A large number of wealth management firms do not seek
regular client feedback, a sobering fact considering that such information is
surely an essential driver of industry progress, members of the sector heard at
the WealthMatters conference in central London
recently.

While businesses may pay lip service to the idea of getting
regular comments from clients about how to improve the quality and variety of
service, the brutal truth – at least according to a recent major survey – is that
fewer than half do so in a systematic way, the conference heard. (That survey
was contained in the report, produced by ClearView Financial Media in association with
Barclays, entitled The New Normal:
Codifying Superior Client Experience in Wealth Management, and published
earlier this year.)

The conference, organised by ClearView Financial Media –
publisher of this website – drew a total delegate headcount of 250 people, the
biggest ever for a WealthMatters conference. Sponsors for the conference were
Equipos, brt, Ossiam, Advanced 365, SPDR, MSCI, Vermillion, Finantix, KA
Watson, Wealthmonitor; with support from APCIMS (now renamed as the Wealth
Management Association) and ETF Strategy.

Wendy Spires, consultant at Bulletin, a public relations and
communications consultancy for wealth and asset managers, and former head of
research at ClearView, went through the highlights of the report, of which she
was the author. One of its main findings was that, according to a poll of
wealth managers, some 40 per cent of respondents had a dedicated client
experience head. This leaves open the issue of what the other 60 per cent are
doing.

“Wealth managers are thinking a lot more about the 'how' of
wealth management as well as the 'what' of the expertise and capabilities
delivered. There is a real ‘comparison culture’ today and that extends to high
net worth individuals as well. They may be using a private client forum rather
than a credit card comparison site, but the principle is the same. Wealth
managers need to be conscious that they are being compared to their peers and
other providers of HNW goods and services. I think it always needs to be borne
in mind that HNW individuals may have three or four wealth management relationships
in place at any one time,” she said.

“Wealth management seems to be a two-tier industry in terms
of client feedback: 40 per cent of firms regularly collate both qualitative and
quantitative feedback from clients. However, at the same time, 36 per cent of
respondents said that their firm does not regularly collate client feedback at
all. You have to wonder how confident these organisations can be of any strategic
decision they make. You also have to wonder how their clients feel about never
being asked about their views and needs,” Spires
said.

“Gathering feedback is one thing but doing something about
it is another,” Spires said.

She added that firms should learn from some of the client
experience ideas seen in areas such as hotels, luxury goods and even autos.

Lisa Worley, global head of marketing, Barclays Wealth &
Investment Management, said that the purpose of having client experience
manager or managers is to ensure a consistently high level of service is
delivered across the bank. The existence of such people does not detract from
the accountability that individual managers have for their service performance.

“One defining quality about this business is that there is
no single, one-size-fits-all solution for people. Clients want to manage their
wealth in their own way,” she said.

As a head of client experience gets more data, it is
important to play back to managers what clients say they are getting; clients
also need to know that their views are being taken seriously throughout an organisation
and driving changes, she continued.

“One of the challenges client experience managers often face
is not having a seat at the executive table, limiting their ability to drive
the voice of the client throughout the organisation right from the very top,”
Worley added.

Cath Tillotson, managing partner at Scorpio, the wealth
management consultancy, said: “The head of client experience has to have the
authority to be able to influence decisions across the business, such as
technology, products and services. They have to be the champion for the client
throughout the business.”

“The head of client experience is the voice of the
client internally at all levels in the business,” she said.

“Getting feedback from client can be extremely useful for
RMs. It gives them an objective insight into clients’ views and can help them
to deliver what the clients want and need more effectively. That is ultimately
what many RMs are trying to achieve within a firm,” Tillotson added.

Alan Hamilton, the chief executive of Equipos, explained
some practical issues raised by the subject of the panel. “A large wealth
management client of ours launched an online service last year. The uptake was overwhelming,
and the system is now evolving to include interactive online client
self-service.”

“It’s challenging for relationship managers to spend more
than 50 per cent of their time on client-facing work, he said. “When client
communications and data processing are automated, relationship managers have
more time to engage with clients in a productive way.”

“The vast majority of advisors don’t use technology, tablets
and so on in client meetings, yet it’s apparent that most clients now prefer
the clarity and versatility of electronic presentations,” Hamilton continued. He added: “High net worth
clients are already banking online. They now expect the same 24/7 service from
their wealth manager.”

Alessandro Tonchia, who is director and founder of Finantix,
spoke about the technology issues surrounding client experience issues.

“We find that a lot of institutions are using tablet
technology to make advisers more effective in servicing clients, but also to
analyse their behaviour in the field in order to determine who are the best
performers and what are their best practices," he said.

“Digital analysis gives you a lot of tools to see what
prospects and clients are discussing, doing and requesting from their financial
providers,” he said, pointing out that this is often a more objective recording
of the voice of the customer than what survey will give.

“We recommend testing the business case for RM tablets to start
with a pilot phase. In a few weeks you can get significant functionality in the
hands of your advisors so that they can use it in client-facing situations.
This will give you real-life feedback on acceptance, benefits and ideas for a
more complete roll-out,” he said.

“Anything you design on paper without real-life tests is just
`blue sky’ thinking,” he added.