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PRIVATE BANKER
Digital priorities; Cyber Security; Data Management;
Customer Experience; Best practices & use cases; Innovation
Europe; UK; North America; Asia-Pacific
FinTech Special Supplement
The ‘IT’ Factor
How are private banks
harnessing and monetising
technology?
PBI supplement.indd 1 02/06/2016 11:15:24
www.privatebankerinternational.comB y FinTech 2016
FINTECH SUPPLEMENT Private Banker InternationalPrivate Banker International
FINTECH
2016
Editor: Meghna Mukerjee
Email: meghna.mukerjee@uk.timetric.com
Correspondent: John Schaffer
Tel: +44 (0)20 7406 6703
Email: john.schaffer@uk.timetric.com
Asia Editor: Xiou Ann Lim
Tel: +65 6411 2189
Email: ann.lim@sg.timetric.com
Sub-editor: Nick Midgley
Group Publisher: Ameet Phadnis
Tel: +44 (0)20 7406 6561
Email: ameet.phadnis@timetric.com
Regional Director, APAC: Ruben Kempeneer
Tel: +65 6383 4688
Email: ruben.kempeneer@sg.timetric.com
Business Development Manager: Alex Aubrey
Tel: +44 (0)20 3096 2603
Email: alex.aubrey@uk.timetric.com
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Email: customer.services@uk.timetric.com
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Digital touch briefings ad - PBI 18042016.indd 1 18/04/2016 10:54:05
How are private banks harnessing
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This FinTech Supplement is an addition to the
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source of analysis, proprietary data, expert insights, news
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FinTech 2016 y 1
FINTECH SUPPLEMENTPrivate Banker InternationalPrivate Banker International
FINTECH
2016
s?
s
10:54:05
Let’s talk FinTechCONTENTS
2,3: DIGITALLY FIT: UK PRIVATE BANKS
As the wealthy increase their demands for
sophisticated digital channels, private banks
must evaluate their technology priorities to
successfully keep up. John Schaffer speaks
to leading UK private banks to understand
their digital journeys
4: EXPERT COMMENT: SEI
WEALTH PLATFORM
Brett Williams, MD at SEI Wealth Platform,
UK Private Banking, outlines the key
considerations for wealth management
firms to successfully navigate a complex and
demanding ecosystem
5,6: TECHNOLOGY PRIORITIES: PRIVATE
BANKS IN EUROPE
Meghna Mukerjee highlights the areas
where Europe’s private banks are maximising
technology offerings to transform internal
strategies and service propositions
7,8,9: PRIVATE BANKS IN NORTH
AMERICA: WHO IS DOING WHAT
North America is ahead of the FinTech
adoption and innovation curve. PBI asks
leading private banks what they are doing to
win the technology race
10: EXPERT COMMENT: EWISE
David Hamilton, president and CEO of eWise
Group, comments on the impact of data-
driven economies on private banks and their
data aggregator service providers
11: DYNAMICS OF CYBER SECURITY
Creating a secure environment, mitigating
cyber-risks and investing in appropriate
security measures are crucial for private
banks, and vital to ensuring client trust and
data protection. PBI speaks with industry
experts to assess how vulnerable private
banks currently are, and what is being done
about cyber threats
12: EXPERT COMMENT:
WEALTHINITIATIVE
Swiss FinTech startup WealthInitiative is
helping private banks and family offices to
unlock synergies among their HNWI clients.
We find out more from founder, Douglas Azar
13,14,15: TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT ON
PRIVATE BANKS IN ASIA-PACIFIC
Several of Asia-Pacific’s private banks are
ahead of Europe and the US in terms of
delivering innovative client experiences
through technology-savvy branches, mature
mobile banking apps and advanced security.
Xiou Ann Lim talks to the leading players
16: THE INNOVATION EQUATION
At a time when private banks can choose to
disrupt or be disrupted, ‘business as usual’ is
not an option. PBI asked private banks and
analysts what innovation in private banking
truly means
Follow Private Banker International
Search for @BankerNews
I
t was only a matter of time before we
at PBI put together a FinTech focused
supplement.
Every month, we get varied queries
from our subscribers about how technology
can help the private banking sector become
increasingly client and advisor centric, as well
as efficient and profitable. We get questions
around how different banks in different coun-
tries are using technology beneficially. Thus
we decided to find out from the industry play-
ers how they are leveraging technology and
what more needs to be done.
The stakes of not adopting technology in a
timely fashion are enormous. Wealthy clients,
currently, are better informed, more techno-
logically curious, independent and demand-
ing. They move swiftly between the analog
and virtual worlds and are used to real-time,
personalised services thanks to the likes of
Uber, Apple, and Amazon redefining customer
experiences.
Investing in technology frameworks to
ensure robust online and mobile platforms
for private banks of any size is not optional
anymore. It is imperative. These offerings also
need to be intuitive and multi-dimensional.
Maturity in private banking apps is increas-
ingly being taken for granted by clients.
The private banking industry is largely tra-
ditional and relatively slow to adopt changes.
However, there is no doubt that to remain
competitive and sustain growth, firms must
invest in a transformation that has technology
at its heart.
Nifty new automated advisory services are
mushrooming, providing agile alternatives to
an already restless and hungry clientele. There
is no room to be technologically complacent.
Even the oldest private banks must imbibe the
culture of innovation and a start-up mentality
to remain relevant to its existing clients and
attractive to new ones.
It is essential for private banks to lower
all-round costs, generate more revenue and
reduce operational complexities. Technology
can enable all of this if implemented smartly.
Several players also need to effectively deal
with outdated legacy systems before they can
develop novel tools to empower their staff and
re-imagine customer experiences. This needs
to be done urgently to improve security provi-
sions, as creaking IT infrastructure can be an
open invitation for fraud.
Identifying specialist firms that can fill in
imminent gaps with their fintech expertise is
also a need of the hour for private banks.
Regulation is a top driver for technol-
ogy adoption and we have increasingly been
hearing about ‘RegTech’ (technology used to
address regulatory challenges). With regula-
tors becoming more stringent, private banks
have to guarantee compliance while also
ensuring that the cost of compliance don’t
skyrocket. Taking advantage of technology
for these purposes is vital, as it also is to opti-
mise data – another critical piece of the success
jigsaw puzzle.
Many private banks have gone a long way in
maximising the benefits of technology across
their value chains. Some have developed in-
house systems, others have found strategic
fintech partners, and many are experimenting
with new solutions to find the right balance.
In this supplement, we have taken a birds-
eye view and examined how forward thinking
private banks are using technology to their
advantage in different parts of world.
We have spoken to over 22 of the leading
global private banking executives and domain
experts to understand what their key technol-
ogy priorities are, how they define best prac-
tices, what their plans and forecasts are, and
what issues still need resolving. Enjoy the read.
Meghna Mukerjee
meghna.mukerjee@uk.timetric.com
PBI supplement.indd 1 02/06/2016 11:15:30
www.privatebankerinternational.com2 y FinTech 2016
Digitally fit: Private banks in the UK
T
he private banking industry has been
slower than its consumer banking
counterpart when it comes to getting
ahead in the digital adoption race. It
has been significantly behind other industries
such as travel and tourism and retail, where
the likes of Airbnb and Amazon have accus-
tomed clients to technology innovation and
personalised services.
The wealth management sector is associat-
ed with traditional face to face contact where
the role of a relationship manager (RM) is
central to managing large-value assets and
advising clients on their portfolios. Clients
also engage in personal contact due to the
complex nature of certain regulatory pre-
requisites, where the expertise of an RM
holds weight.
However, technology is increasingly being
hailed as a crucial revenue generator, and
innovation a key customer loyalty driver for
private banks.
In contrast to the functional retail banking
digital channels, private banking offerings
must demonstrate greater depth and breadth
in order to add real value for a high net
worth (HNW) or ultra-HNW client. Private
banking clients want detailed insights, access
to granular data, alongside refined engage-
ment capabilities such as financial advice,
as opposed to merely checking balances and
performing bank transfers.
Private banks are also facing competition
from nifty, automated, online-only wealth
managers such as Nutmeg and Wealth Hori-
zon that are luring wealthy clients with agile,
easy and efficient alternatives.
The majority of private banks in the UK
are not being complacent and continuing to
invest in, and fine tune, their digital capabili-
ties. PBI talks to select private banks about
their digital game-plans.
As the wealthy increase their demands for sophisticated digital channels and easily accessible information
on their portfolios, private banks must evaluate their technology priorities to successfully keep up with
client expectations. John Schaffer speaks to leading UK private banks to understand their digital journeys
Coutts & Co.
At Coutts & Co., a full suite of
services is offered to its wealthy
client base, ranging from
detailedanalysisofportfoliosto
a digital concierge service. Rob-
ertHemphill,executivedirector,
digital solutions at Coutts, tells
PBI about the private bank’s top
technology priorities.
Couttsaspirestobethedigital
leaderoftheprivatebankingandwealthmanage-
ment sector, and its main priority is to ensure an
exceptional experience across the breadth of its
digital offering.
“Our primary focus is accessibility, enabling
clients to quickly and easily access portfolios
through innovative online banking and wealth
management services, maximising transparency
and providing empowerment.
“Banking is the foundation of our service,
and we continue to build on three centuries of
experience, with continuous innovation in order
to enhance the service; from secure messaging,
emailandtextalertsthroughtooursecureonline
‘vault’ from which clients can access an archive
of digital statements and other documents that
have been sent to them,” says Hemphill.
The second priority for Coutts is fraud pro-
tection, authentication and security, and the
lender has a multi-layered approach to protect-
ing clients and their identities. The third prior-
ity is connectivity – connecting clients through
multiple touch points to the Coutts team.
Hemphill says: “The success of this approach
is clear; in 2015 we saw a 29% uplift in client
usage of Coutts’ digital channels, yet add in the
fact that 2015 was our telephony team, Coutts
24’s, busiest ever year, and client interaction is
firmly increasing on all levels.”
The fourth priority for Coutts is empower-
ment. In 2015, Coutts launched a fully interac-
tive website that reflects both the Coutts brand
and its services, with a dedicated insights sec-
tion to inform and engage clients on matters
relating to all aspects of their
wealth.
“We also empower our own
people. We have revolutionised
the way in which our employees
communicate with one another
and their understanding of
the breadth of Coutts solu-
tions through our interactive
intranet,” he adds.
The final priority for Coutts is maximising
choicewhileensuringanexceptionaluserexpe-
rience, at all levels.
“We aim for the Coutts Crown Standard, our
internal benchmark for exceptional standards,
to be inherent across all channels, while giving
clients the ability to choose how they interact
with both the business and their wealth portfo-
lio,” explains Hemphill.
However, the key to successful digital chan-
nels is not merely based on front-end develop-
ments. Coutts made changes to its core banking
systems four years ago, which has made digital
innovation easier. The core banking system
update has also allowed the bank’s data to be
more consolidated, where it is no longer spread
across a number of different legacy systems.<
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Citi Private Bank
Citi Private Bank currently offers a mobile app for
Apple devices called InView.
The service, launched in February 2014, allows
clients to view portfolios in detail and analyse key
metrics, alongside performing basic transactions
through the app. The mobile app also gives Citi Pri-
vate Banking clients access to various research arti-
cles related to their portfolios.
A significant feature of Citi’s digital offerings is its
‘onboarding toolkit’. The bank plans to release a wet-
signature functionality, enabling clients to use their
finger or a stylus to sign documents.
Citi was an early adopter of mobile provisions for
private banking clients. The release of the app comes
as an update to the bank’s private banking app,
released in 2010. <
Arbuthnot Latham & Co.
Boutique private bank Arbuthnot Latham & Co., the
private and commercial banking and wealth manage-
ment arm of the Arbuthnot Banking Group, launched
its online banking service in 2004. It added mobile
banking functionalities in 2014.
Arbuthnot Latham’s chief executive, Ian Hender-
son, tells PBI that over 60% of its substantial client
base is using online banking channels, and they
have over 25% of active clients using the bank’s
mobile app.
Since launching its commercial banking proposi-
tion in 2015, Arbuthnot Latham’s commercial clients
are also making use of the online banking service.
Its digital offerings allow clients to view trans-
actions and statements, and carry out other basic
e-banking functions. The bank also offers an invest-
mentportal,allowingclientstoviewtheirinvestment
portfolios.
Ian Henderson tells PBI: “Our social media pres-
ence has continued to grow strongly, with around
1,700 followers on LinkedIn and nearly 900 on Twit-
ter, as we engage with clients and potential clients.
“We will be looking at other forms of social media
engagement with our clients over the coming
months.”<
SGPB Hambros
France-headquartered Société Générale
Private Bank (SGPB) launched an overall IT
transformation plan in 2013, and the reno-
vation of its digital or customer interface is
oneofthekeypillarsoftheall-roundproject.
As part of this rejuvenation, SGPB Ham-
bros, SGPB’s UK division, launched a new
e-banking platform in April 2015, available
across mobile, tablet and desktop. Security
improvements and better navigation facili-
ties have been added to the new platform.
SG Hambros has invested in an improved
client relationship management (CRM)
tool and portfolio management system to
improve face-to-face interactions, with
more flexibility in accessing information
such as portfolio valuations, positions
and performances.
At the time of the new e-banking plat-
form’s launch, SGPB Hambros CEO, Eric Bar-
nett, said: “Since 2013, we have launched a
series of client-centric initiatives in order to
ensure that we are effectively able to meet
clients’ needs. The launch of our new eBank-
ing platform is the next natural step in this
direction and we are excited about the pros-
pect of offering clients more secure and eas-
ier online banking access anywhere, anytime
and on any device.”<
Lloyds Bank Private Banking
Lloyds Bank Private Banking’s clients, in the
UK and across its international business,
are able to use all of Lloyds Banking Group’s
digital services, giving customers access to
banking on mobile, tablet and desktop. Cli-
ents are able to view their accounts, make UK
and international payments and transfers,
as well as stay informed about the bank’s
reward programmes.
Lloyds Bank Private Banking has contin-
ued to roll out screen-sharing and video con-
ference technology, giving private banking
clients more choice about how they would
like to interact with the bank and communi-
cate with their banking team.
In March 2016, Lloyds reported that £4bn
payments and transfers were made on a
monthly basis from private banking clients
using digital channels, and increasingly
by mobile.
Phil Allen, digital director for financial
planning and retirement at Lloyds Banking
Group, tells PBI: “Approximately 52% of our
private banking clients in the UK are digi-
tally active, a 12% increase year-on-year. We
migrated our international clients on to the
platform in the fourth quarter of 2015 and
we can already see 20% of these customers
are digitally active, which is a great achieve-
ment.
“Wenowseeatotalof42,000loginstoour
digital services every day from mobile, tab-
let and desktop, giving customers the choice
and convenience they want.”<
Barclays Wealth & Investment Management
Barclays launched a mobile banking application
for its UK HNW clients in July 2014. The app is
part of a web portal for private banking clients:
Barclays One.
With Barclays One, clients can have a full view
of their Barclays Wealth banking and investment
accounts, holdings and transactions, Wealth
Card balances and transactions. Additionally, it
includes historic valuations and performance
for investments, interactive charts showing how
wealth is distributed across nine Investment
Philosophy asset classes, eDocuments (valu-
ation statements and contract notes from UK
accounts online), tax packs and market research
andinsights.BarclaysOneisusedbyover75%of
the bank’s client relationships.
The Barclays Mobile Banking app for wealth
enables clients to carry out a range of banking
activities, including moving money between
accounts,makingsterlingpaymentstoUK-based
recipientsorcompanies,canceldirectdebitsand
more.
Additional functionality is available on
iOS devices for clients with UK Wealth cur-
rent accounts, enabling them to see their
overall net valuation with Barclays, his-
toric valuations and performance data
of investments.
Barclays also uses biometric technology for
authenticationofHNWclients,andvoicebiomet-
ricsisnowBarclays’primarysourceofidentifying
BarclaysWealthandInvestmentManagementcli-
ents in the UK.
Dena Brumpton, CEO, UK Private Banking at
Barclays, says: “More than 11,000 wealth and
investmentmanagementclientsarenowenrolled
and can be identified by their voice.
“Our customers have seen the time taken to
verify their identity fall from one and a half min-
utes to less than 10 seconds.”
Barclays has leveraged voice biometrics tech-
nologytoremovetheneedtocallbackitsclients,
which was part of a fraud check, for certain pay-
ments. This has been received well, particularly
by clients who were used to the callback process.
“Our clients expect banking to be completely
ontheirownterms,withtheabilitytoaccessser-
vices and transact in the way that suits them. As
part of the Barclays group, we can benefit from
Barclays wider digital expertise while deliver-
ing functionality tailored to the unique needs of
Wealth clients,” adds Brumpton. <
PBI supplement.indd 3 02/06/2016 11:15:38
www.privatebankerinternational.com4 y FinTech 2016
Private Banker International
FINTECH
2016
Private Banker International
Five factors determining future success
for wealth management firms
W
ith a raft of changes impacting inves-
tors and savers in recent years, the
need – and consequently the oppor-
tunity – for wealth management
firms to provide advice has never been greater.
However, given the complexity of delivering
a quality service, a number of factors will deter-
mine success for organisations. What then are
the most important things for wealth manage-
ment firms to consider?
Costs
Increasing compliance and operational costs
are forcing some wealth management firms to
replatform, or at least make significant invest-
ments in new technology across front, middle
and back-office processes.
As a consequence of this disruption, there is
growing recognition among wealth managers
and financial advisers that by engaging with
technology providers with institutional capa-
bilities, they can de-risk and downsize their
business, and still deliver quality service and
growth with the benefits that straight-through
processing and outsourcing bring.
Others sitting on expensive, unprofitable
platforms have yet to see the light, and face
the risk that these solutions do not pass the
due diligence suitability test! The Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) is looking on with
interest, and this alone is reason enough for
platforms to re-evaluate their commitments to
due diligence. The regulator’s thematic review
on this subject underlines how it is no longer
possible for wealth managers to trust existing
processes, and by ignoring this fact some firms
will run the risk of exposing themselves to pos-
sible enforcement action.
Value
Given the intensive consolidation that has
occurred across the value chain of late, firms
that have pursued vertical integration are fac-
ing challenges in streamlining the component
parts. Many are reliant on overengineered
software applications and processes that, when
combined with ageing and expensive systems,
restrict innovation and progress.
There is a need for new models that are sim-
pler and more efficient. Some financial advisers
who are served by the retail platforms are now
of a size where they recognise the opportunity
to take a greater share of the margin on offer
across the value chain, and are promoting their
own brand on services and products rather
than that of others.
Service
Consumer expectations are growing, and cli-
ents are demanding more for less. Without
continuous enrichment of the range and quality
of services offered, advisers face strong down-
ward pressure on margins.
