Multiple next generation wealth clients reiterated the importance of changing with the times and warned banks against testing their tolerance for high fees, product-pushing and other approaches from the last era.
«I don’t want institutions – like Credit Suisse – to underestimate the loyalty that we do still have to groups. Our parents and grandparents have worked with them for 20, 40, 60 years. The loyalty is there and it’s going to be hard to shake,» said Hayley Mole, senior associate at impact investment and advisory firm Flat World Partners, during a next generation panel hosted by the Swiss bank.
Nonetheless, Mole – who is also the president of Young Investors Organization, an independent next generation network sponsored by Credit Suisse – warned the industry against taking advantage of that loyalty, stressing that next generation clients are «savvy».
«We understand what fees we are being charged. We understand where shortcuts are being taken. There’s only so far that loyalty will go.»
More Client Due Diligence, Less Profiling
«Sometimes where you speak to private bankers, they presume – because you’re a woman and because you're next generation – you spent your life lying next to a pool and you have no knowledge of finance or business, whatsoever,» said Heleen van Poecke, CEO and founder of B2B sustainability software solutions provider KEY ESG.
Van Poecke cites an example of a meeting with a relationship manager at an unnamed private bank where she was spoken to in elementary terms despite her readily available financial background online.
«There’s no malice in that,» she said but underlined the risk of profiling by appearance in the current times. «Some of the presumptions you maybe could make about the next generation 20 years ago don’t hold true today.»
LastGen Tendencies
All of the next generation participants in the virtual panel noted that the obvious reason for the disconnect between private bankers and young wealth is the former’s continued approach based on past experience.
Jo Jo Kong, a partner at multi-family private investment firm RHL Ventures, underlined some of the key differences with regards to investment decision-making – particularly in Southeast Asia – such as limited openness to new industries, tribalistic herd mentality and face-saving moves.
«It’s like in Thailand – every conglomerate has their own soccer club and you don’t know why,» she said, underlining some of the cultural challenges that foreign firms face when attempting to gain trust and unlock wealth in Asia.
Private Banks: Advisor or Extinction
Benjamin Cavalli, South Asia private banking head and Singapore CEO at Credit Suisse, echoed the panelist’ sentiments, underlining private banks’ fundamental role as an advisor to clients seeking a solution, regardless of where that solution originates from.
«We know that our nextgen clients expect much more from a wealth manager or private bank than just delivering financial know-how these days,» he said at the panel during Credit Suisse’s 2021 Asia Investment Conference this week.
«They expect us to be a lifelong trusted partner and that we connect them with the right experts, institutions and solutions – whether that's within Credit Suisse or outside, I have to say.»
