The Wealth Management Term Sheet Goes Digital
Accenture invests in a Singapore-based startup that aims to make private bank client reports and updates interactive and engaging.
The dreaded term sheet. What private banking client in Asia hasn’t, at one time or another, faced the scattershot of regulatory-driven, unnecessary emails every time they try to make more than one trade or investment at a time?
Even if they opted out of the rigmarole, they periodically had to face up to an enforced understanding, in one way or another, of a long list of risks and other disclosures, as well as a modeled, simulated trade that usually didn’t even match the product or service they wanted to buy or invest in.
Overflowing Inboxes
Now, it appears, relief is on the horizon. As finews.asia previously reported, Accenture announced on Monday in a news release that it was investing in Singapore-based GoUpscale to help digitalize and clean up overflowing client inboxes across the region.
It intends to digitalize previously static reports and generic financial updates, including brochures, fact sheets, and market insight reports, turning them into «interactive, digital-first experiences that capture attention, command engagement, and deepen client relationships.»
The PDF Apology
It is not a moment too soon given that much of the contact relationship managers and their assistants have with clients during turbulence in the financial markets, such as we are now experiencing, involves taking down orders using the legacy tool of the humble phone voice call back and then having to apologize for the plethora of PDFs their assistant is about to dispatch.
«The two companies will help wealth management firms create relevant, personalized communications and meaningful client experiences. Accenture’s research also found that this targeted, accessible content could bring in as much as a 6–8 percent annual increase in revenue for wealth management companies, worth tens of millions of dollars,» the announcement maintains.
Revolutionizing Wealth Management
According to Tom Lounibos, the global lead for Accenture Ventures, the appearance of GenAI is instigating new ideas – and possibilities – for client content: «Clients expect seamless, digital interactions and GoUpscale's technology has the potential to revolutionize how wealth managers share the insights that build trust and value,» he maintained.
That, however, is a big ask. In the current environment, it is rather unlikely that an HNW or a UHNW is going to want to sit through interactive animations while the VIX goes through the roof because of Trump 2.0’s haphazard approach to tariffs and global trade. Those kinds of things are best left for quieter moments, such as annual portfolio reviews, when the external environment is a calm one.
The Regulatory Question
Another obstacle may be the strict regulatory regimes in certain jurisdictions. As finews.asia commented on in early 2023, Hong Kong's approach to suitability has unfairly burdened wealth managers and private banks to no end since at least the mid-2010s.
Complying with it is difficult, onerous, and extremely expensive, particularly for foreign bank branches. It not only involves the abovementioned term sheets but includes senseless risk profile questionnaires, arduous reviews of solicited and unsolicited trades, and constant call-backs for identification and re-identification.
Helping to Simplify
If they are going to go big in Hong Kong, Accenture and GoUpscale are likely going to have to partner with the government's current efforts to streamline the suitability assessment and disclosure processes for wealth management clients, an effort the city's financial secretary Paul Chan alluded to in 2023.
But that is for the future. Right now, it might also be an idea for wealth managers, particularly the smaller ones, to focus this new tech to master some basics - delivering a term sheet that reflects the actual trades and investments a client wants to get into.
