| 2023 PIMFA.CO.UK
JOURNAL SUMMER/AUTUMN Building Personal Financial Futures
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SUMMER/AUTUMN JOURNAL | 2023
BUILDING PERSONAL FINANCIAL FUTURES
CONTENTS
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SUSTAINABLE COMMS IN FINANCIAL SERVICES: A MORAL AND STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE
DRIVING GROWTH IN AN ERA OF DISRUPTION
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HOW TO EMBED CONSUMER DUTY IN 7 PRACTICAL STEPS
HOW TO CREATE RISK OWNERSHIP WITHIN YOUR FIRM
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THE FOUR CORNERSTONES OF FINANCIAL WELLBEING
MIFID TRANSACTION REPORTING – 2023 AND BEYOND….
16 DOES YOUR PORTAL SUPPORT YOUR IFA STAKEHOLDERS?
20 THE ART OF ENGAGING AFFLUENT INVESTORS: THE OPPORTUNITIES PRESENTED BY ASSET AGGREGATION AND REAL TIME STRATEGIC INSIGHTS.
38 A 5-STEP FRAMEWORK TO AID A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
42 NEW STUDY REVEALS THE THREE PILLARS FOR WEALTH MANAGERS TO UNLOCK OPPORTUNITY IN CHALLENGING TIMES
24 NAVIGATING TAX REPORTING CHALLENGES IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT: A TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH
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SUSTAINABLE COMMS IN FINANCIAL SERVICES: A MORAL AND STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE
PIMFA.CO.UK
In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) concerns have become increasingly important for companies across all industries, especially financial services. Sustainability is not only a moral obligation, it can drive key strategic business decisions. Companies throughout the financial sector are using technology to reduce their carbon footprint, and it’s yielding results. DECARBONISING COMMS - A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION However, with little to no formalised framework when it comes to sustainability, how do organisations know where to begin? When we consider which areas of an organisation can benefit from introducing sustainable tech, client communications stand out as a good starting point. Communication plays a vital role in our interconnected world. However, traditional methods such as print, pack, and post have a significant ecological footprint. In research conducted with Project Rome’s Simon Pringle, Associate Fellow of Chatham House & Professor at the University of Edinburgh, we evaluated the cradle-to-grave ecological impact of print, pack, and post output, and the advantages of shifting confidential communications from analogue to digital. Our research demonstrates how embracing digital solutions can help businesses to reduce their reliance on carbon-intensive postal communications. We found that every tonne of post generates around 3 tonnes of CO2, and when you consider that Royal Mail delivered 8 billion letters in the financial year ending March 2022, you can imagine the impact this has on our planet.
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SUSTAINABILITY AS A BUSINESS BENEFIT Switching a portion of your sensitive document output to secure email is an immediate step towards carbon output reduction. However, digitising communications doesn’t just help the environment – it offers a host of benefits for your business too. Reduced costs are one of the main outcomes associated with this - sustainability and cost reduction often going hand in hand. Last year, we saw paper costs increase by over 60%, not to mention that Royal Mail postal delivery costs rose between 10% and 18%. These numbers are only expected to increase in 2023, leaving organisations concerned over their current communications strategies. Those who consider implementing digital client communications instead of retaining the use of physical post could see a significant reduction in costly expenditures on printing and postage. Delving deeper into the potential benefits of adopting a digital approach, we already know that the customers of today expect immediacy and convenience in their business interactions, thanks largely to the ‘Amazon Effect’. Transitioning from traditional paper-based workflows to digitised systems not only reduces paper consumption and carbon output, but allows financial firms to offer swift and secure services that accelerate processes, reduce response times, and enhance customer satisfaction. Finally, digital solutions can offer a heightened level of security for the sensitive information that is regularly transmitted within client communications. Traditionally, financial businesses have heavily relied on physical records and documentation, which posed numerous security risks. However, by leveraging specialised digital communication solutions, these institutions can ensure that confidential client information, such as financial statements, account details, and transaction records, are transmitted and stored in a protected manner that is compliant with GDPR and other regulations.