Making the time to focus on what offers real
value in true financial planning – i.e. establish-
ing a clear understanding of life goals, cash
flow needs and other objectives – is now more
than ever dependent on the use of the better
planning tools available in the market. These
investments in tools which allow consistent and
controlled delivery of strong service proposi-
tions will be key to the future success of many
wealth management firms.
The chance of success will be further
enhanced if these tools are embedded in a good
practice management system, and integrated
with platform services to deliver a seamless
solution. Few can deliver an end-to-end solu-
tion that offers this potential without the need
to continuously rekey client data. Advisers
should make it a key part of their next due dili-
gence exercise.
Innovation
The push or pull towards D2C, mobile, internet
and social media, and the increasing demands
from users for simpler, more appealing, more
efficient tools and applications are changing the
future landscape for advisers.
Technology is now available which allows
firms to engage with and educate customers
digitally, improving access to information and
services and reducing costs. Clients who have
historically seen the adviser as their finance
teacher can now rely on technology; important-
ly, research shows they prefer this approach.
Integrating digital solutions effectively with
the personal touch where this is needed will
be an important factor in the future success of
wealth managers and financial advisers; it is
not just the millennials who expect to be ser-
viced digitally.
Regulationoverload
With RDR, pension freedoms, CASS, FATCA,
GATCA and Mifid II and other directives,
many firms are facing regulation overload. The
financial commitment required to continuously
improve systems, processes and controls is sig-
nificant. Consequently, regulation is constrain-
ing proposition development, innovation and,
some would argue, the quality of client service.
A more proactive approach to regulation
is needed across the market, with some tech-
nology partners configuring their solutions to
comply, thereby reducing the ongoing burden
on the adviser.
The annual process of platform and technol-
ogy due diligence should be used by wealth
managers and financial advisers to test their
suppliers to ensure they remain suitable and fit
for purpose. <
The SEI Wealth Platform is an outsourcing
solution for wealth managers, encompassing
wealth processing services and wealth man-
agement programs, combined with business
process expertise.
SEI provides wealth management organisa-
tions with the infrastructure, operations, and
administrative support necessary to capitalize
on their strategic objectives in a constantly
shifting market. The Platform supports trad-
ing and transactions on 131 stock exchanges
in 50 countries and 35 currencies, through
the use of straight-through processing and a
single operating infrastructure environment.
For more information, visit: http://www.
seic.com/enUK/banks/288.htm?cmpid=pb-
gpa-813 or contact Andrew Booker on
0203 8107718 or abooker@seic.com
Consistent growth is difficult while profit margins are being squeezed and traditional revenue models
are being challenged. Brett Williams, MD, SEI Wealth Platform, UK Private Banking, outlines the key
considerations for wealth management firms to successfully navigate a complex and demanding ecosystem
PBI supplement.indd 4 02/06/2016 11:15:38
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Private Banker International
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Technology – a key enabler for Europe’s
private banks
T
echnology is no ‘magic bullet’ to solve
problems currently faced by private
banks. However, if implemented cor-
rectly, technology can go a long way to
eliminate complexities, enhance operational
efficiency and aid revenue generation.
Private banks in Europe are increasingly rec-
ognising the importance of technology and, in
the last five years, many forward-thinking play-
ers have embraced it as a catalyst for growth
and competitive positioning.
PBI outlines the areas in which European
private banks are significantly prioritising and
leveraging technology.
Enhancingtheclientexperience
Technology has been, and continues to be, a
big mover in ensuring client-centricity. Private
banks are rethinking aspects of their busi-
ness and operating models, and leveraging
improved IT capabilities across the organisa-
tion to maintain personalised services and
receptiveness to clients’ needs, as well as ensure
smooth client experience (CX) and satisfaction.
France-headquartered Société Générale Pri-
vate Bank (SGPB) has transformed its digital
interface. The transformation is one of three
pillars of an all-round IT rejuvenation plan that
the bank embarked upon in 2013.
SGPB’s digital ambition is part of the private
bank’s overall strategy to expand its activi-
ties across Europe, Middle East and Africa
(EMEA), and capture the growth potential
of its client base, in line with Société Générale
group’s strategic priority for digital transforma-
tion and innovation.
SGPB will link all its products and services
to customers through a series of apps, and
the digital transformation journey entails
the deployment of a sophisticated e-banking
platform for wealthy clients so they will have
the spectrum of options to transact “bonds,
shares, forex, money market, whatever the
asset class”, head of SGPB, Jean-Francois
Mazaud, told PBI recently.
SGPB is looking to launch further e-banking
platforms internationally through 2016 and
2017, with an aim to complete the digital trans-
formation project in 2018 for all of SGPB’s
locations.
Client relationship management (CRM) is
finally coming of age in the private banking sec-
tor, and SGPB’s digital service includes a CRM
tool and an enhanced portfolio management
system that will allow flexibility in accessing
information such as portfolio valuations, posi-
tions and performances.
“Technology is one of the key factors gov-
erning the way we are shaping our private bank
for the future, as we continue to anchor client
centricity as part of our DNA,” says Mazaud.
The technology developments that most
interest Mazaud are also those that boost CX.
“As a connected bank, these include trends in
how to improve the user experience, and the
design of the user interface, as well as the inter-
net of things,” he says.
Netherlands-headquartered ABN Amro
Private Banking offers a wide range of innova-
tive online, mobile and social media solutions,
including its mobile banking app, an iPad
mobile office app, iPad Research, Web care
team and WebEx advice, amongst others.
“In the Netherlands, our mobile banking
app is being used more than 60m times per
month,” says Brigitte Seegers, spokesperson
for ABN Amro Private Banking.
Outside the Netherlands, ABN Amro is
developing a private banking digital offering
that consists a blend of omni-channel ser-
vices combined with personal interactions.
ABN Amro, on the whole, is investing €700m
($780m) up to 2017 in its IT systems.
“We have been a frontrunner in the field of
internet and mobile solutions, and will con-
tinuously adapt to the clients’ changing needs.
Through multi-channel services and interac-
tions, we support our clients as they would like
us to,” adds Seegers.
Being client-centric and delivering seamless
experiences is also top-of-mind for France-
headquartered BNP Paribas Wealth Manage-
ment. Thierry Derungs, chief digital officer at
BNP Paribas Wealth Management, tells PBI:
“CX is our core driver. All our digital choices
are driven by the added value they could pro-
vide to our clients. Our clients are modern,
entrepreneurial and open to new technology.
“One of our priorities is to ease and improve
client interactions to deliver a delightful and
seamless experience. To fulfil this objective,
we work with several technologies such as
electronic signature, biometric authentication,
real-time video streaming and others.”
Derungs adds: “A bit more than three years
ago, Vincent Lecomte and Sofia Merlo, co-
heads of BNP Paribas Wealth Management,
decided to hire me as chief digital officer. Since
then, they have always been strongly commit-
ted to our digital strategy – not only budget-
wise but also, much more importantly, by
positioning the digital strategy inside the core
priorities for the wealth management unit. CX
is larger than a solely digital strategy but digital
is one of its strong components.”
One of the latest deployments at BNP Pari-
bas Wealth Management is a new content man-
agement platform. The lender has also devel-
oped its Voice of Wealth app to educate and
inform clients about investments and market
trends as soon as they happen.
“The Voice of Wealth app has already
received excellent results, not only in terms of
downloads but in terms of return frequency
and time spent per visit. Almost 40% of the vis-
its last more than 10 minutes, with a bit more
than 75% of clients coming back in less than
three days,” explains Derungs.
Enhancing advisor productivity through
technology is equally important to private
banks. Empowering advisors with a range of
granular tools and training is an area in which
private banks are investing.
SGPB’s Mazaud says: “It is equally impor-
tant that our private bankers have the same
level of digital accessibility as their clients, and
become skilled at digital-product innovation.
“To nurture this shifting environment, we
have implemented new methods which aim to
integrate client and banker feedback (co-crea-
tion), provide quick delivery (test and learn)
In the last few years, private banks in Europe have increasingly focused on leveraging technology across
the whole organisation. Meghna Mukerjee highlights the areas where private banks are maximising
technology offerings to transform internal strategies and service propositions
PBI supplement.indd 5 02/06/2016 11:15:38
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Private Banker International
FINTECH
2016
and develop a ‘culture of possibility’ through
open innovation.”
Improvingdatamanagementandagility
Data management is crucial to the efficiency
jigsaw puzzle at private banks. To ensure best
practices and best-of-breed service in an eco-
system where client demands and regulatory
burdens are growing fast, private banks need
to get data management game-plans right.
Private banks are, currently, viewing data –
structured and unstructured – as a core asset.
There are different drivers behind gathering
data – for the regulators, to manage risks inter-
nally and better make strategic decisions, and
to understand and serve clients better across
different generations, which is important for
client segmentation.
“Following trends in artificial intelligence,
machine learning, natural language generation
and data visualisation corresponds to the need
to be an intelligent bank,” says Mazaud.
Derungs says: “Our interest in new technol-
ogies is in offering some clever combinations
that allows us to deliver new services with
strong added-value for our clients.
“As an example we, on the wealth manage-
ment side, do not look towards blockchain for
its money-transferring capacity. Our interest
is in the combination of blockchain (secured
data exchange), big data (advanced data analy-
sis) and artificial intelligence (automated data
quality improvement) to improve our know-
your-customer (KYC) and client onboarding
processes. They help us provide the seamless
experience our clients expect.”
Understanding client behaviour via the cor-
rect analysis of data can provide private banks
with crucial insights on how different demo-
graphics of clients – especially comparing the
older-generational wealthy to Generation Y
investors – like to handle wealth.
“Our clients are more knowledgeable now,
and there are more next-generation clients. Our
business model is, therefore, focused on deliv-
ering real added value. We manage the trust
that is invested in us by being in touch with
our clients and giving them the right advice in
complex situations,” says Seegers, ABN Amro
Private Banking.
The private banking industry has, in gen-
eral, suffered from underinvestment in data-
management capabilities. The challenge
within many organisations is that the data is
still fragmented across many databases and
spreadsheets.
However, a shift is underway – from legacy
to good practice in data management – at pri-
vate banks, keeping the volume, velocity and
variety of data in perspective.
Most private banks have not historically
had an end-to-end data management project in
place, but they are realising the importance of
such a project – streamlined and complete with
a clear roadmap and success metrics.
Two important pillars of SGPB’s all-round
IT renovation project are based on storage of
customer information and data analytics. “We
have to be an agile bank through continuous
delivery,” says Mazaud.
“Our vision for the future is to be vigilant
about where all the data we have is stored, and
to try to have a common language that enables
us to treat this information efficiently. We will
also focus on data analytics, whereby we take
data from the warehouse, treat it through algo-
rithms, and send it back to the end customer
through the bank’s front-end interface, or to
the banker, who can present this information
to our customers in an intelligent fashion.”
There is substantial scope for private banks
to use analytics to their advantage, and its
importance will continue to increase.
Ensuringsecurityandefficiency
Ensuring robust and up-to-date security provi-
sions is at the heart of all technology and strat-
egy developments at private banks.
BNP Paribas Wealth Management’s Derungs
says: “Secured sites are, of course, very impor-
tant, and we continuously improve them with
a strong focus on mobile to fulfil our clients’
expectations. With a penetration rate of over
40% in many countries, our secured solutions
evolutions are driven, again, by our CX pro-
gram to provide the services our clients expect
from us.”
SGPB’s Mazaud adds: “We keep focusing
on being a secured bank, and so are interested
in developments such as electronic signatures,
authentication and biometrics, security and
data protection.”
Alongside making platforms secure, private
banks are also prioritising being more social,
and using technology to do so. “As a social
bank, we are looking, for example, at crowd-
funding, social philanthropy, lifestyle manage-
ment and social networks,” says Mazaud.
Derungs adds: “Social media is also a recent
progress we made, with excellent engagement
results. We now have an efficient presence on
several social media platforms, and we con-
tinue to expand them.”
Private banks are also keen to use technology
to simplify operational complexities and speed
up long-drawn processes that are pain-points
for banks and customers.
As regulators demand robust KYC and anti-
money laundering architectures within private
banks, many lenders are upgrading their IT
systems to handle these extensive requirements.
Lengthy KYC due diligence processes have
become a well-acknowledged, industry-wide
issue. Detailed regulatory requirements have
increased the volume of paperwork that clients
have to run through. Its cumbersome nature
is an enormous cause for concern for private
banks, with some lenders taking up to three
months to fully onboard a single client.
However, getting the client onboarding pro-
cess right is vital. While manual processes still
dominate, digitisation in client onboarding has
become a priority for private banks. The chal-
lenge of easing this process is imminent. <
n PRIMARY CHANNEL FOR DOING BUSINESS IN
2-3 YEARS, EMEA (CLIENT)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Education
Service
Advice
%
Digital Face-to-face Contact centre
Source: EY report, 2016,
Could your client needs be your competitive advantage?
n PRIMARY CHANNEL FOR DOING BUSINESS IN
2-3 YEARS, EMEA (FIRM)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Education
Service
Advice
%
Digital Contact centre
Source: EY report, 2016,
Could your client needs be your competitive advantage?
PBI supplement.indd 6 02/06/2016 11:15:40
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Private Banker International
FINTECH
2016
North America: Concrete jungles where
FinTech dreams are made
N
orth America has all the ingredients
to lead the FinTech evolution taking
place across the banking sector -
particularly in wealth management.
The US is the birthplace of the robo-advice
disrupters – with companies such as Wealth-
front and Betterment leading the way.
Across the US and Canada, private banks
can be divided into three groups – leaders,
learners and laggards – when it comes to
technological adoption.
A small number of leaders are embracing
all forms of innovation and are looking for
new ways to generate revenue. There is a fast-
growing segment of learners, which are open
to new opportunities. There are, no doubt,
laggards – institutions that are traditionally
set in their ways and unwilling to change.
PBI spoke to some of the leading private
banks in the US and Canada that are sig-
nificantly investing in their technology road-
maps. We asked them about current technol-
ogy priorities, digital offerings, future focus
and FinTech trends of interest.
North America is ahead of the FinTech adoption and innovation curve. Agile and flexible back-end IT
systems, and sophisticated customer-facing digital channels are crucial in engaging current and future
clients. PBI asks leading North American private banks what they are doing to win the technology race
Dennis Hall, head, data and client digital services, Northern Trust
Whatareyourtoptechnologypriorities?
Over the past few years, Northern Trust has
made a significant investment to bolster our
technology platform to deliver new, innovative
and contemporary solutions.
One of our top technology priorities has
been the development of an advisor worksta-
tion. Northern Trust is redefining relationship
management with the launch of our advisor
workstation, powered by Salesforce.
Developed through an extensive analysis of
the customer experience (CX), the worksta-
tion will streamline the way we approach both
businessdevelopmentandclientservicing,with
a seamless advisor interface between desktop,
mobile and tablet. Key features include an inte-
grated 360-degree view of each relationship,
servicing automation of high-volume requests,
cross-team client support and mobile access.
WhatisNortherntrustcurrentlydoinginthe
digitalspace?
We continue to focus on our business-driven,
technology-enabled strategy, aligned with our
clients’evolvingpreferences,whichareincreas-
ingly becoming more digital.
We work with our clients to evolve and
maintain our industry-leading position with
client-facing websites and mobile apps. As
mentioned, we also recently began rolling out
our new advisor workstation.
What are the main objectives of your
technologyprovisions?
The main objectives are to create a differentiat-
ing Northern Trust digital experience, which
aligns with our personalised approach to inter-
acting with current and prospective clients.
Technology is a critical enabler for our busi-
ness model. We remain focused on providing
tools to our advisors that allow them to effi-
ciently serve current and prospective clients in
contemporary ways and enhance their ability
to deliver on the advisory relationship across
multiple channels.
We also provide intuitive digital capabili-
ties directly to clients, which enable them to
remain constantly connected with Northern
Trust whenever or wherever they prefer.
What is unique about Northern Trust’s
approach?
We believe our advisor and client technology
platforms are unique in the volume of com-
plexfinancialdatatheyprovidetoouradvisors
and clients in an intuitive, easy-to-use way. We
design applications from the outside in, tap-
ping into client and advisor perspectives that
leverage human-centered design.
This has allowed us to stay closely con-
nected with our workforce and client base to
deliver experiences that are well aligned with
how our advisors do their jobs and how our
clients want to interact.
What are the most interesting technology
trendsyouhaveseeninprivatewealth?
I am excited about some of the recent advance-
ments related to digital security, such as bio-
metrics. We are consistently focused on pro-
viding a secure digital experience to our clients
and historically some of the standard security
protocols(eg:strongpasswords,dualauthenti-
cation,physicaltokens)didnotalwaysprovide
a well-received user experience.
Some new biometric security advancements
provide the opportunity to increase security
and usability at the same time. That will be
well received by many clients.
Are there any plans to implement a robo-
advisor-styleservice?
We continue to advance the digital capabilities
we make available directly to our clients in a
way that is well aligned with our client service
model. We have a differentiating combination
of hands-on, advisor-led client interactions,
which are augmented by unique self-directed
client digital experiences.
We believe the mix of face-to-face versus
digital experiences will continually evolve
based on technology advancements and indi-
vidual client preferences. We will continue to
innovate in this space, and be prepared to sup-
port our clients’ unique needs and preferences.
Anyfuturetechnologyplansyoucanshare?
We are continuing to evolve our advisor
and client platforms, with multiple releases
planned in 2016 and subsequent years. Cur-
rent focus areas include Advanced Advisor-
Client Digital Collaboration, Mobile Enabled
Holistic Advice Delivery, and Mobile Enabled
Goals Driven Wealth Management.
We view our platform as continually evolv-
ing, and are continuing to work with advisors
and clients to define the next generation of
digital capability for Northern Trust. <
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JR Lowry, EMEA head of Global Exchange, State Street
What are your top technology priorities?
While State Street doesn’t have a wealth man-
agement business per se, we do provide a range
of services to wealth managers, including fund
administration and custody, portfolio manage-
ment software, data management, risk, liquid-
ity, and performance analytics; trading services
such as for forex and cash management; and
investment vehicles like ETFs and 40-Act funds.
In this context, we are actively focused on
several technology areas including:
•	 DataGX data management tools and services
to support wealth managers’ investment
management and customer acquisition/
retention activities.
•	 Enhanced risk and liquidity analytics via our
truView service, reflecting recent regulatory
provisions and changes in market dynamics.
•	 Continued investment in managed account
support via our Infrahedge platform and our
Allocare AMS portfolio management tools.
•	 Trading tools in multiple asset classes that
offer ‘one-stop shop’ access on an agency
basis to a variety of counterparties.
•	 Renewal of our core wealth management
servicing systems as part of our corporate
digitisation program the we call Beacon.
What is State Street currently doing in the
digital space?
