What's Trending in Financial Services?

Our first newsletter from the shores of the Western Cape.

Earlier this month I was invited to attend the Future Advisory Forum in Cape Town.  It is a forum where top financial planners get together to debate hot topics in our industry. The speakers are challenged to answer our burning questions, which we submitted via an app, of course. Notable speakers of the day included Robyn Moore of PwC South Africa, Ben Lester of Praemium.

This particular forum focussed on how to adapt to the “always on” client. 

Consumers typically think they can give themselves better advice than an advisor.  How do we know this? Betterment was the fastest growing online wealth management company in the world last year, which reflected the demand for investors to do their own financial planning and source their own solutions for their needs.  But a great number of incomplete transactions forced the company to employ a huge workforce of advisors to assist their clients.  This was a result of implementing a digital strategy, rather than a business strategy for the digital age.  It also indicates a trend of consumers not seeing value in the “behind the scenes work”.  There is an app for everything and consumers want to be “always on”.

So, this begs the question;
What was so attractive about robo advice? 
Will this be the way of the future? 
How do our clients want to engage with us? 
What is important to them? 
Is digitisation changing investor behaviour? 
How important is face-to-face communication? 
How important is brand loyalty? 
How does digitisation impact on your efficiency to deliver a superior offering to your clients? 
How do our clients engage with us and what do their storyboard say of their journey with us?

In an effort to answer these questions it is important to know what clients want, namely:

Accessibility, solutions tailored to their needs, content explanation, more online access, loyalty rewards, communication, secure access to client portals and a consolidated view of their entire portfolio.  They want to be part of a brand they trust.  Communication is key.

The challenge for financial services providers is to define their value proposition, de risk their business with control and advice processes, that will ensure efficient execution of transactions in a secure manner.  Treating clients equally and yet differently according to their needs.  All this in an environment where regulations are compelling the industry to adapt to the “always on” client, yet always cognisant of requirement to be compliant in all processes.  This is a work in progress at Noble Wealth Management.  Our online presence will grow, but only at a pace that we believe will ensure security, sustainability and a journey that our valued clients will hopefully remember for the right reasons.  It is truly a privilege for me to be a part of this experience with Noble Wealth Management.

Favourite quote of the day – James Wilkinson of Black Rock Global Real Estate Securities Group
“The data cloud is actually on the ground, requiring enormous energy and storage facilities” 

November 10 2017 By Linda Mannix Financial Planning