ANALYSIS: DIGITAL ADVISORY
Why a hybrid platform is key to banks’ digital advisory woes Customers seek confidence and clarity from financial advisers. ASIA PACIFIC
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oo much of anything is the beginning of a mess, interior designer Dorothy Draper once said, and it’s a reality that financial institutions may want to take heed when it comes to creating new banking experiences. “Too many experiences, offline or online, are not yet designed with the benefits of Human Centered Design Thinking,” said Laurent Bertrand, CEO and co-founder of BetterTradeOff. “The constraints of the banks, rather than the needs of the customer, too often come first. This is improving but as an industry, we still have some work to do to match what everyone is experiencing, and thus expecting, from digital leaders.” Speaking with Asian Banking & Finance, Bertrand noted that despite the enormous investment that banks have sunk into technology– US$70b from major US banks alone in 2021–
The constraints of the banks, rather than the needs of the customer, too often come first
most consumers remain diffident on completing complex banking activities by themselves online. “One of the reasons is that existing online wealth planning solutions are either too simple to provide the clarity people want and need, or too complex to provide people with sufficient control when using them on their own. The result is a lack of confidence in the process and the results,” Bertrand noted. On the other end of the spectrum, the traditional advice model meanwhile suffers from transparency issues, leading consumers to question whether they really are receiving the best advice and product recommendations. “Traditional financial planning can be a complex, slow and often intrusive process that, for most, requires the support of a professional adviser - advisers who are often available only to the wealthy, or in some cases not
believed to have their client’s best interest at heart,” Bertrand said. Hybrid is key Bertrand touts a digitally powered hybrid model–where customers and advisers plan together on the same platform–as the answer to meeting customers’ yearning for financial independence and transparency from financial advisers. He shared that from their experience, they noted higher up-sell and cross-sell delivered by those using hybrid platforms, with revenues increasing by up to and even over 20%. “From our work with leading global banks and insurers in Singapore, HK, the Philippines, Dubai, and Switzerland, we’ve seen a number of benefits. Firstly, the better client engagement you get with a highly visual and interactive platform empowers customers to be fully in control of their financial decisions. That clarity leads to higher confidence, and higher confidence leads to action,” Bertrand noted. This leads to the second improvement–faster and higher sales. “Advisers have the data and tools to demonstrate the value of their advice when recommending
A digitally powered hybrid model is the answer to meeting customers’ yearning for financial independence and transparency from financial advisers
34 ASIAN BANKING & FINANCE | Q1 2023