We have a five-year corporate digitisation
program called Beacon, which aims to drive
renewal of our core technology engines and an
extension of our digital capabilities.
The name Beacon has become an acronym
that describes our aspirations: best-in-class
service and solutions, end-to-end delivery,
agile methodologies and teams, client-centric
design and innovation, one view of the client,
and next-generation technology. We are aiming
to deliver greater value to clients through:
•	 Digital integration, that spans device types
and reduces the paper, faxes, and emails
that are still too prevalent in our operations.
•	 More rapid processing, that is a move away
from batch systems to near real-time pro-
cessing and data.
•	 One source of truth, in how we, our clients,
and the market sees it.
•	 Insight, through enhanced analytics and
turnkey services that allow our clients to
focus on investment management, rather
than operations and data management.
Our data and analytics business, State Street
Global Exchange, is heavily focused on provid-
ing technology-centric tools and services to
our client base, including data management,
analytics, software, indices and indicators, and
advisory support.
What are the main objectives of your technol-
ogy provisions?
Our overall objective is to continue to provide
leading tools and services that help our clients
who themselves are in the wealth management
space. These tools span portfolio management,
risk and compliance, data management, invest-
ment operations, and fund administration.
What are the most interesting technology
trends you have seen in private wealth?
While the core of the technology focus in wealth
management is on better applying existing
technologies, there are a few areas that rep-
resent innovation and experimentation by
the industry. They include social technologies
and gamification as a means to better engage
millennial savers; behavioral analytics that
are designed to identify investment bias; and
machine learning algorithms and natural lan-
guage processing to accelerate research, bet-
ter target offers, and personalise the customer
experience.
Less exciting but equally important are the
efforts focused on enhanced KYC and AML tech-
nology, some of which draw on the experience
of the global intelligence community.
Any future technology plans you can share?
Some of our newer products are focused on
helping our clients aggregate and distil aca-
demic and investment research in a way that is
tailored to their individual needs and interests.
Thistoolusesamixofmachinelearning,natural
language processing, and human curation.
Another service will provide sentiment ana-
lytics, based on the daily scanning of 25,000
news sources. Across our technology efforts,
we see the importance of gearing our tools to
mobile devices and providing an integrated
cross-device experience. Our approach in Glob-
al Exchange is open architecture, and we are
actively plugged in to the FinTech world to stay
abreast of new technologies and ideas, and to
collaborate where appropriate.
Finally, our corporate Emerging Technolo-
gies Center was formed last year to look into
the future and identify technologies that could
have a meaningful impact on our clients and
on us. Not surprisingly, blockchain technology
is a key focus for this group, but they are also
researching areas such as unstructured data
management. <
John Bai, MD, client experience transformation, Scotia Wealth Management
What do you believe are your top technol-
ogy priorities?
Across Scotia Wealth Management – which
includes private banking, investment man-
agement, and estate and trust services – we
are looking for ways to leverage technology
to enhance the client experience (CX).
Scotia Wealth Management has a com-
prehensive three-year digital roadmap that
addresses key client expectations around
the onboarding process, client self-serve
options, and enhanced client access to infor-
mation.
We will be exploring, introducing and/
or deepening digital enablers such as bio-
metrics, data analysis and gamification to
enhance client engagement and experience.
What is Scotia Wealth Management cur-
rently doing in the digital space?
Scotia Wealth Management is well aligned
with the bank’s digital transformation to
leverage technology to enable our customer-
focused strategy.
Our digital strategy will be focused on:
•	 Simplifying the client experience by
focusing on the client and making it
easier to do business with us through
effective and efficient processes.
•	 Making the client end-to-end journey
as seamless as possible by creating a
technology solution that aligns with
our integrated wealth management
business model.
•	 Leveraging big data analytics and capa-
bilities to proactively develop more
relevant products and services that
can be delivered to clients in a timely
fashion as their lives evolve and their
needs potentially become increasingly
complex.
•	 Increasing client convenience by estab-
lishing self-serve options so they can
securely access and self-serve their
accounts when and where they want to.
•	 Increasing client security by integrat-
ing KYC/compliance/AML activities into
the process.
What are the main objectives of your tech-
nology provisions?
The world is increasingly complex, and client
needs and expectations are evolving accord-
ingly.
A number of trends are having a profound
impact on the lives of our clients, including
the transfer of personal wealth, consolida-
tion of high net worth households, the aging
population, and business succession.
Our digital strategy helps to ensure that we
can proactively help our clients plan for, and
develop solutions across all stages of their
lives.
Digital strategy is integral to the bank’s
overall strategy of becoming more customer-
centric, meeting changing customer expec-
tations; improving our speed to market, and
achieving greater cost efficiencies.
What is unique about Scotia Wealth Man-
agement’s approach?
Our investments in our technology platform
are designed to take a customer-centric
approach to technology development that
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Amit Sahasrabudhe, head, wealth management strategy and digital solutions, RBC
What are your top technology priorities?
Our technology priorities at Royal Bank of Can-
ada (RBC) Wealth Management are focused on
meeting the evolving needs of our clients and
client-facing professionals, and can be grouped
into five key areas:
•	 Client experience: We are focused on
enhancing our service offerings through
digitally enabled experiences. This includes
improving the mobile and online experi-
ence, and creating a seamless end-to-end
client journey with a focus on onboarding
and account opening.
•	 Data and agility: In order to adapt to a rap-
idly changing environment, we have priori-
tised platforms and tools that continuously
support our speed, agility, data insight, and
transaction-capability needs.
•	 Platform simplification: We are continu-
ously simplifying and automating our key
business processes where relevant.
•	 Operational excellence: Client data pri-
vacy and cyber security are critical consid-
erations. We are committed to offering our
clients technology platforms that are reli-
able and secure.
•	 Empowering advisors: We are dedicated to
providing our advisors with the technology
tools, capabilities and resources necessary
to be more productive and meet the evolv-
ing needs of our clients.
What is RBC doing currently in the digital
space?
Our focus on digital advancement is under-
pinned by our ability to listen to client and
advisor needs, and deliver premium products.
In 2016 we focused on advancing the digital
experiencesweoffertoourclientsandadvisors.
We recently launched a new and modernised
global wealth management website with a
responsivedesign,engagingcontentandacon-
sistent experience for our clients.
We are also making significant investments
to empower our wealth advisors, enhance cli-
ent service, strengthen relationships and drive
productivity. We are enhancing our online and
mobile platforms to provide greater mobility to
our wealth advisors and allow clients to have
more choice and flexibility in how they interact
with us.
We recently launched RBC Wealth Manage-
ment myGPS, a web-based, integrated applica-
tionthathelpsRBCNorthAmericanwealthadvi-
sors facilitate interactive, goals-based advice
with their clients.
We worked closely with our advisors in the
development process, which provided a unique
opportunity to address key challenges with
existing tools – providing one holistic view of
the client’s goals, needs and priorities; reduc-
ing data re-keying of information by integrat-
ing with existing the CRM tool and account
level data; and providing digital and interactive
outputs to support deeper wealth management
discussions with clients.
What are the main objectives of your technol-
ogy provisions?
Our clients have told us they want technology
solutions that enrich their wealth management
experience. We view advances in new technol-
ogyanddigitisationasanopportunitytodeliver
richerinsights,providechoiceandconvenience,
enhance productivity, and be increasingly rel-
evant to the future generation of clients.
What is unique about RBC’s approach?
As part of one of the largest financial institu-
tions in the world, RBC Wealth Management has
several competitive advantages.
First, we have scale, so we have the resources
to invest for growth, including in our technol-
ogy. Second, we are able to actively collaborate
with diverse partners across the organisation
– focused on a similar goal of advancing tech-
nology solutions through sharing insights and
leveraging common capabilities.
Finally, we are embracing a new way of work-
ingthatisfocusedonagiledeliveryandacceler-
ateddecision-making–anintegralwayofdoing
business at RBC. We are not losing sight of what
has driven our success to date.
Are there any plans to implement a robo-advi-
sor-style service?
Wesupportinvestorchoice,andbelievethatcli-
ents should be able to select the advice and ser-
vice model that suits them. Our HNW and UHNW
clients tell us they value their wealth manager
as the cornerstone of their relationship and
that our advice is critical to meeting their com-
plex needs. We are also investing in digitally
enabling advisors and exploring our options to
offer clients additional ways to invest with us.
Earlier this year, our US Wealth business
announced a collaboration with digital wealth
management provide FutureAdvisor on a pilot
program for select clients, called RBC Investor
Gateway. This will provide our US financial advi-
sors with the opportunity to reach a broader
range of clients. <
n PROPORTION OF US HNWIS EXPECTING
MOST OR ALL FUTURE WEALTH MANAGEMENT
RELATIONSHIPS TO BE DIGITAL IN 5 YEARS
0
20
40
60
80
100
%
Aged under 40 Aged 40 and above
Source: Capgemini and RBC Global HNW Insights survey 2014
enables and enhances the client-advisor
relationship, not replaces it.
The clients we are targeting have bespoke
needs. Technology plays an important role in
the delivery of advice and the overall CX.
Take for instance our account-opening
process. Most digital account-opening pro-
cesses focus on speed. However, when talk-
ing to our clients, we heard that when they
are transferring large sums of money, open-
ing up an account in three minutes or less
was not a key priority.
Clients are coming to us for advice and
to establish a relationship with an advisor.
So instead of focusing solely on how fast
we can open the account, which may result
in taking the advisor out of the onboarding
experience, we are developing a solution to
improve the onboarding experience that will
allow for deeper conversations around what
the client wants to achieve.
What are the most interesting technology
trends you have seen in private wealth?
The use of biometrics, gamification, social
media, data analytics, and the Internet of
Things are all interesting ways technology is
being used in our industry.
The experimentation with the Internet
of Things and how it can be used to better
understand clients is currently an interest-
ing trend.
Are there any plans to implement a robo-
advisor-style service?
Scotiabank offers a continuum of wealth
management services that range from a com-
pletely self-directed experience all the way
through to customised advice from teams of
professionals who provide a wide range of
expertise.
Any future technology plans you can share?
We will start releasing a new digital onboard-
ing process in 2016.
We will start with a few full-service invest-
ment accounts and then enhance the offer-
ing to eventually encompass the majority of
investment accounts, as well as broaden the
offering across the wealth management plat-
form to all the businesses. <
John Bai, Scotia Wealth Management (cont.)
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The importance of aggregating, managing
and using data for private banks
T
he modern economy, labelled as the
Personal Data economy, is portrayed as
data-driven and can only be realised if
data can flow and drive new innovation
in all sectors.
The private banking industry is highly
impacted by this trend, as gathering personal
financial information from clients is key. Hav-
ing a consolidated view of customers’ finan-
cial data allows private bankers to target and
customise their advice in order to achieve their
clients’ personal goals.
Private bankers are using consolidation
services to collect financial data from all the
banks and financial institutions where a cli-
ent holds online accounts, displaying the data
into a single interface. The data aggregated is
then shown as an online summary of the cli-
ent’s assets, funds, stocks and other holdings,
which could be completed by other services
from the private bank such as personalised
analysis.
The personal data aggregated by these
services has to be protected to guarantee the
highest security and privacy. Data-driven
economies can only be achieved when there is
consistency with user preferences and expec-
tations; it is key to earn trust by avoiding
breaches of data security.
Personal data is now seen as more valuable
than gold. Breaches in personal data security
are an alarming issue, specifically for the pri-
vate banking industry accessing highly private
information such as clients’ accounts across
all their financial institution relationships.
Last year, we witnessed a mini data security
war between several retail banks and third-
party account aggregation providers in the US.
JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of
America cut off access to account aggregation
services for the fear of a security breach. The
Wall Street Journal reported that the banks
“have raised concerns that the aggregator sites
may threaten consumers’ account security and
the performance of bank websites.”
A JPMorgan spokeswoman said: “In the
meantime, we want our customers to realise
that they may be trading account security for
convenience when handing over their pass-
word” to third-party sites.
The known downsides to account aggrega-
tion are highlighted in the server-side aggrega-
tion approach. Privacy is a concern because
users must disclose their usernames and pass-
words to the banks or third parties providing
the aggregation.
The end result: the ‘domino effect’ of data
security. Customers are opting for simplicity
and easy access. Financial institutions are in a
bind because the perceived implication of con-
venience is the loss of privacy and access by
third parties to their clients’ sensitive financial
data without their explicit consent.
In a world where personal data security
is increasingly under threat, how do private
banks offer their customers comprehensive
account aggregation tools without becom-
ing the custodian of customer data, particu-
larly the customers usernames and passwords,
and therefore a larger target for hackers and
increasing the risk of data loss?
Private banks comprehend customer
demand for simplicity, aggregating all their
financial accounts in one place. The answer to
their concerns is to opt for a client-side aggre-
gation model, where all the data is aggregated
and saved on the user’s device and not shared
with third parties. The aggregators blocked
by the US banks last year are aggregating the
user’s financial data and store that data on the
service provider’s server in the cloud, the so-
called server-side aggregation model.
It means the data aggregation service pro-
vider saves the login details and passwords
of the user on their server in order to access
the data whenever they need. This common
architecture is not the only way to perform
account aggregation. As a secure and private
alternative, the client-side aggregation model,
invented and patented by eWise in 2000,
never requires the customer to disclose their
online credentials to the aggregator provider
or the private bank, and all aggregation is per-
formed on the customer’s chosen device.
All data and information is encrypted and
stored on the customer’s device in a Personal
Data Vault, where the customer can choose to
share their data with his trusted private bank-
er through permission management.
In line with security best practice, encryp-
tion keys are not stored on the device but rath-
er on ‘zero-knowledge’ servers. Separating the
place where the personal data is stored – on
the user device – and where the key to open
the Personal Data Vault is stored – on eWise
servers – guarantees from compromising the
user’s Personal Data Vault.
In the eWise client-side model, the private
bank offering the data aggregation service
never becomes the custodian of the custom-
er’s online credentials. Through permissions
granted by the customer, information they
hold with external financial services provid-
ers may be shared with the private bank from
the Personal Data Vault.
This approach not only offers customers
greater control and choice over the personal
data, it eliminates the compliance, legal and
security risks of online credential custody for
the bank. An effect of implicit credential shar-
ing through the server-side aggregation model
means that the service provider has access to
users’ financial data and can then anonymise
and sell that data.
In a quest for companies to invest in cus-
tomer insight and explore better opportunities
for cross-selling and increase in revenue, per-
sonal data is the key to access those insights.
There is a very high demand from companies
to acquire this data. But taking care of users’
privacy also takes care of the company’s
objective.
The goal of getting more insights in order
to achieve better cross-selling opportunities
could be achieved in a private and secure
way that is mutually beneficial. With eWise
patented client-side aggregation, customers
take control back over their personal data
and benefit from choosing who they want to
share data with.
Learn more at www.ewise.com
David Hamilton, president and CEO of eWise Group, comments on the impact of data-driven economies on
private banks and their data aggregator service providers
PBI supplement.indd 10 02/06/2016 11:15:42
www.privatebankerinternational.com FinTech 2016 y 11
Private Banker International
FINTECH
2016
Cyber Security at private banks – no
taking chances
A
key concern for private banks in all
regions is cyber security threats. Cyber
security is crucial to maintaining client
trust and ensuring data protection.
Cyber security threats and breaches are
certainly not exclusive to the private banking
and wealth management industry. IT security
threats have been problematic since the exist-
ence of the internet, and have surged in recent
years as technology use has grown.
Cyber-attacks are the new big enemy in
private banking. For any industry, an attack
can have damaging effects; for the private
banking industry, which is reliant on client
trust, it can be catastrophic. As private banks
and wealth managers continue to prioritise
cyber security, much remains to be done.
High net worth individuals (HNWIs) and
ultra-HNWIs are attractive targets for cyber
fraudsters. In the digital age, it has become
progressively easier for fraudsters to gain
information on individuals, especially on
high-profile figures whose wealth informa-
tion is in the public domain. It is not only
about money fraud with HNWIs, but also
personal data.
“HNWIs, their families and businesses, are
an obvious target for cyber-crime, arguably
more attractive to criminals than the larger
numbersofretailbankingcustomers.Thewider
use of digital channels in private banking also
increases the risk of exposure to cyber criminal
activity for this group,” says Jamie Woodhouse,
MD, finance and risk services at Accenture.
Richard Horne, cyber security partner
at PwC, adds: “The amount that criminals
are able to find out about individuals online
is staggering.”
One of the most significant cyber risks is
phishing, an attempt to gain sensitive informa-
tion such as PINs, usernames, passwords and
card details, usually via bogus emails.
Although social engineering methods such as
phishing are not the most sophisticated forms
of cyber-attack, they can often be convincing
with the potential to fool clients if they are not
vigilant. According to the US Department of
Homeland Security, around 100m malicious
emails enter inboxes each day. Fraudsters’ tac-
tics for targeting private banking clients can dif-
fer from mass attacks on retail banking clients,
and tend to focus on individuals, requiring the
fraudstertoamassagreateramountofresearch.
There is a risk that private banking clients
could be more vulnerable to phishing, as they
are more likely to correspond with relationship
managers by email.
“Therehavebeenseriouscasesofcybercrime
that have affected private banks – both on and
off the public record. These include instances
of phishing, insider and cyber-theft of customer
details, and also loss of customer data via third
parties, including printers and legal firms,” says
Accenture’s Woodhouse.
Shiftingfrompreventiontoresilience
According to Woodhouse, private banks are
implementing strong provisions to safeguard
themselves after realising the scale and serious-
ness of the threats – from trust, reputational,
regulatory and remediation angles.
“We see more action across the organisa-
tion; CEOs are shifting from pure prevention
to strengthening overall business resilience.
“CIOs are building more robust technology
strategies, prioritised by threat and the assets
they want to protect. CROs are working to
quantify the risks and build cyber-risk into their
enterprise risk frameworks and controls.
“Relationship managers are working to
help clients cut back on human errors that give
openings to criminals. It is inevitable that some
cyber-attacks will succeed – so resilience think-
ing includes planning and testing responses for
when criminals do break through or insiders
take out client data or cause damage.”
A number of private banks, including Coutts,
Barclays and Standard Bank, have adopted bio-
metric technology to verify client authenticity.
Coutts has implemented messaging services
via its tablet and smartphone apps, allowing
for greater degree of security over emails that
have not been encrypted. Authentication can be
granted via fingerprint rather than pass-code.
“Innovations such as TouchID, voice and
behavioural biometrics not only serve as pri-
vate banking industry firsts, but have also dra-
matically reduced fraud and enhanced the client
experience,” says Robert Hemphill, executive
director, digital solutions at Coutts.
A risk-savvy corporate culture, adds Wood-
house, needs to be embedded across the entire
organisation.
