Technology can bring a step-change to the relationship between clients and financial firms and can empower relationship managers. Our Head of Product Development in Private Banking Technologies, Matthias Wyss, interviewed by Business Reporter / The Telegraph.
But even though industry actors overall agree with the principle of the directive, the regulatory pressure can be a burden on relationship managers, who need to invest more and more time in compliance. “It can take up to four hours for a relationship manager to prepare the right client advice to discuss during meetings,” says Matthias Wyss, Head of Product Development of swissQuant, in his interview with Business Reporter. He believes that, beyond the strict regulations, technology disruption results in a race for lower prices and more efficient cost solutions. Given the recent increased regulatory pressure and expanded transparency requirements, global wealth managers are facing declining profit margins.
While digitalisation poses a challenge, at the same time digital tools offer an opportunity that can enhance process efficiency, lower costs and increase clients’ general user experience. As such, technology could be a viable solution, says Wyss. MiFID II regulation is designed to protect investors in all asset classes, move over-the-counter trading to regulated trading venues, and, overall, increase confidence levels with investors. But this could also result in a lot of daily repetitive low-level tasks. The efficient response is automation, to enable relationship managers to focus on the valuable part of their work: assessing risk, understanding individual client needs and customising offers.
swissQuant’s full order and trade-cycle platform is the answer to questions about pre-trade compliance, post-trade disclosures, customer and trade reports and many others. By liberating relationship managers from time constraints, swissQuant can empower them to dedicate more attention and tailored advice to the individual needs of their customers.
swissQuant follows a goal-based approach. First, it finds out what customers expect from their investments. Risk-profiling and assessment is part of the process. swissQuant’s technology also empowers relationship managers to respond flexibly to sudden requests – for example, by updating their offer during the conversation.
Wyss believes that the future belongs to those who can implement a hybrid model. In an ideal scenario, technology will act as support to relationship managers – a hybrid model to enable financial institutions to deliver higher quality at lower costs.
Read also the original Business Reporter article here (published: 29 October 2018).