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WHY SECURE EMAIL IS THE DIGITAL SOLUTION OF CHOICE At Beyond Encryption, we pride ourselves on delivering tech that benefits both the planet and your business. Our secure email solution, Mailock, is a small but impactful part of the jigsaw that can align with ESG goals and elevate your organisation’s proposition. In our research with Simon Pringle, we found that secure email can help businesses to reduce their carbon impact by up to 90% compared to print, pack, and post. Our client, Aegon, has already saved over 270 tonnes of CO2 since joining our service in 2019.
In terms of business benefits, Mailock offers organisations: End-to-end encryption and authentication to keep client communications secure. Assistance with fulfilling regulatory obligations (FCA/ICO guidelines) Efficient customer interactions with high rates of engagement. Find out more about how Mailock can reduce your carbon output here.
PAUL HOLLAND, CEO OF BEYOND ENCRYPTION WWW.BEYONDENCRYPTION.COM PAUL.HOLLAND@BEYONDENCRYPTION.COM
By integrating sustainability into core business values, organisations can reduce costs and position themselves as a trusted partner that not only delivers cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions but also prioritises the speed and convenience that customers crave.
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HOW TO EMBED CONSUMER DUTY IN 7 PRACTICAL STEPS
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As the dust settles after the July deadline for Consumer Duty (CD) compliance, the overwhelming feedback we’ve had from clients and other contacts is that, with huge collective effort, and to much relief, their CD change programmes have delivered on time.
The hard work has paid off. They are compliant. But with a big caveat that there is a lot of work still to be done: Outputs and procedures developed by CD project teams must be dropped into ‘business as usual’. Some have set up special oversight committees to supervise closure of programme workstreams. Many firms have had to scale back their plans to get the ‘basics’ over the line. They now need to execute ‘Day 2’ plans to deliver outstanding requirements. There is the ongoing challenge of embedding CD into day-to-day culture. So how do you embed CD into your organisation’s culture and practices? We advise our clients to break down their next steps into 7 key areas:
1) FORMALISED PLANS AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION With the deadline behind us, competition for project resource will be fiercer, so CD must be kept centre stage, with a clear roadmap and allocated budget and resources. To maintain urgency, some organisations have arranged a CD compliance audit to shine a light on remaining shortcomings. Don’t forget that there is a further implementation deadline of July 2024 for legacy products. You may have a new set of requirements for these, and your plans should lean heavily on the frameworks already in place for live products.
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2) IMPACTFUL REPORTING MECHANISMS
5) INTEGRATION INTO COMPANY CULTURE
Reporting dashboards should evidence that your activities are having their intended impact, and that you can identify situations where there are poor customer outcomes. Some firms have sought legal opinion to define these metrics, for example what should be considered customer ‘harm’.
Most organisations are encouraging employees to consider CD in their everyday conversations and decision making, and to escalate CD-related issues where they find them. Some have nominated CD Champions in key committees and forums to ensure that customers stay on the agenda.
Try to develop meaningful ways to test your assumptions. Persistency and complaints are obvious areas to focus on, as you will have historical data to use as a baseline.
L&D plans should explicitly incorporate training modules that educate employees about CD, its principles, and their role in upholding them. Links to CD adherence can be built into performance or bonus objectives, creating a direct incentive for employees to embrace CD’s principles.
3) EVOLVING DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING The FCA expects that firms, especially larger ones, will become more sophisticated in their analysis of data over time, enabling them to drill down into the root causes of problems. The challenge is to standardise measurement of qualitative aspects (the ‘why’ and the ‘how’) as well as the more usual quantitative measures (the ‘what’ and the ‘when’). Access to accurate and rich data sources is crucial. You should ideally build a ‘single view’ of customers across your business, showing the products they hold and how they use them. Once built, advanced analytics can extract deeper insights from customer interactions, identifying trends, patterns and concerns that may not be immediately evident through traditional reporting.