“Firewalls will not protect employees
from falling prey to social engineering, for
example. Data losses have happened when
disguised criminals accessed physical data
servers in banks, or send well-crafted emails
to top executives. So it is important for all
employees – the board, relationship manag-
ers, facilities managers, CROs, COOs and
CIOs – to have the right tools and culture to
manage these risks,” he says.
Creating a secure environment, mitigat-
ing cyber-risks and investing in appropriate
security measures are vital for private banks
to cope with the ongoing regulatory changes.
It is a question of time before private banks
will need to become even more connected
than they are now, with the introduction of
additional distribution channels for clients
and third-party partnerships, and potentially
new cyber threats will arise; financial institu-
tions need to be ready for the new reality.
Banks with legacy IT infrastructure will
find this process of enhancing security systems
much harder, and will be exposing themselves
to increased vulnerability.
Woodhouse says: “Digitisation, when done
right, also enables banks to build in automated
defences and advanced surveillance that can
help fight cyber crime and accelerate recovery.”
He also points out that technology is moving
fast, both within banks and through collabora-
tion with FinTech providers.
“Data protection practices and technolo-
gies like DLP, information rights management,
encryption and restricted use of removable
storage devices are also being adopted along
with penetration testing and war-gaming,”
he explains. <
Creating a secure environment, mitigating cyber-risks and investing in appropriate security measures
are crucial for private banks. PBI speaks with industry experts to assess how vulnerable private banks
currently are, and what is being done about cyber threats
PBI supplement.indd 11 02/06/2016 11:15:42
www.privatebankerinternational.com12 y FinTech 2016
APAC TOP 20 AUM BENCHMARK Private Banker InternationalPrivate Banker International
FINTECH
2016
WealthInitiative: Identifying synergies
and opportunities
R
eal estate, art and passion invest-
ments – such as classic cars, yachts,
private jets or rare watches – and
direct equity investments represent a
dynamic multi-trillion-dollar market. Yet tra-
ditional wealth management institutions and
family offices are remarkably ill equipped to
cater to the growing demand from their high
net worth individual (HNWI) clients.
While technology makes it a breeze to
trade shares and other securities, wealth
managers often lack the right tools to find
their clients a new holiday home, sell their
rare watch collections or find the right pri-
vate healthcare company to acquire.
FinTech startup WealthInitiative, founded
in 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland, has launched
a platform geared towards the needs of
wealth management institutions and family
offices to facilitate transactions in this fast
expanding universe.
The new WealthInitiative platform is used
internally to help wealth management insti-
tutions explore synergies among their own
clients in the various departments and loca-
tions. It provides institutions with a new
internal tool and creates a secure market
where clients’ assets can easily be traded.
The platform is available as a cloud-based
solution, or can be hosted on banks’ IT
infrastructure. WealthInitiative is offered as
a white-labelled platform, and is primarily
used by wealth managers on behalf of their
HNWI clients.
Unlike startups that seek to disrupt the tra-
ditional wealth management model, Zurich-
based WealthInitiative offers a solution that
aims to bolster private banks’ and family
offices’ competitive edge.
By facilitating secure and efficient transac-
tions in real estate, art and passion invest-
ments and direct equity investments, Wealth-
Initiative enhances wealth managers’ value
proposition in relation to asset classes that
are often most dear to their clients’ hearts.
By matching supply and demand through
a trusted platform, private banks and family
offices avoid the steep fees normally charged
by intermediaries, allowing them to generate
additional revenues. Moreover, the platform
speeds up transactions, enhances confiden-
tiality, and significantly lowers costs for cli-
ents, leading to a superior client experience.
In the near future, WealthInitiative will
allow various wealth management institu-
tions and family offices to securely reach
out and connect with each other, multiply-
ing transaction flow, and creating additional
opportunities for clients and institutions.
WealthInitiative will thus develop into a
matchmaking platform for private banks,
family offices and key institutions around
the world to enable them direct contact from
seller to buyer, eliminating steep fees pertain-
ing to the trade of tangible assets and the
transactions related to direct private equity
investments.
The competitive advantage of WealthIniti-
ative beyond its niche concept is the state-of-
the art digital features inbuilt in the platform.
Easy to use and equipped with the latest tech-
nologies available, the platform enables fast
and intuitive interaction.
WealthInitiative is also planning to work
on the integration of blockchain technology
to allow tracing provenance and ownership
of assets traded on its platform, which will
further add to the security of transactions.
Founder of WealthInitiative, investment
advisor and art investment expert Douglas
Azar, says: “I strongly believe that creating
synergies among clients is the next growth
driver for wealth management institutions
and family offices.
“Throughout my experience in private
banking and art investment research, I kept
on wondering about the lack of tools that
would allow wealth management institu-
tions to better exploit this untapped poten-
tial. WealthInitiative was born out of a desire
to fill this gap.” <
WealthInitiative was founded in 2015 in
Zurich, Switzerland by investment advisor
and art investment expert Douglas Azar.
The company launched its online plat-
form in early 2016 to foster synergies among
wealth management institutions related to
transactions in real estate, art and passion
investments and direct company investments.
WealthInitiative’s offering is geared
towards wealth management institutions,
asset management firms and family offices
globally, and allows efficient, confidential
and secure trading of assets on behalf of their
high net worth clients.
The company is backed by an internation-
al group of private investors based in major
financial hubs.
Swiss FinTech startup WealthInitiative is helping private banks and family offices to unlock synergies
among their HNWI clients. To do so, WealthInitiative has launched a platform to cut out the middlemen in
real estate, art and passion investments, and direct equity investments
PBI supplement.indd 12 02/06/2016 11:15:46
www.privatebankerinternational.com FinTech 2016 y 13
APAC TOP 20 AUM BENCHMARKPrivate Banker International
Lighting the way in
FinTech: Private
banks in Asia-Pacific
G
lobally, retail and corporate banks
– as well as payment firms – have
taken digital engagement with cli-
ents to the next level, by using tech-
nology innovation as a cornerstone of their
business models. For private banks, this shift
continues to be gradual.
In Asia, though, private banks have
evolved and adopted new technologies at a
rapid rate. Wealthy clients in Asia prefer to
meet relationship managers (RMs) face-to-
face regularly, which is a cultural nuance, but
at the same time they also view sophisticated
technology provisions as must-have services,
instead of a nice-to-haves.
Nifty new players such as China-head-
quartered Alibaba have shaken up the tra-
ditional banking market in Asia, and made
customers accustomed to easy, real-time ser-
vices and personalised offerings.
Private banks in markets such as Singa-
pore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are particu-
larly forward-thinking. Many are actively
working with startups to identify new oppor-
tunities. Some regulators are promoting this
culture of collaboration as well.
Singaporean private banks, such as DBS,
Bank continue to digitise themselves and
introduce niche offerings such as personal
RM ‘avatars’ and investment dashboards.
At the Private Banker International Global
Wealth Conference in October 2015, Tan Su
Shan, group head, consumer banking and
wealth management, DBS Bank, emphasised
the importance of being aware of new tech-
nologies and maximising their potential:
“If artificial intelligence is indeed able to
combine cognitive computing for structured
and unstructured data, as well as create an
emotional linkage with the client, I want to
know about it,” she said.
PBI puts the spotlight on four private
banks that are leading the way in fintech
adoption in Asia-Pacific, to find out what
they are doing and examine their approaches.
Asia-Pacific is undoubtedly the region to watch for FinTech developments. Several private banks are ahead
of Europe and the US in terms of delivering innovative client experiences. Xiou Ann Lim talks to the
leading players and examines the most interesting offerings in the region
A people-first approach to fintech at Credit Suisse
A year ago, Credit Suisse rolled out its Digital Private Banking platform in
Singapore. The number of clients using it has increased more than tenfold
over the last year, and the user base has almost doubled since access was
extended to iPhones three months ago.
François Monnet, Credit Suisse’s head of private banking Greater
China, and sponsor of the Digital Private Banking project in Asia -Pacific,
says clients have responded very positively to the platform.
“A fast-growing number of clients are using the digital channel, log-
ging in more often and spending more time on the platform,” he adds.
Monnet reveals clients spend an average of around 15 minutes per
login session on the digital platform, and they log in an average of six
times a month. “Our most active user logs in more than five times a day,”
he discloses.
Monnet says that the platform has given Credit Suisse more channels
anddatatobetterunderstandclients’investmentpreferencesandbehav-
iour. “We found that while clients tend to conduct their digital banking
activities on weekdays, they are also using it on weekends,” he shares.
The platform also provides insights on client usage preferences. Across
all devices, Monnet says that the top three most popular functionalities
are Portfolio Overview, Trade and Research.
“In terms of devices, clients prefer using the iPad to view their portfo-
lios, trade and get investment ideas, while they use the iPhone mainly for
quick viewing of their portfolios as well as acquiring news and insights
on markets,” he adds.
“We observe our clients using the platform to source for investment
opportunities and ideas. Through the trading tools available, they are
empowered to act on market opportunities at their own convenience,
while also maintaining a close dialogue with their RMs,” Monnet shares,
PBI supplement.indd 13 02/06/2016 11:15:50
www.privatebankerinternational.com14 y FinTech 2016
Private Banker International
FINTECH
2016
adding that this has resulted in positive feedback from clients.
Despite its importance, digitisation in wealth management is com-
plex. Not all players can undertake the challenges and commit significant
investments and resources to fintech, as several pieces need to come
together.
According to Monnet, the first and most time-consuming part of the
journey is to prepare the platform and banking infrastructure that will
provide the services to the front-end applications. This includes the core
banking and other systems to support the required security, automation
and data standards.
“Once you have the platform ready, only then can you start building the
client-facing applications. That is the sexy part, because it is new, fresh
and reinvents the banking value proposition for the client,” Monnet says.
Additionally, Monnet cautions that the bank itself has to be ready to
enable the service. “It is a new target operating model and way of work-
ing together to be a 24/7, almost real-time business. This requires us to
rethink the way we work, our processes and tools.
“It is complex to engage everyone in the organisation to embrace this
changeandunderstandwhatgoingdigitalreallymeans,”Monnetexplains.
To help convey the substantial advantages of the digital private banking
platform to both clients and front-office teams, Credit Suisse put in place
an ongoing change programme. “This change process to adopt the digital
private banking platform has been extremely successful with Credit Suisse
employees and clients,” he says.
Having all these pieces working together – an engaging front-end appli-
cation fully integrated into the IT infrastructure of the bank and propelled
by internal adoption – is a multi-year commitment.
“From the beginning, we designed and shaped our digital solution based
on in-depth client discussions to get their valuable input,” Monnet reveals.
The features of the first product release were designed, developed and
prioritised based on what these clients expect from the bank. “So, we are
continuing to have regular conversations with our clients and RMs to get
their feedback and we continuously enhance our digital private banking
platform to increase the breadth and depth of what we offer digitally,” he
adds.
Monnet views technology as an enabler and not a replacement: “Our
RMs will remain at the centre of the client relationship and private banking
continues to be a people-based business.”
He believes that new digital capabilities are giving the RMs a new plat-
form to better serve their clients, focus on higher-value-added advisory
activities, and manage higher volumes.
“We see the digital platform as being complementary to the expertise
of our RMs. We are simplifying access to the knowledge and insights of the
bank, so our clients can identify and act on the information that is most
relevant to them – whenever they choose,” Monnet says.
The emergence of fintech may seem to be highly advantageous to the
private banking industry, but it does bring its fair share of threats, and
Monnet believes that cyber security is one such element at risk.
“I believe our peers in banking and finance, as well as other sectors,
face the same threat. As a leading private bank, our first priority is client
security and privacy – we take it extremely seriously.”
Monnet discloses that the digital private banking platform will be rolled
out to the Hong Kong booking centre in mid-2016. New features, function-
alities and language capabilities will be added.<
Credit Suisse (cont.)
Fintech at Citi Private Bank: Getting it right first time
Citi Private Bank’s Investment Lab developed Idea in 2014 with the aim of
helping clients with cash and liquidity solutions, deposits, lending, estate
planning and investments.
According to the global head of Citi Private Bank Investment Lab, Philip
Watson: “Idea helps us better understand our clients and what they are
exposed to, as well as what types of investments they have.” It also makes
recommendations and helps to identify risks in their portfolios.
Idea consolidates all these pieces of information and cuts through the
noise to get the most relevant information and channel to the client as
quicklyaspossible.“Thisenablestheadvisorstoinstantlyunderstandwho
is impacted by what,” says Watson.
As efficient as the platform is, Watson doesn’t think robo-advisory will
completely replace relationship managers anytime soon. “In Asia, we look
after approximately 5,000 individuals and families – the needs differ from
client to client,” he explains.
While he believes that use of data and technology is empowering, pri-
vate banking delivers very unique solutions to the needs of individuals. “I
do not see competition between the two,” he says.
“Itdoesnotsubstitutethedialoguethatissupposedtohappenwiththe
client about things outside of the insights that data can provide,” Watson
reiterates.
These could be transition or changes in the family or transfer of wealth
between generations. Instead, he believes that there is a natural fusion
that enables a productive dialogue to happen with the client.
Apart from the ‘softer’ issues in wealth management, Watson also
believes that fintech will not be able to fulfil clients’ need for education.
“One thing we have observed is that our clients have a great appetite
for education,” he shares.
The Investment Lab produces around 1,500 case studies for Citi Private
Bank clients every year. So – while education can be facilitated through
technology – he believes that there are some rudiments that are human-
to-human, which cannot be replaced.
The Investment Lab – which operates out of London, Singapore, Hong
Kong and New York – is working with a number of fintech firms on several
plans.
“What I find so exciting about the fintech community is that there are
seeminglynoboundariesastowhatcanbeachievedwiththetechnology,”
Watson says.
But what he finds lacking is the awareness of the internal workings of
a private bank and the ways in which clients engage with them. “There
are some regulatory and compliance features that need to be embedded
within fintech solutions,” he explains.
“While the technology can provide solutions, there are a few hurdles
that the fintech community need to get through – but they’re not insur-
mountable, it just takes experience,” he adds.
Watson’s philosophy when it comes to innovation is simple: “We want it
to work as originally planned.”
He says that the speed at which they can bring innovation into the
‘business-as-usual’ is dependent on a number of factors.
“When we introduce disruption, we want to have anticipated the broad-
est range of challenges that may arise in that first period – because that
first period is an extremely important one,” he adds.
“If you introduce disruption in a bid to be the first to market, and for all
of the positive reasons you may have had for accelerating it, the invest-
ment of time that you have to make in order to repurpose and win back the
user base is significantly larger,” Watson cautions.
“You can lose a significant amount of time – more than what you gained
from being the first to the market.”
To Watson, the nuances of private banking tend to be more client-spe-
cific.
“There’s no question that there are some differences between regions
in terms of investment behaviours, but our clients do employ us – among
other reasons – to access opportunities outside of their own region; they
tend to have a global outlook,” he explains.
The Investment Lab is trying to embrace changes happening within the
market – both in clients’ buying behaviour and within the product land-
scape.
Watson reveals: “Our clients are increasingly aware of the opportuni-
ties available to them in the global sense, but they frequently lack the
time and tools to evaluate all of them and do a peer-group analysis across
those opportunities. These are things that we’re investing our time in at
the moment.” <
PBI supplement.indd 14 02/06/2016 11:15:50
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Private Banker International
FINTECH
2016
Singapore’s OCBC broadens its wealth management reach through fintech
While most private banks are concentrating their efforts on improving
theirdigitalpropositionforhighnetworth(HNW)privatebankingclients,
OCBC in Singapore is using fintech to make wealth management services
available to more people. To further this agenda, the bank launched its
OneWealth app in March 2016.
Callingitthe“democratisationofwealthmanagement”,headofe-busi-
ness Singapore Aditya Gupta explains that advisory has traditionally been
restricted to the HNW segment of private and priority banking clients.
“But if we marry digital technology to wealth management, we have an
opportunity to make quality advisory more accessible and personalised
for a much larger group, and to segments that have not had access to this
– mass affluent, youth, first-time investors, etc. That was the concept
behind this app,” he explains.
The OneWealth app – which took around 10 months to develop, proto-
typeandtest–providesup-to-datemarketinformationandrecommenda-
tions from OCBC wealth experts directly to clients’ mobile devices.
“We have consciously curated the content into simple bite-sized pieces
of information,” says Gupta. Users can also view their portfolio in real-
time. “We give users contextual alerts. It is relevant to their investment
holdings, and not a generic text message,” he adds.
Although the app was only launched recently, it has already been down-
loaded around 15,000 times.
“The initial engagement levels are also high – clients come back to the
app every day because of the daily updates.
“They are also interacting with it by saving articles, giving feedback on
social media and logging into their portfolios,” Gupta reveals.
While some functions are similar to those offered on the online banking
site, the OneWealth app was developed with a mobile-first perspective.
“We have redone the way content is presented and also increased
engagement as compared to the website,” explains Gupta.
There is a newsfeed that is designed based on user feedback, which
allowsthemtocustomisewhattheywanttosee.Theappalsohasageneric
newsfeed and one that is based on personal holdings.
Gupta shares that customers who are using the app for the first time are
happy to manage their portfolio holdings on their own.
“There are also customers who are already tied to a RM or prefer to have
a hybrid model where they want to see content but still meet an advisor to
transact or get additional advice,” he adds.
Gupta says there are plans to add a buy-and-sell function to the app.
“The reason why we did not do that in the first phase was because we
wanted people to familiarise themselves with the app,” he explains.
OCBC will also be introducing a fingerprint biometric-based access to
clients’ portfolios so that they do not have to go through a complex log-
in and two-factor authentication process. This comes from feedback that
users want easier access to their portfolios.
“We want to continue to simplify the wealth execution,” Gupta says.
Speaking about the bank’s innovation lab – The Open Vault – he shares
that rather than taking the standard approach of banks where they start
fromthefintechcompaniesandthenlookforsolutions,OCBCstartedwith
their problem and opportunity statements before identifying partners.
Currently, the bank is running an accelerator programme with venture
capitalfirmNest.Guptarevealsthattwoorthreeofthefintechcompanies
participating are in the wealth management space.
“We will be providing them with sandboxes to build prototypes for
us,” he adds. “We have taken a step in the right direction, so that
is encouraging.” <
Fintech at the centre – not an extension – of UBS
UBS’s Evolve innovation centre has been testing, learning and applying
several different proof of concepts to understand how they best fit into
the UBS ecosystem.
According to its Chief Digital Office (CDO), clients want more digital
touch points and efficiency – so, a lot of the digital projects will kick off
from the innovation centre.
“Our management is committed to ensuring that digital is not just an
extension of UBS, but central to our transformative efforts to be future-
ready and remain the world’s number one wealth manager by AuM.”
Revealing that there are several plans in the pipeline, the CDO adds that
“there will always be pockets of resistance – like any other form of disrup-
tive influence”.
