the use of a hybrid, private or multi-Cloud approach mitigates risk even further.
The role of and opportunity afforded by AI – quick wins through targeted use
The discussion then moved on to the massive potential afforded by AI across operations, delivery, and experience. Banks are, however, facing adoption barriers around data, talent, legal constraints, and client readiness. One way of addressing this is to take an iterative approach with targeted use cases on non-sensitive data.
Yazbeck commented: “I personally believe AI is a massive game changer. It can have an impact at all levels: at a client level, AI can help deliver a more engaging client experience. It can also help RMs focus on what they do best, advising our clients, by automating time-consuming routine tasks. AI can even help when it comes to coding software and delivering technology.”
Cultural considerations – the value of connectors
The success of technology to boost productivity and efficiency however relies on having support from a unified culture and tone from leadership. Indeed, such an approach helps connect priorities across IT, business units, and delivery teams. Dedicated integration roles also further facilitate technology adoption and project success.
Umoren Selfe noted: “We're all speaking English, but we're speaking different types of English and not really talking to each other. I think one of the things that we've found as we go through our digital transformation journeys is that it's super important to have people who maybe work as connectors or integrators, bringing everyone together and making sure that we're all on the same path.”
“We're so busy focusing on delivery that we're not really thinking about making sure that the front office and end client have something they want to use. But once you have integrators or connectors embedded within a project, carrying everyone along, then that helps massively with adoption.”
About the Swiss WealthTech Live 2024
Our Swiss WealthTech Live 2024 event took place in Zürich in February and hosted some 160 market participants from private banks, cantonal banks, external asset managers, family offices, technology vendors, consultants, and more to express their views, experiences, and visions for the future. We celebrated a full day of keynote presentations and panel discussions, with plenty of networking opportunities.
During the event, we also released our Swiss WealthTech Landscape Report 2024. This issue of the report includes 24 thought-provoking articles, 10 Solution Showcases, and 539 entries in our Solution Provider Directory.
Access the full report here.