4) CLEAR METRICS OWNERSHIP AND OVERSIGHT It should be clear which forums have oversight of which metrics. They should meet regularly and act quickly when performance drifts off target. Each metric needs to be owned by someone senior enough to ensure performance against targets. Preagreed checkpoints and reviews, periodic attestations, and clear reporting lines will all help the organisation stay on track.
6) BOARD ENGAGEMENT IN CUSTOMER-CENTRICITY The need for customer-centricity applies at all levels of the organisation, including the boardroom. Boards should not merely passively receive updates on CD; they should actively engage in discussions and probe the data. To ensure success over the long term, a board and governance engagement plan should be created, with CD as a standing board meeting agenda item.
7) DISTRIBUTOR SATISFACTION AND ALIGNMENT If you distribute products via intermediaries, establish regular feedback loops and collaborative mechanisms to gauge their satisfaction, identify potential pain points, and iteratively refine processes to achieve fair value and good outcomes. Aim to develop clarity around your processes, such as where each party’s responsibilities start and stop, and automate any reporting needed. Make CD easy for your partners, and it could become a genuine competitive advantage. Embedding CD is a journey that will need commitment and strategic integration into organisational culture, but with a few well-chosen steps your firm can transcend simple compliance and truly cement the Duty into your firm’s DNA. This will not only safeguard the interests of consumers but also strengthen your reputation with industry partners. MATT NEILL, DIRECTOR, BEYOND INFO@BEYONDFS.CO.UK
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Beyond is a fast-growing Financial Services consultancy focusing on critical business challenges in the most pressing areas of regulatory compliance and financial crime, improving operational performance, and delivering technology and data change. Everything we do is focused on helping our clients succeed, through our deep understanding of their challenges, our friendly collaborative approach, and passion for making change happen. We can help accelerate your organisation’s remaining work around Consumer Duty, bring your programme to completion, help introduce new technology, or tackle complex data and reporting issues.
SUMMER/AUTUMN JOURNAL | 2023
THE FOUR CORNERSTONES OF FINANCIAL WELLBEING
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Financial wellbeing has become the new version of financial planning. It is a term that describes a wide range of topics all relating to the relationship between money and happiness. There is a huge wealth (pun intended!) of research and thinking about the relationship between money and happiness. A financial plan should surely be assessed on whether it will make the client happier, not just wealthier.
IN MAKING THIS ASSESSMENT, THERE ARE FOUR ASPECTS WE SHOULD CONSIDER: Things that are true of all of us Things that are true of each of us Barriers that are true of all of us Barriers that are true of each of us
These are my four cornerstones of financial wellbeing. Let’s take a look at them one at a time.
THINGS THAT ARE TRUE OF ALL OF US There are certain things that will make anyone feel good. A hug from a loved one; exercise; a favourite meal. I’d love to see such principles of happiness as part of compulsory study for financial advisers. If we gain our self-worth from status or wealth, then our wellbeing will always be at the other side of somebody else’s approval. As soon as it is given it is gone, and we have to seek the next hit. External self-worth like this is out of our control and can be taken away as easily as it is given. Research tells us that long-term wellbeing come s from living a life with meaning and purpose. Financial advice should therefore focus on achieving this, not just on the money. If a client says their objective is a number, or an object, then the adviser should ask what will happen once that goal is achieved. Which leads me to ask the question: Are you talking to your clients about their money, or their wellbeing?
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THINGS THAT ARE TRUE OF EACH OF US The next cornerstone is to ask what a life of meaning and purpose will mean for each of us. This is a process I called ‘Know Thyself’ in The Financial Wellbeing Book in 2016. It involves helping a client to understand what might bring them wellbeing. This requires a different set of skills that financial advisers are trained in. We are trained to find solutions. However, when building a financial plan to make clients happier, you do not have the solution. Your job is almost the opposite – to help the client find options. If the first of the four cornerstones requires an understanding of the principles of happiness, this second pillar requires training in coaching skills, specifically in listening and questioning. These are skills that do not come naturally. For the many advisers who have gone through the Financial Wellbeing Certificate, discovering these skills has been the most revelatory outcome.