However, the private bank’s management has embraced digital and
understands the need to stay ahead through it.
“Externally, we ensure that all digital changes begin with what clients
want and end with them as well,” says the CDO – adding that they are
involved from the testing phase and that many have stepped forward to
volunteer their time and feedback to help UBS improve.
“UBS does not believe in designing or building without putting clients’
needs first.”
Internally, the CDO has been working with UBS staff on human-centred
design. By the end of 2016, several dozen UBS staff members will have
gone through workshops to flesh out principles, help participants better
understand digital transformation and how to apply it within their units,
PBI is told.
Has UBS identified any potential technological threats to its private
bank?
“Everything can be viewed as an opportunity. Even robo-advisory is not
considered a threat. We know what our clients want and we believe that
pure robo-advisory services are not going to make a huge dent in the pri-
vate banking space in Asia,” says the CDO, adding, however, that perhaps
the biggest fintech disruption may come from China – where companies
such as Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba are reshaping the digital financial ser-
vices model rapidly.
“We are always looking at ways to get better. To say that we have got
enough is a mistake. We believe we have the best mix possible of high-
tech and high-touch to serve our clients – but that does not mean we will
rest there.” <
n FINANCIAL ADVICE INTERACTION - CHANNEL PREFERENCES
Top 2 Channel Preferences in 2-3 Years Change from Current Preferences
Mainland China
Mobile 27%
Online 21%
8%
5%
Hong Kong
In person 29%
Online 29%
1%
-1%
Singapore
In person 44%
Mobile 17%
-6%
6%
Japan
Online 38%
In person 35%
5%
-7%
Australia
Online 35%
In person 35%
9%
-9%
Source: EY 2016, Could your client needs be your competitive advantage?
PBI supplement.indd 15 02/06/2016 11:15:51
Private Banker International - Fintech Supplement
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Private Banker International - Fintech Supplement

  • 1. PRIVATE BANKER Digital priorities; Cyber Security; Data Management; Customer Experience; Best practices & use cases; Innovation Europe; UK; North America; Asia-Pacific FinTech Special Supplement The ‘IT’ Factor How are private banks harnessing and monetising technology? PBI supplement.indd 1 02/06/2016 11:15:24
  • 2. www.privatebankerinternational.comB y FinTech 2016 FINTECH SUPPLEMENT Private Banker InternationalPrivate Banker International FINTECH 2016 Editor: Meghna Mukerjee Email: meghna.mukerjee@uk.timetric.com Correspondent: John Schaffer Tel: +44 (0)20 7406 6703 Email: john.schaffer@uk.timetric.com Asia Editor: Xiou Ann Lim Tel: +65 6411 2189 Email: ann.lim@sg.timetric.com Sub-editor: Nick Midgley Group Publisher: Ameet Phadnis Tel: +44 (0)20 7406 6561 Email: ameet.phadnis@timetric.com Regional Director, APAC: Ruben Kempeneer Tel: +65 6383 4688 Email: ruben.kempeneer@sg.timetric.com Business Development Manager: Alex Aubrey Tel: +44 (0)20 3096 2603 Email: alex.aubrey@uk.timetric.com Customer Service Tel: 020 3096 2636 or 020 3096 2622 Email: customer.services@uk.timetric.com London Office 71-73 Carter Lane London, EC4V 5EQ Tel: +44 (0) 207 936 6650 Asia Office 1 Finlayson Green #09-01 Singapore, 049246 Tel: +65 6383 4688 Fax: +65 6383 5433 Email: asiapacific@sg.timetric.com PRIVATE BANKER www.privatebankerinternational.com Don’t have online account details? You and your associates may be entitled to online login credentials. The benefits of full online access are as follows: • Timely daily news updates • Access the latest analysis • Monthly editions sent directly to your inbox • News alerts direct to your inbox • Comments from key industry influencers and leaders • Search for specific, relevant content • Access the archive To create or activate your account please contact: customer.services@timetric.com www. Digital touch briefings ad - PBI 18042016.indd 1 18/04/2016 10:54:05 How are private banks harnessing and monetising technology? This FinTech Supplement is an addition to the Private Banker International Briefing Service: the premier source of analysis, proprietary data, expert insights, news and country surveys for the global wealth management com- munity. To find out more about Private Banker International and upcoming supplements please contact: Alex Aubrey - Email alex.aubrey@uk.timetric.com or Call +44 (0)20 3096 2603. PBI supplement.indd 2 02/06/2016 11:15:29
  • 3. FinTech 2016 y 1 FINTECH SUPPLEMENTPrivate Banker InternationalPrivate Banker International FINTECH 2016 s? s 10:54:05 Let’s talk FinTechCONTENTS 2,3: DIGITALLY FIT: UK PRIVATE BANKS As the wealthy increase their demands for sophisticated digital channels, private banks must evaluate their technology priorities to successfully keep up. John Schaffer speaks to leading UK private banks to understand their digital journeys 4: EXPERT COMMENT: SEI WEALTH PLATFORM Brett Williams, MD at SEI Wealth Platform, UK Private Banking, outlines the key considerations for wealth management firms to successfully navigate a complex and demanding ecosystem 5,6: TECHNOLOGY PRIORITIES: PRIVATE BANKS IN EUROPE Meghna Mukerjee highlights the areas where Europe’s private banks are maximising technology offerings to transform internal strategies and service propositions 7,8,9: PRIVATE BANKS IN NORTH AMERICA: WHO IS DOING WHAT North America is ahead of the FinTech adoption and innovation curve. PBI asks leading private banks what they are doing to win the technology race 10: EXPERT COMMENT: EWISE David Hamilton, president and CEO of eWise Group, comments on the impact of data- driven economies on private banks and their data aggregator service providers 11: DYNAMICS OF CYBER SECURITY Creating a secure environment, mitigating cyber-risks and investing in appropriate security measures are crucial for private banks, and vital to ensuring client trust and data protection. PBI speaks with industry experts to assess how vulnerable private banks currently are, and what is being done about cyber threats 12: EXPERT COMMENT: WEALTHINITIATIVE Swiss FinTech startup WealthInitiative is helping private banks and family offices to unlock synergies among their HNWI clients. We find out more from founder, Douglas Azar 13,14,15: TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT ON PRIVATE BANKS IN ASIA-PACIFIC Several of Asia-Pacific’s private banks are ahead of Europe and the US in terms of delivering innovative client experiences through technology-savvy branches, mature mobile banking apps and advanced security. Xiou Ann Lim talks to the leading players 16: THE INNOVATION EQUATION At a time when private banks can choose to disrupt or be disrupted, ‘business as usual’ is not an option. PBI asked private banks and analysts what innovation in private banking truly means Follow Private Banker International Search for @BankerNews I t was only a matter of time before we at PBI put together a FinTech focused supplement. Every month, we get varied queries from our subscribers about how technology can help the private banking sector become increasingly client and advisor centric, as well as efficient and profitable. We get questions around how different banks in different coun- tries are using technology beneficially. Thus we decided to find out from the industry play- ers how they are leveraging technology and what more needs to be done. The stakes of not adopting technology in a timely fashion are enormous. Wealthy clients, currently, are better informed, more techno- logically curious, independent and demand- ing. They move swiftly between the analog and virtual worlds and are used to real-time, personalised services thanks to the likes of Uber, Apple, and Amazon redefining customer experiences. Investing in technology frameworks to ensure robust online and mobile platforms for private banks of any size is not optional anymore. It is imperative. These offerings also need to be intuitive and multi-dimensional. Maturity in private banking apps is increas- ingly being taken for granted by clients. The private banking industry is largely tra- ditional and relatively slow to adopt changes. However, there is no doubt that to remain competitive and sustain growth, firms must invest in a transformation that has technology at its heart. Nifty new automated advisory services are mushrooming, providing agile alternatives to an already restless and hungry clientele. There is no room to be technologically complacent. Even the oldest private banks must imbibe the culture of innovation and a start-up mentality to remain relevant to its existing clients and attractive to new ones. It is essential for private banks to lower all-round costs, generate more revenue and reduce operational complexities. Technology can enable all of this if implemented smartly. Several players also need to effectively deal with outdated legacy systems before they can develop novel tools to empower their staff and re-imagine customer experiences. This needs to be done urgently to improve security provi- sions, as creaking IT infrastructure can be an open invitation for fraud. Identifying specialist firms that can fill in imminent gaps with their fintech expertise is also a need of the hour for private banks. Regulation is a top driver for technol- ogy adoption and we have increasingly been hearing about ‘RegTech’ (technology used to address regulatory challenges). With regula- tors becoming more stringent, private banks have to guarantee compliance while also ensuring that the cost of compliance don’t skyrocket. Taking advantage of technology for these purposes is vital, as it also is to opti- mise data – another critical piece of the success jigsaw puzzle. Many private banks have gone a long way in maximising the benefits of technology across their value chains. Some have developed in- house systems, others have found strategic fintech partners, and many are experimenting with new solutions to find the right balance. In this supplement, we have taken a birds- eye view and examined how forward thinking private banks are using technology to their advantage in different parts of world. We have spoken to over 22 of the leading global private banking executives and domain experts to understand what their key technol- ogy priorities are, how they define best prac- tices, what their plans and forecasts are, and what issues still need resolving. Enjoy the read. Meghna Mukerjee meghna.mukerjee@uk.timetric.com PBI supplement.indd 1 02/06/2016 11:15:30
  • 4. www.privatebankerinternational.com2 y FinTech 2016 Digitally fit: Private banks in the UK T he private banking industry has been slower than its consumer banking counterpart when it comes to getting ahead in the digital adoption race. It has been significantly behind other industries such as travel and tourism and retail, where the likes of Airbnb and Amazon have accus- tomed clients to technology innovation and personalised services. The wealth management sector is associat- ed with traditional face to face contact where the role of a relationship manager (RM) is central to managing large-value assets and advising clients on their portfolios. Clients also engage in personal contact due to the complex nature of certain regulatory pre- requisites, where the expertise of an RM holds weight. However, technology is increasingly being hailed as a crucial revenue generator, and innovation a key customer loyalty driver for private banks. In contrast to the functional retail banking digital channels, private banking offerings must demonstrate greater depth and breadth in order to add real value for a high net worth (HNW) or ultra-HNW client. Private banking clients want detailed insights, access to granular data, alongside refined engage- ment capabilities such as financial advice, as opposed to merely checking balances and performing bank transfers. Private banks are also facing competition from nifty, automated, online-only wealth managers such as Nutmeg and Wealth Hori- zon that are luring wealthy clients with agile, easy and efficient alternatives. The majority of private banks in the UK are not being complacent and continuing to invest in, and fine tune, their digital capabili- ties. PBI talks to select private banks about their digital game-plans. As the wealthy increase their demands for sophisticated digital channels and easily accessible information on their portfolios, private banks must evaluate their technology priorities to successfully keep up with client expectations. John Schaffer speaks to leading UK private banks to understand their digital journeys Coutts & Co. At Coutts & Co., a full suite of services is offered to its wealthy client base, ranging from detailedanalysisofportfoliosto a digital concierge service. Rob- ertHemphill,executivedirector, digital solutions at Coutts, tells PBI about the private bank’s top technology priorities. Couttsaspirestobethedigital leaderoftheprivatebankingandwealthmanage- ment sector, and its main priority is to ensure an exceptional experience across the breadth of its digital offering. “Our primary focus is accessibility, enabling clients to quickly and easily access portfolios through innovative online banking and wealth management services, maximising transparency and providing empowerment. “Banking is the foundation of our service, and we continue to build on three centuries of experience, with continuous innovation in order to enhance the service; from secure messaging, emailandtextalertsthroughtooursecureonline ‘vault’ from which clients can access an archive of digital statements and other documents that have been sent to them,” says Hemphill. The second priority for Coutts is fraud pro- tection, authentication and security, and the lender has a multi-layered approach to protect- ing clients and their identities. The third prior- ity is connectivity – connecting clients through multiple touch points to the Coutts team. Hemphill says: “The success of this approach is clear; in 2015 we saw a 29% uplift in client usage of Coutts’ digital channels, yet add in the fact that 2015 was our telephony team, Coutts 24’s, busiest ever year, and client interaction is firmly increasing on all levels.” The fourth priority for Coutts is empower- ment. In 2015, Coutts launched a fully interac- tive website that reflects both the Coutts brand and its services, with a dedicated insights sec- tion to inform and engage clients on matters relating to all aspects of their wealth. “We also empower our own people. We have revolutionised the way in which our employees communicate with one another and their understanding of the breadth of Coutts solu- tions through our interactive intranet,” he adds. The final priority for Coutts is maximising choicewhileensuringanexceptionaluserexpe- rience, at all levels. “We aim for the Coutts Crown Standard, our internal benchmark for exceptional standards, to be inherent across all channels, while giving clients the ability to choose how they interact with both the business and their wealth portfo- lio,” explains Hemphill. However, the key to successful digital chan- nels is not merely based on front-end develop- ments. Coutts made changes to its core banking systems four years ago, which has made digital innovation easier. The core banking system update has also allowed the bank’s data to be more consolidated, where it is no longer spread across a number of different legacy systems.< PBI supplement.indd 2 02/06/2016 11:15:35
  • 5. www.privatebankerinternational.com FinTech 2016 y 3 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 Citi Private Bank Citi Private Bank currently offers a mobile app for Apple devices called InView. The service, launched in February 2014, allows clients to view portfolios in detail and analyse key metrics, alongside performing basic transactions through the app. The mobile app also gives Citi Pri- vate Banking clients access to various research arti- cles related to their portfolios. A significant feature of Citi’s digital offerings is its ‘onboarding toolkit’. The bank plans to release a wet- signature functionality, enabling clients to use their finger or a stylus to sign documents. Citi was an early adopter of mobile provisions for private banking clients. The release of the app comes as an update to the bank’s private banking app, released in 2010. < Arbuthnot Latham & Co. Boutique private bank Arbuthnot Latham & Co., the private and commercial banking and wealth manage- ment arm of the Arbuthnot Banking Group, launched its online banking service in 2004. It added mobile banking functionalities in 2014. Arbuthnot Latham’s chief executive, Ian Hender- son, tells PBI that over 60% of its substantial client base is using online banking channels, and they have over 25% of active clients using the bank’s mobile app. Since launching its commercial banking proposi- tion in 2015, Arbuthnot Latham’s commercial clients are also making use of the online banking service. Its digital offerings allow clients to view trans- actions and statements, and carry out other basic e-banking functions. The bank also offers an invest- mentportal,allowingclientstoviewtheirinvestment portfolios. Ian Henderson tells PBI: “Our social media pres- ence has continued to grow strongly, with around 1,700 followers on LinkedIn and nearly 900 on Twit- ter, as we engage with clients and potential clients. “We will be looking at other forms of social media engagement with our clients over the coming months.”< SGPB Hambros France-headquartered Société Générale Private Bank (SGPB) launched an overall IT transformation plan in 2013, and the reno- vation of its digital or customer interface is oneofthekeypillarsoftheall-roundproject. As part of this rejuvenation, SGPB Ham- bros, SGPB’s UK division, launched a new e-banking platform in April 2015, available across mobile, tablet and desktop. Security improvements and better navigation facili- ties have been added to the new platform. SG Hambros has invested in an improved client relationship management (CRM) tool and portfolio management system to improve face-to-face interactions, with more flexibility in accessing information such as portfolio valuations, positions and performances. At the time of the new e-banking plat- form’s launch, SGPB Hambros CEO, Eric Bar- nett, said: “Since 2013, we have launched a series of client-centric initiatives in order to ensure that we are effectively able to meet clients’ needs. The launch of our new eBank- ing platform is the next natural step in this direction and we are excited about the pros- pect of offering clients more secure and eas- ier online banking access anywhere, anytime and on any device.”< Lloyds Bank Private Banking Lloyds Bank Private Banking’s clients, in the UK and across its international business, are able to use all of Lloyds Banking Group’s digital services, giving customers access to banking on mobile, tablet and desktop. Cli- ents are able to view their accounts, make UK and international payments and transfers, as well as stay informed about the bank’s reward programmes. Lloyds Bank Private Banking has contin- ued to roll out screen-sharing and video con- ference technology, giving private banking clients more choice about how they would like to interact with the bank and communi- cate with their banking team. In March 2016, Lloyds reported that £4bn payments and transfers were made on a monthly basis from private banking clients using digital channels, and increasingly by mobile. Phil Allen, digital director for financial planning and retirement at Lloyds Banking Group, tells PBI: “Approximately 52% of our private banking clients in the UK are digi- tally active, a 12% increase year-on-year. We migrated our international clients on to the platform in the fourth quarter of 2015 and we can already see 20% of these customers are digitally active, which is a great achieve- ment. “Wenowseeatotalof42,000loginstoour digital services every day from mobile, tab- let and desktop, giving customers the choice and convenience they want.”< Barclays Wealth & Investment Management Barclays launched a mobile banking application for its UK HNW clients in July 2014. The app is part of a web portal for private banking clients: Barclays One. With Barclays One, clients can have a full view of their Barclays Wealth banking and investment accounts, holdings and transactions, Wealth Card balances and transactions. Additionally, it includes historic valuations and performance for investments, interactive charts showing how wealth is distributed across nine Investment Philosophy asset classes, eDocuments (valu- ation statements and contract notes from UK accounts online), tax packs and market research andinsights.BarclaysOneisusedbyover75%of the bank’s client relationships. The Barclays Mobile Banking app for wealth enables clients to carry out a range of banking activities, including moving money between accounts,makingsterlingpaymentstoUK-based recipientsorcompanies,canceldirectdebitsand more. Additional functionality is available on iOS devices for clients with UK Wealth cur- rent accounts, enabling them to see their overall net valuation with Barclays, his- toric valuations and performance data of investments. Barclays also uses biometric technology for authenticationofHNWclients,andvoicebiomet- ricsisnowBarclays’primarysourceofidentifying BarclaysWealthandInvestmentManagementcli- ents in the UK. Dena Brumpton, CEO, UK Private Banking at Barclays, says: “More than 11,000 wealth and investmentmanagementclientsarenowenrolled and can be identified by their voice. “Our customers have seen the time taken to verify their identity fall from one and a half min- utes to less than 10 seconds.” Barclays has leveraged voice biometrics tech- nologytoremovetheneedtocallbackitsclients, which was part of a fraud check, for certain pay- ments. This has been received well, particularly by clients who were used to the callback process. “Our clients expect banking to be completely ontheirownterms,withtheabilitytoaccessser- vices and transact in the way that suits them. As part of the Barclays group, we can benefit from Barclays wider digital expertise while deliver- ing functionality tailored to the unique needs of Wealth clients,” adds Brumpton. < PBI supplement.indd 3 02/06/2016 11:15:38
  • 6. www.privatebankerinternational.com4 y FinTech 2016 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 Private Banker International Five factors determining future success for wealth management firms W ith a raft of changes impacting inves- tors and savers in recent years, the need – and consequently the oppor- tunity – for wealth management firms to provide advice has never been greater. However, given the complexity of delivering a quality service, a number of factors will deter- mine success for organisations. What then are the most important things for wealth manage- ment firms to consider? Costs Increasing compliance and operational costs are forcing some wealth management firms to replatform, or at least make significant invest- ments in new technology across front, middle and back-office processes. As a consequence of this disruption, there is growing recognition among wealth managers and financial advisers that by engaging with technology providers with institutional capa- bilities, they can de-risk and downsize their business, and still deliver quality service and growth with the benefits that straight-through processing and outsourcing bring. Others sitting on expensive, unprofitable platforms have yet to see the light, and face the risk that these solutions do not pass the due diligence suitability test! The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is looking on with interest, and this alone is reason enough for platforms to re-evaluate their commitments to due diligence. The regulator’s thematic review on this subject underlines how it is no longer possible for wealth managers to trust existing processes, and by ignoring this fact some firms will run the risk of exposing themselves to pos- sible enforcement action. Value Given the intensive consolidation that has occurred across the value chain of late, firms that have pursued vertical integration are fac- ing challenges in streamlining the component parts. Many are reliant on overengineered software applications and processes that, when combined with ageing and expensive systems, restrict innovation and progress. There is a need for new models that are sim- pler and more efficient. Some financial advisers who are served by the retail platforms are now of a size where they recognise the opportunity to take a greater share of the margin on offer across the value chain, and are promoting their own brand on services and products rather than that of others. Service Consumer expectations are growing, and cli- ents are demanding more for less. Without continuous enrichment of the range and quality of services offered, advisers face strong down- ward pressure on margins. Making the time to focus on what offers real value in true financial planning – i.e. establish- ing a clear understanding of life goals, cash flow needs and other objectives – is now more than ever dependent on the use of the better planning tools available in the market. These investments in tools which allow consistent and controlled delivery of strong service proposi- tions will be key to the future success of many wealth management firms. The chance of success will be further enhanced if these tools are embedded in a good practice management system, and integrated with platform services to deliver a seamless solution. Few can deliver an end-to-end solu- tion that offers this potential without the need to continuously rekey client data. Advisers should make it a key part of their next due dili- gence exercise. Innovation The push or pull towards D2C, mobile, internet and social media, and the increasing demands from users for simpler, more appealing, more efficient tools and applications are changing the future landscape for advisers. Technology is now available which allows firms to engage with and educate customers digitally, improving access to information and services and reducing costs. Clients who have historically seen the adviser as their finance teacher can now rely on technology; important- ly, research shows they prefer this approach. Integrating digital solutions effectively with the personal touch where this is needed will be an important factor in the future success of wealth managers and financial advisers; it is not just the millennials who expect to be ser- viced digitally. Regulationoverload With RDR, pension freedoms, CASS, FATCA, GATCA and Mifid II and other directives, many firms are facing regulation overload. The financial commitment required to continuously improve systems, processes and controls is sig- nificant. Consequently, regulation is constrain- ing proposition development, innovation and, some would argue, the quality of client service. A more proactive approach to regulation is needed across the market, with some tech- nology partners configuring their solutions to comply, thereby reducing the ongoing burden on the adviser. The annual process of platform and technol- ogy due diligence should be used by wealth managers and financial advisers to test their suppliers to ensure they remain suitable and fit for purpose. < The SEI Wealth Platform is an outsourcing solution for wealth managers, encompassing wealth processing services and wealth man- agement programs, combined with business process expertise. SEI provides wealth management organisa- tions with the infrastructure, operations, and administrative support necessary to capitalize on their strategic objectives in a constantly shifting market. The Platform supports trad- ing and transactions on 131 stock exchanges in 50 countries and 35 currencies, through the use of straight-through processing and a single operating infrastructure environment. For more information, visit: http://www. seic.com/enUK/banks/288.htm?cmpid=pb- gpa-813 or contact Andrew Booker on 0203 8107718 or abooker@seic.com Consistent growth is difficult while profit margins are being squeezed and traditional revenue models are being challenged. Brett Williams, MD, SEI Wealth Platform, UK Private Banking, outlines the key considerations for wealth management firms to successfully navigate a complex and demanding ecosystem PBI supplement.indd 4 02/06/2016 11:15:38
  • 7. www.privatebankerinternational.com FinTech 2016 y 5 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 Technology – a key enabler for Europe’s private banks T echnology is no ‘magic bullet’ to solve problems currently faced by private banks. However, if implemented cor- rectly, technology can go a long way to eliminate complexities, enhance operational efficiency and aid revenue generation. Private banks in Europe are increasingly rec- ognising the importance of technology and, in the last five years, many forward-thinking play- ers have embraced it as a catalyst for growth and competitive positioning. PBI outlines the areas in which European private banks are significantly prioritising and leveraging technology. Enhancingtheclientexperience Technology has been, and continues to be, a big mover in ensuring client-centricity. Private banks are rethinking aspects of their busi- ness and operating models, and leveraging improved IT capabilities across the organisa- tion to maintain personalised services and receptiveness to clients’ needs, as well as ensure smooth client experience (CX) and satisfaction. France-headquartered Société Générale Pri- vate Bank (SGPB) has transformed its digital interface. The transformation is one of three pillars of an all-round IT rejuvenation plan that the bank embarked upon in 2013. SGPB’s digital ambition is part of the private bank’s overall strategy to expand its activi- ties across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and capture the growth potential of its client base, in line with Société Générale group’s strategic priority for digital transforma- tion and innovation. SGPB will link all its products and services to customers through a series of apps, and the digital transformation journey entails the deployment of a sophisticated e-banking platform for wealthy clients so they will have the spectrum of options to transact “bonds, shares, forex, money market, whatever the asset class”, head of SGPB, Jean-Francois Mazaud, told PBI recently. SGPB is looking to launch further e-banking platforms internationally through 2016 and 2017, with an aim to complete the digital trans- formation project in 2018 for all of SGPB’s locations. Client relationship management (CRM) is finally coming of age in the private banking sec- tor, and SGPB’s digital service includes a CRM tool and an enhanced portfolio management system that will allow flexibility in accessing information such as portfolio valuations, posi- tions and performances. “Technology is one of the key factors gov- erning the way we are shaping our private bank for the future, as we continue to anchor client centricity as part of our DNA,” says Mazaud. The technology developments that most interest Mazaud are also those that boost CX. “As a connected bank, these include trends in how to improve the user experience, and the design of the user interface, as well as the inter- net of things,” he says. Netherlands-headquartered ABN Amro Private Banking offers a wide range of innova- tive online, mobile and social media solutions, including its mobile banking app, an iPad mobile office app, iPad Research, Web care team and WebEx advice, amongst others. “In the Netherlands, our mobile banking app is being used more than 60m times per month,” says Brigitte Seegers, spokesperson for ABN Amro Private Banking. Outside the Netherlands, ABN Amro is developing a private banking digital offering that consists a blend of omni-channel ser- vices combined with personal interactions. ABN Amro, on the whole, is investing €700m ($780m) up to 2017 in its IT systems. “We have been a frontrunner in the field of internet and mobile solutions, and will con- tinuously adapt to the clients’ changing needs. Through multi-channel services and interac- tions, we support our clients as they would like us to,” adds Seegers. Being client-centric and delivering seamless experiences is also top-of-mind for France- headquartered BNP Paribas Wealth Manage- ment. Thierry Derungs, chief digital officer at BNP Paribas Wealth Management, tells PBI: “CX is our core driver. All our digital choices are driven by the added value they could pro- vide to our clients. Our clients are modern, entrepreneurial and open to new technology. “One of our priorities is to ease and improve client interactions to deliver a delightful and seamless experience. To fulfil this objective, we work with several technologies such as electronic signature, biometric authentication, real-time video streaming and others.” Derungs adds: “A bit more than three years ago, Vincent Lecomte and Sofia Merlo, co- heads of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, decided to hire me as chief digital officer. Since then, they have always been strongly commit- ted to our digital strategy – not only budget- wise but also, much more importantly, by positioning the digital strategy inside the core priorities for the wealth management unit. CX is larger than a solely digital strategy but digital is one of its strong components.” One of the latest deployments at BNP Pari- bas Wealth Management is a new content man- agement platform. The lender has also devel- oped its Voice of Wealth app to educate and inform clients about investments and market trends as soon as they happen. “The Voice of Wealth app has already received excellent results, not only in terms of downloads but in terms of return frequency and time spent per visit. Almost 40% of the vis- its last more than 10 minutes, with a bit more than 75% of clients coming back in less than three days,” explains Derungs. Enhancing advisor productivity through technology is equally important to private banks. Empowering advisors with a range of granular tools and training is an area in which private banks are investing. SGPB’s Mazaud says: “It is equally impor- tant that our private bankers have the same level of digital accessibility as their clients, and become skilled at digital-product innovation. “To nurture this shifting environment, we have implemented new methods which aim to integrate client and banker feedback (co-crea- tion), provide quick delivery (test and learn) In the last few years, private banks in Europe have increasingly focused on leveraging technology across the whole organisation. Meghna Mukerjee highlights the areas where private banks are maximising technology offerings to transform internal strategies and service propositions PBI supplement.indd 5 02/06/2016 11:15:38
  • 8. www.privatebankerinternational.com6 y FinTech 2016 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 and develop a ‘culture of possibility’ through open innovation.” Improvingdatamanagementandagility Data management is crucial to the efficiency jigsaw puzzle at private banks. To ensure best practices and best-of-breed service in an eco- system where client demands and regulatory burdens are growing fast, private banks need to get data management game-plans right. Private banks are, currently, viewing data – structured and unstructured – as a core asset. There are different drivers behind gathering data – for the regulators, to manage risks inter- nally and better make strategic decisions, and to understand and serve clients better across different generations, which is important for client segmentation. “Following trends in artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language generation and data visualisation corresponds to the need to be an intelligent bank,” says Mazaud. Derungs says: “Our interest in new technol- ogies is in offering some clever combinations that allows us to deliver new services with strong added-value for our clients. “As an example we, on the wealth manage- ment side, do not look towards blockchain for its money-transferring capacity. Our interest is in the combination of blockchain (secured data exchange), big data (advanced data analy- sis) and artificial intelligence (automated data quality improvement) to improve our know- your-customer (KYC) and client onboarding processes. They help us provide the seamless experience our clients expect.” Understanding client behaviour via the cor- rect analysis of data can provide private banks with crucial insights on how different demo- graphics of clients – especially comparing the older-generational wealthy to Generation Y investors – like to handle wealth. “Our clients are more knowledgeable now, and there are more next-generation clients. Our business model is, therefore, focused on deliv- ering real added value. We manage the trust that is invested in us by being in touch with our clients and giving them the right advice in complex situations,” says Seegers, ABN Amro Private Banking. The private banking industry has, in gen- eral, suffered from underinvestment in data- management capabilities. The challenge within many organisations is that the data is still fragmented across many databases and spreadsheets. However, a shift is underway – from legacy to good practice in data management – at pri- vate banks, keeping the volume, velocity and variety of data in perspective. Most private banks have not historically had an end-to-end data management project in place, but they are realising the importance of such a project – streamlined and complete with a clear roadmap and success metrics. Two important pillars of SGPB’s all-round IT renovation project are based on storage of customer information and data analytics. “We have to be an agile bank through continuous delivery,” says Mazaud. “Our vision for the future is to be vigilant about where all the data we have is stored, and to try to have a common language that enables us to treat this information efficiently. We will also focus on data analytics, whereby we take data from the warehouse, treat it through algo- rithms, and send it back to the end customer through the bank’s front-end interface, or to the banker, who can present this information to our customers in an intelligent fashion.” There is substantial scope for private banks to use analytics to their advantage, and its importance will continue to increase. Ensuringsecurityandefficiency Ensuring robust and up-to-date security provi- sions is at the heart of all technology and strat- egy developments at private banks. BNP Paribas Wealth Management’s Derungs says: “Secured sites are, of course, very impor- tant, and we continuously improve them with a strong focus on mobile to fulfil our clients’ expectations. With a penetration rate of over 40% in many countries, our secured solutions evolutions are driven, again, by our CX pro- gram to provide the services our clients expect from us.” SGPB’s Mazaud adds: “We keep focusing on being a secured bank, and so are interested in developments such as electronic signatures, authentication and biometrics, security and data protection.” Alongside making platforms secure, private banks are also prioritising being more social, and using technology to do so. “As a social bank, we are looking, for example, at crowd- funding, social philanthropy, lifestyle manage- ment and social networks,” says Mazaud. Derungs adds: “Social media is also a recent progress we made, with excellent engagement results. We now have an efficient presence on several social media platforms, and we con- tinue to expand them.” Private banks are also keen to use technology to simplify operational complexities and speed up long-drawn processes that are pain-points for banks and customers. As regulators demand robust KYC and anti- money laundering architectures within private banks, many lenders are upgrading their IT systems to handle these extensive requirements. Lengthy KYC due diligence processes have become a well-acknowledged, industry-wide issue. Detailed regulatory requirements have increased the volume of paperwork that clients have to run through. Its cumbersome nature is an enormous cause for concern for private banks, with some lenders taking up to three months to fully onboard a single client. However, getting the client onboarding pro- cess right is vital. While manual processes still dominate, digitisation in client onboarding has become a priority for private banks. The chal- lenge of easing this process is imminent. < n PRIMARY CHANNEL FOR DOING BUSINESS IN 2-3 YEARS, EMEA (CLIENT) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Education Service Advice % Digital Face-to-face Contact centre Source: EY report, 2016, Could your client needs be your competitive advantage? n PRIMARY CHANNEL FOR DOING BUSINESS IN 2-3 YEARS, EMEA (FIRM) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Education Service Advice % Digital Contact centre Source: EY report, 2016, Could your client needs be your competitive advantage? PBI supplement.indd 6 02/06/2016 11:15:40
  • 9. www.privatebankerinternational.com FinTech 2016 y 7 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 North America: Concrete jungles where FinTech dreams are made N orth America has all the ingredients to lead the FinTech evolution taking place across the banking sector - particularly in wealth management. The US is the birthplace of the robo-advice disrupters – with companies such as Wealth- front and Betterment leading the way. Across the US and Canada, private banks can be divided into three groups – leaders, learners and laggards – when it comes to technological adoption. A small number of leaders are embracing all forms of innovation and are looking for new ways to generate revenue. There is a fast- growing segment of learners, which are open to new opportunities. There are, no doubt, laggards – institutions that are traditionally set in their ways and unwilling to change. PBI spoke to some of the leading private banks in the US and Canada that are sig- nificantly investing in their technology road- maps. We asked them about current technol- ogy priorities, digital offerings, future focus and FinTech trends of interest. North America is ahead of the FinTech adoption and innovation curve. Agile and flexible back-end IT systems, and sophisticated customer-facing digital channels are crucial in engaging current and future clients. PBI asks leading North American private banks what they are doing to win the technology race Dennis Hall, head, data and client digital services, Northern Trust Whatareyourtoptechnologypriorities? Over the past few years, Northern Trust has made a significant investment to bolster our technology platform to deliver new, innovative and contemporary solutions. One of our top technology priorities has been the development of an advisor worksta- tion. Northern Trust is redefining relationship management with the launch of our advisor workstation, powered by Salesforce. Developed through an extensive analysis of the customer experience (CX), the worksta- tion will streamline the way we approach both businessdevelopmentandclientservicing,with a seamless advisor interface between desktop, mobile and tablet. Key features include an inte- grated 360-degree view of each relationship, servicing automation of high-volume requests, cross-team client support and mobile access. WhatisNortherntrustcurrentlydoinginthe digitalspace? We continue to focus on our business-driven, technology-enabled strategy, aligned with our clients’evolvingpreferences,whichareincreas- ingly becoming more digital. We work with our clients to evolve and maintain our industry-leading position with client-facing websites and mobile apps. As mentioned, we also recently began rolling out our new advisor workstation. What are the main objectives of your technologyprovisions? The main objectives are to create a differentiat- ing Northern Trust digital experience, which aligns with our personalised approach to inter- acting with current and prospective clients. Technology is a critical enabler for our busi- ness model. We remain focused on providing tools to our advisors that allow them to effi- ciently serve current and prospective clients in contemporary ways and enhance their ability to deliver on the advisory relationship across multiple channels. We also provide intuitive digital capabili- ties directly to clients, which enable them to remain constantly connected with Northern Trust whenever or wherever they prefer. What is unique about Northern Trust’s approach? We believe our advisor and client technology platforms are unique in the volume of com- plexfinancialdatatheyprovidetoouradvisors and clients in an intuitive, easy-to-use way. We design applications from the outside in, tap- ping into client and advisor perspectives that leverage human-centered design. This has allowed us to stay closely con- nected with our workforce and client base to deliver experiences that are well aligned with how our advisors do their jobs and how our clients want to interact. What are the most interesting technology trendsyouhaveseeninprivatewealth? I am excited about some of the recent advance- ments related to digital security, such as bio- metrics. We are consistently focused on pro- viding a secure digital experience to our clients and historically some of the standard security protocols(eg:strongpasswords,dualauthenti- cation,physicaltokens)didnotalwaysprovide a well-received user experience. Some new biometric security advancements provide the opportunity to increase security and usability at the same time. That will be well received by many clients. Are there any plans to implement a robo- advisor-styleservice? We continue to advance the digital capabilities we make available directly to our clients in a way that is well aligned with our client service model. We have a differentiating combination of hands-on, advisor-led client interactions, which are augmented by unique self-directed client digital experiences. We believe the mix of face-to-face versus digital experiences will continually evolve based on technology advancements and indi- vidual client preferences. We will continue to innovate in this space, and be prepared to sup- port our clients’ unique needs and preferences. Anyfuturetechnologyplansyoucanshare? We are continuing to evolve our advisor and client platforms, with multiple releases planned in 2016 and subsequent years. Cur- rent focus areas include Advanced Advisor- Client Digital Collaboration, Mobile Enabled Holistic Advice Delivery, and Mobile Enabled Goals Driven Wealth Management. We view our platform as continually evolv- ing, and are continuing to work with advisors and clients to define the next generation of digital capability for Northern Trust. < PBI supplement.indd 7 02/06/2016 11:15:40