BARRIERS THAT ARE TRUE OF ALL OF US The human brain evolved behaviours and biases with the primary objective of keeping us alive. These behaviours are not always suited to the modern world, however. It is only in the last 40 years or so of the entire history of mankind that we have been required to plan for a financial future. Life expectancy meant that most people did not expect a period of not working and if they did, they generally stayed within their family unit (a newborn boy born in 1841 was expected to live to 40.2, compared to 79.0 in 2011). A lengthy retirement, without employers’ pensions and living on our own, is therefore an extremely recent concept. As a consequence, some of those behaviours and biases no longer work in our best interests. For example, loss aversion is entirely sensible when you can’t find your spear and are staring at a sabretooth tiger. When that same instinct results in selling up at the bottom of the stock market crash, however, this is less helpful. The research into behavioural biases has boomed over the last few decades. However, when it gets applied to finance, there is a tendency to focus on getting better investment returns. For me, this is rather like
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buying a piano to use it for firewood. Understanding our behavioural biases becomes truly useful when it is used to create better financial decisions.
BARRIERS THAT ARE TRUE OF EACH OF US We all have our own views about money. For some it is the root of all evil, for others it is the source of happiness. It is important to understand that neither of these are truths – they are beliefs. Our unique set of beliefs and values are what makes the world an interesting place! But if we hold a belief that results in a poor outcome for ourselves, this is a selflimiting belief.
Chris Budd’s new book, The Four Cornerstones Of Financial Wellbeing, is out now. If you’d like to learn more about financial wellbeing, join the Institute for Financial Wellbeing, and maybe take the Financial Wellbeing Certificate.
An example might be: “I’m not very good with money”. Some beliefs might be buried a little further, such as “I don’t deserve to have money”. I suspect most financial advisers and planners would consider “The stock market isn’t for me” to be selflimiting, but whether it is or not depends on the client’s circumstances. If investment growth is required to help a client to achieve their financial plans, then not wanting stock market investments is going make that a lot harder. However, if the client already has enough money to do all that they want in life, then the belief may be perfectly reasonable.
FINANCIAL WELLBEING If a client who has experienced excellent financial advice (managing their pensions, tax and investments) then also gets quality financial planning (cashflow for their chosen future), they are unlikely to go back. Likewise, a financial planning client who also experiences a financial wellbeing approach (understanding their relationship to money to uncover a different future built around their happiness) is also unlikely to go back. Which is why I believe that financial wellbeing is the direction of travel for financial advice. CHRIS BUDD, FOUNDING DIRECTOR AT THE INSTITUTE FOR FINANCIAL WELLBEING INSTITUTEFORFINANCIALWELLBEING.COM
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SUMMER/AUTUMN JOURNAL | 2023
DOES YOUR PORTAL SUPPORT YOUR IFA STAKEHOLDERS?
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A B2B portal designed to support IFAs can help to build profitable relationships between wealth management firms and their key stakeholders In recent years, wealth management firms have made significant advances in developing client portals. As a client focussed industry, wealth management firms have embraced tools to deliver greater convenience to clients and improve client satisfaction and retention. The existence of a modern wealth portal is now a significant competitive factor for firms, but to date most of the focus has been on services to clients. There is an opportunity for further advances in the market by nurturing relationships with Independent Financial Advisers (IFA) through the same efficient channels. IFAs are important stakeholders and have the potential to support significant commercial growth in wealth firms through recommendations.