  • 10. www.privatebankerinternational.com8 y FinTech 2016 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 JR Lowry, EMEA head of Global Exchange, State Street What are your top technology priorities? While State Street doesn’t have a wealth man- agement business per se, we do provide a range of services to wealth managers, including fund administration and custody, portfolio manage- ment software, data management, risk, liquid- ity, and performance analytics; trading services such as for forex and cash management; and investment vehicles like ETFs and 40-Act funds. In this context, we are actively focused on several technology areas including: • DataGX data management tools and services to support wealth managers’ investment management and customer acquisition/ retention activities. • Enhanced risk and liquidity analytics via our truView service, reflecting recent regulatory provisions and changes in market dynamics. • Continued investment in managed account support via our Infrahedge platform and our Allocare AMS portfolio management tools. • Trading tools in multiple asset classes that offer ‘one-stop shop’ access on an agency basis to a variety of counterparties. • Renewal of our core wealth management servicing systems as part of our corporate digitisation program the we call Beacon. What is State Street currently doing in the digital space? We have a five-year corporate digitisation program called Beacon, which aims to drive renewal of our core technology engines and an extension of our digital capabilities. The name Beacon has become an acronym that describes our aspirations: best-in-class service and solutions, end-to-end delivery, agile methodologies and teams, client-centric design and innovation, one view of the client, and next-generation technology. We are aiming to deliver greater value to clients through: • Digital integration, that spans device types and reduces the paper, faxes, and emails that are still too prevalent in our operations. • More rapid processing, that is a move away from batch systems to near real-time pro- cessing and data. • One source of truth, in how we, our clients, and the market sees it. • Insight, through enhanced analytics and turnkey services that allow our clients to focus on investment management, rather than operations and data management. Our data and analytics business, State Street Global Exchange, is heavily focused on provid- ing technology-centric tools and services to our client base, including data management, analytics, software, indices and indicators, and advisory support. What are the main objectives of your technol- ogy provisions? Our overall objective is to continue to provide leading tools and services that help our clients who themselves are in the wealth management space. These tools span portfolio management, risk and compliance, data management, invest- ment operations, and fund administration. What are the most interesting technology trends you have seen in private wealth? While the core of the technology focus in wealth management is on better applying existing technologies, there are a few areas that rep- resent innovation and experimentation by the industry. They include social technologies and gamification as a means to better engage millennial savers; behavioral analytics that are designed to identify investment bias; and machine learning algorithms and natural lan- guage processing to accelerate research, bet- ter target offers, and personalise the customer experience. Less exciting but equally important are the efforts focused on enhanced KYC and AML tech- nology, some of which draw on the experience of the global intelligence community. Any future technology plans you can share? Some of our newer products are focused on helping our clients aggregate and distil aca- demic and investment research in a way that is tailored to their individual needs and interests. Thistoolusesamixofmachinelearning,natural language processing, and human curation. Another service will provide sentiment ana- lytics, based on the daily scanning of 25,000 news sources. Across our technology efforts, we see the importance of gearing our tools to mobile devices and providing an integrated cross-device experience. Our approach in Glob- al Exchange is open architecture, and we are actively plugged in to the FinTech world to stay abreast of new technologies and ideas, and to collaborate where appropriate. Finally, our corporate Emerging Technolo- gies Center was formed last year to look into the future and identify technologies that could have a meaningful impact on our clients and on us. Not surprisingly, blockchain technology is a key focus for this group, but they are also researching areas such as unstructured data management. < John Bai, MD, client experience transformation, Scotia Wealth Management What do you believe are your top technol- ogy priorities? Across Scotia Wealth Management – which includes private banking, investment man- agement, and estate and trust services – we are looking for ways to leverage technology to enhance the client experience (CX). Scotia Wealth Management has a com- prehensive three-year digital roadmap that addresses key client expectations around the onboarding process, client self-serve options, and enhanced client access to infor- mation. We will be exploring, introducing and/ or deepening digital enablers such as bio- metrics, data analysis and gamification to enhance client engagement and experience. What is Scotia Wealth Management cur- rently doing in the digital space? Scotia Wealth Management is well aligned with the bank’s digital transformation to leverage technology to enable our customer- focused strategy. Our digital strategy will be focused on: • Simplifying the client experience by focusing on the client and making it easier to do business with us through effective and efficient processes. • Making the client end-to-end journey as seamless as possible by creating a technology solution that aligns with our integrated wealth management business model. • Leveraging big data analytics and capa- bilities to proactively develop more relevant products and services that can be delivered to clients in a timely fashion as their lives evolve and their needs potentially become increasingly complex. • Increasing client convenience by estab- lishing self-serve options so they can securely access and self-serve their accounts when and where they want to. • Increasing client security by integrat- ing KYC/compliance/AML activities into the process. What are the main objectives of your tech- nology provisions? The world is increasingly complex, and client needs and expectations are evolving accord- ingly. A number of trends are having a profound impact on the lives of our clients, including the transfer of personal wealth, consolida- tion of high net worth households, the aging population, and business succession. Our digital strategy helps to ensure that we can proactively help our clients plan for, and develop solutions across all stages of their lives. Digital strategy is integral to the bank’s overall strategy of becoming more customer- centric, meeting changing customer expec- tations; improving our speed to market, and achieving greater cost efficiencies. What is unique about Scotia Wealth Man- agement’s approach? Our investments in our technology platform are designed to take a customer-centric approach to technology development that PBI supplement.indd 8 02/06/2016 11:15:41
  • 11. www.privatebankerinternational.com FinTech 2016 y 9 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 Amit Sahasrabudhe, head, wealth management strategy and digital solutions, RBC What are your top technology priorities? Our technology priorities at Royal Bank of Can- ada (RBC) Wealth Management are focused on meeting the evolving needs of our clients and client-facing professionals, and can be grouped into five key areas: • Client experience: We are focused on enhancing our service offerings through digitally enabled experiences. This includes improving the mobile and online experi- ence, and creating a seamless end-to-end client journey with a focus on onboarding and account opening. • Data and agility: In order to adapt to a rap- idly changing environment, we have priori- tised platforms and tools that continuously support our speed, agility, data insight, and transaction-capability needs. • Platform simplification: We are continu- ously simplifying and automating our key business processes where relevant. • Operational excellence: Client data pri- vacy and cyber security are critical consid- erations. We are committed to offering our clients technology platforms that are reli- able and secure. • Empowering advisors: We are dedicated to providing our advisors with the technology tools, capabilities and resources necessary to be more productive and meet the evolv- ing needs of our clients. What is RBC doing currently in the digital space? Our focus on digital advancement is under- pinned by our ability to listen to client and advisor needs, and deliver premium products. In 2016 we focused on advancing the digital experiencesweoffertoourclientsandadvisors. We recently launched a new and modernised global wealth management website with a responsivedesign,engagingcontentandacon- sistent experience for our clients. We are also making significant investments to empower our wealth advisors, enhance cli- ent service, strengthen relationships and drive productivity. We are enhancing our online and mobile platforms to provide greater mobility to our wealth advisors and allow clients to have more choice and flexibility in how they interact with us. We recently launched RBC Wealth Manage- ment myGPS, a web-based, integrated applica- tionthathelpsRBCNorthAmericanwealthadvi- sors facilitate interactive, goals-based advice with their clients. We worked closely with our advisors in the development process, which provided a unique opportunity to address key challenges with existing tools – providing one holistic view of the client’s goals, needs and priorities; reduc- ing data re-keying of information by integrat- ing with existing the CRM tool and account level data; and providing digital and interactive outputs to support deeper wealth management discussions with clients. What are the main objectives of your technol- ogy provisions? Our clients have told us they want technology solutions that enrich their wealth management experience. We view advances in new technol- ogyanddigitisationasanopportunitytodeliver richerinsights,providechoiceandconvenience, enhance productivity, and be increasingly rel- evant to the future generation of clients. What is unique about RBC’s approach? As part of one of the largest financial institu- tions in the world, RBC Wealth Management has several competitive advantages. First, we have scale, so we have the resources to invest for growth, including in our technol- ogy. Second, we are able to actively collaborate with diverse partners across the organisation – focused on a similar goal of advancing tech- nology solutions through sharing insights and leveraging common capabilities. Finally, we are embracing a new way of work- ingthatisfocusedonagiledeliveryandacceler- ateddecision-making–anintegralwayofdoing business at RBC. We are not losing sight of what has driven our success to date. Are there any plans to implement a robo-advi- sor-style service? Wesupportinvestorchoice,andbelievethatcli- ents should be able to select the advice and ser- vice model that suits them. Our HNW and UHNW clients tell us they value their wealth manager as the cornerstone of their relationship and that our advice is critical to meeting their com- plex needs. We are also investing in digitally enabling advisors and exploring our options to offer clients additional ways to invest with us. Earlier this year, our US Wealth business announced a collaboration with digital wealth management provide FutureAdvisor on a pilot program for select clients, called RBC Investor Gateway. This will provide our US financial advi- sors with the opportunity to reach a broader range of clients. < n PROPORTION OF US HNWIS EXPECTING MOST OR ALL FUTURE WEALTH MANAGEMENT RELATIONSHIPS TO BE DIGITAL IN 5 YEARS 0 20 40 60 80 100 % Aged under 40 Aged 40 and above Source: Capgemini and RBC Global HNW Insights survey 2014 enables and enhances the client-advisor relationship, not replaces it. The clients we are targeting have bespoke needs. Technology plays an important role in the delivery of advice and the overall CX. Take for instance our account-opening process. Most digital account-opening pro- cesses focus on speed. However, when talk- ing to our clients, we heard that when they are transferring large sums of money, open- ing up an account in three minutes or less was not a key priority. Clients are coming to us for advice and to establish a relationship with an advisor. So instead of focusing solely on how fast we can open the account, which may result in taking the advisor out of the onboarding experience, we are developing a solution to improve the onboarding experience that will allow for deeper conversations around what the client wants to achieve. What are the most interesting technology trends you have seen in private wealth? The use of biometrics, gamification, social media, data analytics, and the Internet of Things are all interesting ways technology is being used in our industry. The experimentation with the Internet of Things and how it can be used to better understand clients is currently an interest- ing trend. Are there any plans to implement a robo- advisor-style service? Scotiabank offers a continuum of wealth management services that range from a com- pletely self-directed experience all the way through to customised advice from teams of professionals who provide a wide range of expertise. Any future technology plans you can share? We will start releasing a new digital onboard- ing process in 2016. We will start with a few full-service invest- ment accounts and then enhance the offer- ing to eventually encompass the majority of investment accounts, as well as broaden the offering across the wealth management plat- form to all the businesses. < John Bai, Scotia Wealth Management (cont.) PBI supplement.indd 9 02/06/2016 11:15:41
  • 12. www.privatebankerinternational.com10 y FinTech 2016 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 The importance of aggregating, managing and using data for private banks T he modern economy, labelled as the Personal Data economy, is portrayed as data-driven and can only be realised if data can flow and drive new innovation in all sectors. The private banking industry is highly impacted by this trend, as gathering personal financial information from clients is key. Hav- ing a consolidated view of customers’ finan- cial data allows private bankers to target and customise their advice in order to achieve their clients’ personal goals. Private bankers are using consolidation services to collect financial data from all the banks and financial institutions where a cli- ent holds online accounts, displaying the data into a single interface. The data aggregated is then shown as an online summary of the cli- ent’s assets, funds, stocks and other holdings, which could be completed by other services from the private bank such as personalised analysis. The personal data aggregated by these services has to be protected to guarantee the highest security and privacy. Data-driven economies can only be achieved when there is consistency with user preferences and expec- tations; it is key to earn trust by avoiding breaches of data security. Personal data is now seen as more valuable than gold. Breaches in personal data security are an alarming issue, specifically for the pri- vate banking industry accessing highly private information such as clients’ accounts across all their financial institution relationships. Last year, we witnessed a mini data security war between several retail banks and third- party account aggregation providers in the US. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America cut off access to account aggregation services for the fear of a security breach. The Wall Street Journal reported that the banks “have raised concerns that the aggregator sites may threaten consumers’ account security and the performance of bank websites.” A JPMorgan spokeswoman said: “In the meantime, we want our customers to realise that they may be trading account security for convenience when handing over their pass- word” to third-party sites. The known downsides to account aggrega- tion are highlighted in the server-side aggrega- tion approach. Privacy is a concern because users must disclose their usernames and pass- words to the banks or third parties providing the aggregation. The end result: the ‘domino effect’ of data security. Customers are opting for simplicity and easy access. Financial institutions are in a bind because the perceived implication of con- venience is the loss of privacy and access by third parties to their clients’ sensitive financial data without their explicit consent. In a world where personal data security is increasingly under threat, how do private banks offer their customers comprehensive account aggregation tools without becom- ing the custodian of customer data, particu- larly the customers usernames and passwords, and therefore a larger target for hackers and increasing the risk of data loss? Private banks comprehend customer demand for simplicity, aggregating all their financial accounts in one place. The answer to their concerns is to opt for a client-side aggre- gation model, where all the data is aggregated and saved on the user’s device and not shared with third parties. The aggregators blocked by the US banks last year are aggregating the user’s financial data and store that data on the service provider’s server in the cloud, the so- called server-side aggregation model. It means the data aggregation service pro- vider saves the login details and passwords of the user on their server in order to access the data whenever they need. This common architecture is not the only way to perform account aggregation. As a secure and private alternative, the client-side aggregation model, invented and patented by eWise in 2000, never requires the customer to disclose their online credentials to the aggregator provider or the private bank, and all aggregation is per- formed on the customer’s chosen device. All data and information is encrypted and stored on the customer’s device in a Personal Data Vault, where the customer can choose to share their data with his trusted private bank- er through permission management. In line with security best practice, encryp- tion keys are not stored on the device but rath- er on ‘zero-knowledge’ servers. Separating the place where the personal data is stored – on the user device – and where the key to open the Personal Data Vault is stored – on eWise servers – guarantees from compromising the user’s Personal Data Vault. In the eWise client-side model, the private bank offering the data aggregation service never becomes the custodian of the custom- er’s online credentials. Through permissions granted by the customer, information they hold with external financial services provid- ers may be shared with the private bank from the Personal Data Vault. This approach not only offers customers greater control and choice over the personal data, it eliminates the compliance, legal and security risks of online credential custody for the bank. An effect of implicit credential shar- ing through the server-side aggregation model means that the service provider has access to users’ financial data and can then anonymise and sell that data. In a quest for companies to invest in cus- tomer insight and explore better opportunities for cross-selling and increase in revenue, per- sonal data is the key to access those insights. There is a very high demand from companies to acquire this data. But taking care of users’ privacy also takes care of the company’s objective. The goal of getting more insights in order to achieve better cross-selling opportunities could be achieved in a private and secure way that is mutually beneficial. With eWise patented client-side aggregation, customers take control back over their personal data and benefit from choosing who they want to share data with. Learn more at www.ewise.com David Hamilton, president and CEO of eWise Group, comments on the impact of data-driven economies on private banks and their data aggregator service providers PBI supplement.indd 10 02/06/2016 11:15:42
  • 13. www.privatebankerinternational.com FinTech 2016 y 11 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 Cyber Security at private banks – no taking chances A key concern for private banks in all regions is cyber security threats. Cyber security is crucial to maintaining client trust and ensuring data protection. Cyber security threats and breaches are certainly not exclusive to the private banking and wealth management industry. IT security threats have been problematic since the exist- ence of the internet, and have surged in recent years as technology use has grown. Cyber-attacks are the new big enemy in private banking. For any industry, an attack can have damaging effects; for the private banking industry, which is reliant on client trust, it can be catastrophic. As private banks and wealth managers continue to prioritise cyber security, much remains to be done. High net worth individuals (HNWIs) and ultra-HNWIs are attractive targets for cyber fraudsters. In the digital age, it has become progressively easier for fraudsters to gain information on individuals, especially on high-profile figures whose wealth informa- tion is in the public domain. It is not only about money fraud with HNWIs, but also personal data. “HNWIs, their families and businesses, are an obvious target for cyber-crime, arguably more attractive to criminals than the larger numbersofretailbankingcustomers.Thewider use of digital channels in private banking also increases the risk of exposure to cyber criminal activity for this group,” says Jamie Woodhouse, MD, finance and risk services at Accenture. Richard Horne, cyber security partner at PwC, adds: “The amount that criminals are able to find out about individuals online is staggering.” One of the most significant cyber risks is phishing, an attempt to gain sensitive informa- tion such as PINs, usernames, passwords and card details, usually via bogus emails. Although social engineering methods such as phishing are not the most sophisticated forms of cyber-attack, they can often be convincing with the potential to fool clients if they are not vigilant. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, around 100m malicious emails enter inboxes each day. Fraudsters’ tac- tics for targeting private banking clients can dif- fer from mass attacks on retail banking clients, and tend to focus on individuals, requiring the fraudstertoamassagreateramountofresearch. There is a risk that private banking clients could be more vulnerable to phishing, as they are more likely to correspond with relationship managers by email. “Therehavebeenseriouscasesofcybercrime that have affected private banks – both on and off the public record. These include instances of phishing, insider and cyber-theft of customer details, and also loss of customer data via third parties, including printers and legal firms,” says Accenture’s Woodhouse. Shiftingfrompreventiontoresilience According to Woodhouse, private banks are implementing strong provisions to safeguard themselves after realising the scale and serious- ness of the threats – from trust, reputational, regulatory and remediation angles. “We see more action across the organisa- tion; CEOs are shifting from pure prevention to strengthening overall business resilience. “CIOs are building more robust technology strategies, prioritised by threat and the assets they want to protect. CROs are working to quantify the risks and build cyber-risk into their enterprise risk frameworks and controls. “Relationship managers are working to help clients cut back on human errors that give openings to criminals. It is inevitable that some cyber-attacks will succeed – so resilience think- ing includes planning and testing responses for when criminals do break through or insiders take out client data or cause damage.” A number of private banks, including Coutts, Barclays and Standard Bank, have adopted bio- metric technology to verify client authenticity. Coutts has implemented messaging services via its tablet and smartphone apps, allowing for greater degree of security over emails that have not been encrypted. Authentication can be granted via fingerprint rather than pass-code. “Innovations such as TouchID, voice and behavioural biometrics not only serve as pri- vate banking industry firsts, but have also dra- matically reduced fraud and enhanced the client experience,” says Robert Hemphill, executive director, digital solutions at Coutts. A risk-savvy corporate culture, adds Wood- house, needs to be embedded across the entire organisation. “Firewalls will not protect employees from falling prey to social engineering, for example. Data losses have happened when disguised criminals accessed physical data servers in banks, or send well-crafted emails to top executives. So it is important for all employees – the board, relationship manag- ers, facilities managers, CROs, COOs and CIOs – to have the right tools and culture to manage these risks,” he says. Creating a secure environment, mitigat- ing cyber-risks and investing in appropriate security measures are vital for private banks to cope with the ongoing regulatory changes. It is a question of time before private banks will need to become even more connected than they are now, with the introduction of additional distribution channels for clients and third-party partnerships, and potentially new cyber threats will arise; financial institu- tions need to be ready for the new reality. Banks with legacy IT infrastructure will find this process of enhancing security systems much harder, and will be exposing themselves to increased vulnerability. Woodhouse says: “Digitisation, when done right, also enables banks to build in automated defences and advanced surveillance that can help fight cyber crime and accelerate recovery.” He also points out that technology is moving fast, both within banks and through collabora- tion with FinTech providers. “Data protection practices and technolo- gies like DLP, information rights management, encryption and restricted use of removable storage devices are also being adopted along with penetration testing and war-gaming,” he explains. < Creating a secure environment, mitigating cyber-risks and investing in appropriate security measures are crucial for private banks. PBI speaks with industry experts to assess how vulnerable private banks currently are, and what is being done about cyber threats PBI supplement.indd 11 02/06/2016 11:15:42
  • 14. www.privatebankerinternational.com12 y FinTech 2016 APAC TOP 20 AUM BENCHMARK Private Banker InternationalPrivate Banker International FINTECH 2016 WealthInitiative: Identifying synergies and opportunities R eal estate, art and passion invest- ments – such as classic cars, yachts, private jets or rare watches – and direct equity investments represent a dynamic multi-trillion-dollar market. Yet tra- ditional wealth management institutions and family offices are remarkably ill equipped to cater to the growing demand from their high net worth individual (HNWI) clients. While technology makes it a breeze to trade shares and other securities, wealth managers often lack the right tools to find their clients a new holiday home, sell their rare watch collections or find the right pri- vate healthcare company to acquire. FinTech startup WealthInitiative, founded in 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland, has launched a platform geared towards the needs of wealth management institutions and family offices to facilitate transactions in this fast expanding universe. The new WealthInitiative platform is used internally to help wealth management insti- tutions explore synergies among their own clients in the various departments and loca- tions. It provides institutions with a new internal tool and creates a secure market where clients’ assets can easily be traded. The platform is available as a cloud-based solution, or can be hosted on banks’ IT infrastructure. WealthInitiative is offered as a white-labelled platform, and is primarily used by wealth managers on behalf of their HNWI clients. Unlike startups that seek to disrupt the tra- ditional wealth management model, Zurich- based WealthInitiative offers a solution that aims to bolster private banks’ and family offices’ competitive edge. By facilitating secure and efficient transac- tions in real estate, art and passion invest- ments and direct equity investments, Wealth- Initiative enhances wealth managers’ value proposition in relation to asset classes that are often most dear to their clients’ hearts. By matching supply and demand through a trusted platform, private banks and family offices avoid the steep fees normally charged by intermediaries, allowing them to generate additional revenues. Moreover, the platform speeds up transactions, enhances confiden- tiality, and significantly lowers costs for cli- ents, leading to a superior client experience. In the near future, WealthInitiative will allow various wealth management institu- tions and family offices to securely reach out and connect with each other, multiply- ing transaction flow, and creating additional opportunities for clients and institutions. WealthInitiative will thus develop into a matchmaking platform for private banks, family offices and key institutions around the world to enable them direct contact from seller to buyer, eliminating steep fees pertain- ing to the trade of tangible assets and the transactions related to direct private equity investments. The competitive advantage of WealthIniti- ative beyond its niche concept is the state-of- the art digital features inbuilt in the platform. Easy to use and equipped with the latest tech- nologies available, the platform enables fast and intuitive interaction. WealthInitiative is also planning to work on the integration of blockchain technology to allow tracing provenance and ownership of assets traded on its platform, which will further add to the security of transactions. Founder of WealthInitiative, investment advisor and art investment expert Douglas Azar, says: “I strongly believe that creating synergies among clients is the next growth driver for wealth management institutions and family offices. “Throughout my experience in private banking and art investment research, I kept on wondering about the lack of tools that would allow wealth management institu- tions to better exploit this untapped poten- tial. WealthInitiative was born out of a desire to fill this gap.” < WealthInitiative was founded in 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland by investment advisor and art investment expert Douglas Azar. The company launched its online plat- form in early 2016 to foster synergies among wealth management institutions related to transactions in real estate, art and passion investments and direct company investments. WealthInitiative’s offering is geared towards wealth management institutions, asset management firms and family offices globally, and allows efficient, confidential and secure trading of assets on behalf of their high net worth clients. The company is backed by an internation- al group of private investors based in major financial hubs. Swiss FinTech startup WealthInitiative is helping private banks and family offices to unlock synergies among their HNWI clients. To do so, WealthInitiative has launched a platform to cut out the middlemen in real estate, art and passion investments, and direct equity investments PBI supplement.indd 12 02/06/2016 11:15:46
  • 15. www.privatebankerinternational.com FinTech 2016 y 13 APAC TOP 20 AUM BENCHMARKPrivate Banker International Lighting the way in FinTech: Private banks in Asia-Pacific G lobally, retail and corporate banks – as well as payment firms – have taken digital engagement with cli- ents to the next level, by using tech- nology innovation as a cornerstone of their business models. For private banks, this shift continues to be gradual. In Asia, though, private banks have evolved and adopted new technologies at a rapid rate. Wealthy clients in Asia prefer to meet relationship managers (RMs) face-to- face regularly, which is a cultural nuance, but at the same time they also view sophisticated technology provisions as must-have services, instead of a nice-to-haves. Nifty new players such as China-head- quartered Alibaba have shaken up the tra- ditional banking market in Asia, and made customers accustomed to easy, real-time ser- vices and personalised offerings. Private banks in markets such as Singa- pore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are particu- larly forward-thinking. Many are actively working with startups to identify new oppor- tunities. Some regulators are promoting this culture of collaboration as well. Singaporean private banks, such as DBS, Bank continue to digitise themselves and introduce niche offerings such as personal RM ‘avatars’ and investment dashboards. At the Private Banker International Global Wealth Conference in October 2015, Tan Su Shan, group head, consumer banking and wealth management, DBS Bank, emphasised the importance of being aware of new tech- nologies and maximising their potential: “If artificial intelligence is indeed able to combine cognitive computing for structured and unstructured data, as well as create an emotional linkage with the client, I want to know about it,” she said. PBI puts the spotlight on four private banks that are leading the way in fintech adoption in Asia-Pacific, to find out what they are doing and examine their approaches. Asia-Pacific is undoubtedly the region to watch for FinTech developments. Several private banks are ahead of Europe and the US in terms of delivering innovative client experiences. Xiou Ann Lim talks to the leading players and examines the most interesting offerings in the region A people-first approach to fintech at Credit Suisse A year ago, Credit Suisse rolled out its Digital Private Banking platform in Singapore. The number of clients using it has increased more than tenfold over the last year, and the user base has almost doubled since access was extended to iPhones three months ago. François Monnet, Credit Suisse’s head of private banking Greater China, and sponsor of the Digital Private Banking project in Asia -Pacific, says clients have responded very positively to the platform. “A fast-growing number of clients are using the digital channel, log- ging in more often and spending more time on the platform,” he adds. Monnet reveals clients spend an average of around 15 minutes per login session on the digital platform, and they log in an average of six times a month. “Our most active user logs in more than five times a day,” he discloses. Monnet says that the platform has given Credit Suisse more channels anddatatobetterunderstandclients’investmentpreferencesandbehav- iour. “We found that while clients tend to conduct their digital banking activities on weekdays, they are also using it on weekends,” he shares. The platform also provides insights on client usage preferences. Across all devices, Monnet says that the top three most popular functionalities are Portfolio Overview, Trade and Research. “In terms of devices, clients prefer using the iPad to view their portfo- lios, trade and get investment ideas, while they use the iPhone mainly for quick viewing of their portfolios as well as acquiring news and insights on markets,” he adds. “We observe our clients using the platform to source for investment opportunities and ideas. Through the trading tools available, they are empowered to act on market opportunities at their own convenience, while also maintaining a close dialogue with their RMs,” Monnet shares, PBI supplement.indd 13 02/06/2016 11:15:50
  • 16. www.privatebankerinternational.com14 y FinTech 2016 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 adding that this has resulted in positive feedback from clients. Despite its importance, digitisation in wealth management is com- plex. Not all players can undertake the challenges and commit significant investments and resources to fintech, as several pieces need to come together. According to Monnet, the first and most time-consuming part of the journey is to prepare the platform and banking infrastructure that will provide the services to the front-end applications. This includes the core banking and other systems to support the required security, automation and data standards. “Once you have the platform ready, only then can you start building the client-facing applications. That is the sexy part, because it is new, fresh and reinvents the banking value proposition for the client,” Monnet says. Additionally, Monnet cautions that the bank itself has to be ready to enable the service. “It is a new target operating model and way of work- ing together to be a 24/7, almost real-time business. This requires us to rethink the way we work, our processes and tools. “It is complex to engage everyone in the organisation to embrace this changeandunderstandwhatgoingdigitalreallymeans,”Monnetexplains. To help convey the substantial advantages of the digital private banking platform to both clients and front-office teams, Credit Suisse put in place an ongoing change programme. “This change process to adopt the digital private banking platform has been extremely successful with Credit Suisse employees and clients,” he says. Having all these pieces working together – an engaging front-end appli- cation fully integrated into the IT infrastructure of the bank and propelled by internal adoption – is a multi-year commitment. “From the beginning, we designed and shaped our digital solution based on in-depth client discussions to get their valuable input,” Monnet reveals. The features of the first product release were designed, developed and prioritised based on what these clients expect from the bank. “So, we are continuing to have regular conversations with our clients and RMs to get their feedback and we continuously enhance our digital private banking platform to increase the breadth and depth of what we offer digitally,” he adds. Monnet views technology as an enabler and not a replacement: “Our RMs will remain at the centre of the client relationship and private banking continues to be a people-based business.” He believes that new digital capabilities are giving the RMs a new plat- form to better serve their clients, focus on higher-value-added advisory activities, and manage higher volumes. “We see the digital platform as being complementary to the expertise of our RMs. We are simplifying access to the knowledge and insights of the bank, so our clients can identify and act on the information that is most relevant to them – whenever they choose,” Monnet says. The emergence of fintech may seem to be highly advantageous to the private banking industry, but it does bring its fair share of threats, and Monnet believes that cyber security is one such element at risk. “I believe our peers in banking and finance, as well as other sectors, face the same threat. As a leading private bank, our first priority is client security and privacy – we take it extremely seriously.” Monnet discloses that the digital private banking platform will be rolled out to the Hong Kong booking centre in mid-2016. New features, function- alities and language capabilities will be added.< Credit Suisse (cont.) Fintech at Citi Private Bank: Getting it right first time Citi Private Bank’s Investment Lab developed Idea in 2014 with the aim of helping clients with cash and liquidity solutions, deposits, lending, estate planning and investments. According to the global head of Citi Private Bank Investment Lab, Philip Watson: “Idea helps us better understand our clients and what they are exposed to, as well as what types of investments they have.” It also makes recommendations and helps to identify risks in their portfolios. Idea consolidates all these pieces of information and cuts through the noise to get the most relevant information and channel to the client as quicklyaspossible.“Thisenablestheadvisorstoinstantlyunderstandwho is impacted by what,” says Watson. As efficient as the platform is, Watson doesn’t think robo-advisory will completely replace relationship managers anytime soon. “In Asia, we look after approximately 5,000 individuals and families – the needs differ from client to client,” he explains. While he believes that use of data and technology is empowering, pri- vate banking delivers very unique solutions to the needs of individuals. “I do not see competition between the two,” he says. “Itdoesnotsubstitutethedialoguethatissupposedtohappenwiththe client about things outside of the insights that data can provide,” Watson reiterates. These could be transition or changes in the family or transfer of wealth between generations. Instead, he believes that there is a natural fusion that enables a productive dialogue to happen with the client. Apart from the ‘softer’ issues in wealth management, Watson also believes that fintech will not be able to fulfil clients’ need for education. “One thing we have observed is that our clients have a great appetite for education,” he shares. The Investment Lab produces around 1,500 case studies for Citi Private Bank clients every year. So – while education can be facilitated through technology – he believes that there are some rudiments that are human- to-human, which cannot be replaced. The Investment Lab – which operates out of London, Singapore, Hong Kong and New York – is working with a number of fintech firms on several plans. “What I find so exciting about the fintech community is that there are seeminglynoboundariesastowhatcanbeachievedwiththetechnology,” Watson says. But what he finds lacking is the awareness of the internal workings of a private bank and the ways in which clients engage with them. “There are some regulatory and compliance features that need to be embedded within fintech solutions,” he explains. “While the technology can provide solutions, there are a few hurdles that the fintech community need to get through – but they’re not insur- mountable, it just takes experience,” he adds. Watson’s philosophy when it comes to innovation is simple: “We want it to work as originally planned.” He says that the speed at which they can bring innovation into the ‘business-as-usual’ is dependent on a number of factors. “When we introduce disruption, we want to have anticipated the broad- est range of challenges that may arise in that first period – because that first period is an extremely important one,” he adds. “If you introduce disruption in a bid to be the first to market, and for all of the positive reasons you may have had for accelerating it, the invest- ment of time that you have to make in order to repurpose and win back the user base is significantly larger,” Watson cautions. “You can lose a significant amount of time – more than what you gained from being the first to the market.” To Watson, the nuances of private banking tend to be more client-spe- cific. “There’s no question that there are some differences between regions in terms of investment behaviours, but our clients do employ us – among other reasons – to access opportunities outside of their own region; they tend to have a global outlook,” he explains. The Investment Lab is trying to embrace changes happening within the market – both in clients’ buying behaviour and within the product land- scape. Watson reveals: “Our clients are increasingly aware of the opportuni- ties available to them in the global sense, but they frequently lack the time and tools to evaluate all of them and do a peer-group analysis across those opportunities. These are things that we’re investing our time in at the moment.” < PBI supplement.indd 14 02/06/2016 11:15:50
  • 17. www.privatebankerinternational.com FinTech 2016 y 15 Private Banker International FINTECH 2016 Singapore’s OCBC broadens its wealth management reach through fintech While most private banks are concentrating their efforts on improving theirdigitalpropositionforhighnetworth(HNW)privatebankingclients, OCBC in Singapore is using fintech to make wealth management services available to more people. To further this agenda, the bank launched its OneWealth app in March 2016. Callingitthe“democratisationofwealthmanagement”,headofe-busi- ness Singapore Aditya Gupta explains that advisory has traditionally been restricted to the HNW segment of private and priority banking clients. “But if we marry digital technology to wealth management, we have an opportunity to make quality advisory more accessible and personalised for a much larger group, and to segments that have not had access to this – mass affluent, youth, first-time investors, etc. That was the concept behind this app,” he explains. The OneWealth app – which took around 10 months to develop, proto- typeandtest–providesup-to-datemarketinformationandrecommenda- tions from OCBC wealth experts directly to clients’ mobile devices. “We have consciously curated the content into simple bite-sized pieces of information,” says Gupta. Users can also view their portfolio in real- time. “We give users contextual alerts. It is relevant to their investment holdings, and not a generic text message,” he adds. Although the app was only launched recently, it has already been down- loaded around 15,000 times. “The initial engagement levels are also high – clients come back to the app every day because of the daily updates. “They are also interacting with it by saving articles, giving feedback on social media and logging into their portfolios,” Gupta reveals. While some functions are similar to those offered on the online banking site, the OneWealth app was developed with a mobile-first perspective. “We have redone the way content is presented and also increased engagement as compared to the website,” explains Gupta. There is a newsfeed that is designed based on user feedback, which allowsthemtocustomisewhattheywanttosee.Theappalsohasageneric newsfeed and one that is based on personal holdings. Gupta shares that customers who are using the app for the first time are happy to manage their portfolio holdings on their own. “There are also customers who are already tied to a RM or prefer to have a hybrid model where they want to see content but still meet an advisor to transact or get additional advice,” he adds. Gupta says there are plans to add a buy-and-sell function to the app. “The reason why we did not do that in the first phase was because we wanted people to familiarise themselves with the app,” he explains. OCBC will also be introducing a fingerprint biometric-based access to clients’ portfolios so that they do not have to go through a complex log- in and two-factor authentication process. This comes from feedback that users want easier access to their portfolios. “We want to continue to simplify the wealth execution,” Gupta says. Speaking about the bank’s innovation lab – The Open Vault – he shares that rather than taking the standard approach of banks where they start fromthefintechcompaniesandthenlookforsolutions,OCBCstartedwith their problem and opportunity statements before identifying partners. Currently, the bank is running an accelerator programme with venture capitalfirmNest.Guptarevealsthattwoorthreeofthefintechcompanies participating are in the wealth management space. “We will be providing them with sandboxes to build prototypes for us,” he adds. “We have taken a step in the right direction, so that is encouraging.” < Fintech at the centre – not an extension – of UBS UBS’s Evolve innovation centre has been testing, learning and applying several different proof of concepts to understand how they best fit into the UBS ecosystem. According to its Chief Digital Office (CDO), clients want more digital touch points and efficiency – so, a lot of the digital projects will kick off from the innovation centre. “Our management is committed to ensuring that digital is not just an extension of UBS, but central to our transformative efforts to be future- ready and remain the world’s number one wealth manager by AuM.” Revealing that there are several plans in the pipeline, the CDO adds that “there will always be pockets of resistance – like any other form of disrup- tive influence”. However, the private bank’s management has embraced digital and understands the need to stay ahead through it. “Externally, we ensure that all digital changes begin with what clients want and end with them as well,” says the CDO – adding that they are involved from the testing phase and that many have stepped forward to volunteer their time and feedback to help UBS improve. “UBS does not believe in designing or building without putting clients’ needs first.” Internally, the CDO has been working with UBS staff on human-centred design. By the end of 2016, several dozen UBS staff members will have gone through workshops to flesh out principles, help participants better understand digital transformation and how to apply it within their units, PBI is told. Has UBS identified any potential technological threats to its private bank? “Everything can be viewed as an opportunity. Even robo-advisory is not considered a threat. We know what our clients want and we believe that pure robo-advisory services are not going to make a huge dent in the pri- vate banking space in Asia,” says the CDO, adding, however, that perhaps the biggest fintech disruption may come from China – where companies such as Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba are reshaping the digital financial ser- vices model rapidly. “We are always looking at ways to get better. To say that we have got enough is a mistake. We believe we have the best mix possible of high- tech and high-touch to serve our clients – but that does not mean we will rest there.” < n FINANCIAL ADVICE INTERACTION - CHANNEL PREFERENCES Top 2 Channel Preferences in 2-3 Years Change from Current Preferences Mainland China Mobile 27% Online 21% 8% 5% Hong Kong In person 29% Online 29% 1% -1% Singapore In person 44% Mobile 17% -6% 6% Japan Online 38% In person 35% 5% -7% Australia Online 35% In person 35% 9% -9% Source: EY 2016, Could your client needs be your competitive advantage? PBI supplement.indd 15 02/06/2016 11:15:51