BENEFITS OF A B2B PORTAL The benefits of a digital wealth portal for clients include improved efficiency and significant cost savings. Many of the existing benefits of a client portal can be delivered for B2B relationships if that portal is designed to accommodate their needs. This includes: Greater efficiency through timely, clear communication. Secure communications with an audit trail. Improved service levels for IFAs and end clients. Reduced costs from lower resource requirements to manage relationships. Commercial growth from more IFA recommendations. Looking at this from the IFA perspective, a convenient portal that allows them to easily view client statements, download relevant documents and offer digital onboarding mean they are more likely to recommend wealth firms that offer time and cost saving services online.
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DESIGNING A PORTAL FOR IFAS
FLEXIBILITY AND CONTROL
The good news for wealth management firms is that there is no need to build a separate portal for IFAs at great expense. It’s possible to add greater functionality and security levels to allow IFAs to access limited information and documentation for their clients. Within the same existing portal, it’s possible to create a look and feel that is different for B2B customers using white labelling functionality. This is a tool that allows wealth management firms to rollout different brands across a single integrated portal and can also be used to design a portal for the convenience of IFAs. A white label feature allows for a range of elements within the online experience to be tailored, from the colours and branding to what information is displayed in what order, and the email format for intermediaries, which could place the most relevant information more prominently.
Controlled access to client portfolios can also be delivered using intermediary linking. This is a tool that provides the balance between flexibility and control, which is a primary aim of a B2B portal. IFAs can set up and manage their own userbase without any involvement from the firm, while operating within pre-set data access rules. This ensures only clients within a specified group can be accessed by an intermediary. The same approach could be used for providing additional fund information, including fact sheets, graphs and charts. This balance of allowing the IFA to be proactive while keeping strict controls on the data and access is very important and should be at the heart of all plans for a B2B portal.
MANAGING SECURITY AND OFFERING A CLEAR VIEW
There are numerous digital tools that can be built into a B2B portal using existing data which can add significant value to IFAs. This added value is a worthwhile investment because it can lead to commercial returns. It’s likely that a firm that is easy to deal with, offers convenient digital tools and opportunities to build a stronger client relationship will become a provider for choice for the IFA when helping their clients make decisions on their financial planning. The digital option saves time for everyone, and it can be an excellent way to receive more referrals. If the IFA has access to digital onboarding, they could even take a client through that process.
Security settings can allow wealth management firms to create different views within a portal, with varying levels of permission. Designing a service so that users can view data as a client or an intermediary means that the portal can be used to support relationship managers and IFAs managing groups of clients. This offers greater visibility, with access to key summarised information of all relevant clients. This includes access to view a client dashboard and other functions as the end client would see them. This helps the IFA become a brand advocate for the firm, further enhancing the relationship.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES FOR A B2B PORTAL With the right credentials and authentication, IFAs could view, filter and sort documents. They can also request email notifications when new documents are added to a client’s profile, allowing them to stay up to date and providing additional support where required. The benefit of providing documents through a portal is that all user actions are audited, and restrictions based on a profile mean that wealth management firms can provide IFAs with access to relevant client documents without any other client and valuation information.
ADDING VALUE TO IFAs AND END CLIENTS
B2B portals should be integrated as part of the digital ecosystem at a wealth management firm. This is good news, because the cost and resources required for a separate portal would make this a more challenging requirement. The goal should be to augment the client portal, which already has important principles of user experience embedded into the design, by adding further views and levels of security. These simple additions can add a new dimension to the digital channel and supports greater commercial growth.
TOM BUCKTROUT, SALES MANAGER, CREALOGIX WWW.CREALOGIX.COM
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SUMMER/AUTUMN JOURNAL | 2023
THE ART OF ENGAGING AFFLUENT INVESTORS: THE OPPORTUNITIES PRESENTED BY ASSET AGGREGATION AND REAL TIME STRATEGIC INSIGHTS.
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The UK affluent customer has many clearly defined and attractive characteristics for forward-looking advice firms. The evolving sophistication and expectations of this client segment may be challenging but nevertheless presents a variety of exciting opportunities for advisers whose operating model can adapt to the demands of digital transformation. The affluent segment comprised 13.1m individuals in 2022, with £185bn estimated to be non-advised. The segment is disproportionately affected by many of the major wealth transfer trends, giving rise to a diverse set of investing needs which can only be resolved by personalised advice. Think of the transfers of wealth between (possibly several) generations and between genders, the interdependence between highly appreciated property values, comfortable retirement and the desire to leave assets for the next generations. So, they are a coveted demographic, affording opportunities to develop trusted, long-term client relationships.
PROVIDING PERSONALISED ADVICE, PROFITABLY Providing personalised advice in the UK of course is not an option but an entirely appropriate industry minimum, supported by requirements to treat clients fairly, with care and to implement processes to ensure continuing good outcomes. Any given advisory business may have a bewildering array of moving parts: within the client base, necessary staffing skills both front and back office and always in the context of industry level shifting goal posts. Building or transforming an advisory business to manage its clients on a highly personalised basis profitably, at scale and modelled to be resilient to future price and cost pressures, is an incredible opportunity and business model challenge.
PERSONALISED ENGAGEMENT IS KEY, BUT HOW? Even knowledgeable clients who may have benefitted from their adviser’s services for years will have blind spots in their understanding. This may often be the best case, with many nonprofessional clients starting from a much lower knowledge level. At Figg, we take the view that the first step to promote higher levels of engagement is to provide each client with complete clarity over all their assets and liabilities, both financial and non-financial, in tandem with the tools to understand portfolio (in)efficiencies.
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Connecting with data controllers to gather and aggregate asset data across many financial institutions and product providers is a complex task and even then, produces a mere snapshot. This is brought to life however with the modelling tools we are all familiar with but also by using new technologies which can identify inefficiencies and planning points at scale. Opportunities to improve risk adjusted portfolio efficiency and performance can be identified on an automated basis and generated as a potential call to action. By modern tools, of course we mean Artificial Intelligence (AI). Figg uses generative AI to understand news, articles, and social signals and offers a groundbreaking avenue for engaging affluent investors in the UK. Such AI models, trained on vast datasets, can rapidly sift through enormous amounts of global information to discern patterns, trends, and anomalies that human analysts may overlook, and which statistical models do not incorporate.
WHO IS IN THE DRIVING SEAT The application of machine learning tools to generate investing and financial planning action points is all very well, but how does this assist advisory firms who are seeking to manage clients either more efficiently or to meet their regulatory obligations with greater certainty? Any significant improvement to the intelligence and insights available to a client, which may be shared with their family and with relevant advisers, will inevitably improve understanding and outcomes but above all, will empower the relationship manager with near realtime intelligence on changes to client attitudes and circumstances.
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It is reasonable to expect that improvements to engagement levels will apply across the client spectrum. Legacy and inactive clients benefitting at the very least from outcomes monitoring and more optimistically, re-engaging as an active client. Already engaged clients will be better informed, more active and profitable, along with better rates of retention and acting as ambassador for the advisers’ services.
INTERACTION WITH INDUSTRY TRENDS Bringing all assets into a single view, linked to intuitive tools and personalised intelligence in a manner which is also easily supported by human advice, facilitates the development of an effective hybrid model at the pace and shape suited to each advisory firm. The ‘helicopter view’ of client assets helps identify instances known to be of concern to the regulators such as harmful over allocations to cash, which can inform personalised messaging, opening client discussions to re-balance and arrive at more suitable allocations. Figg’s commitment to optimising client and adviser engagement includes making continuous best-use of the prevailing advice-guidance perimeter.
PHILLIP AINSLIE, CCO FIGG SAHBA HADIPOUR, CEO FIGG WWW.FIGGWEALTH.COM
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NAVIGATING TAX REPORTING CHALLENGES IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT: A TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH
PIMFA.CO.UK
When I had the privilege of sharing our insights on WealthBriefing, I delved into the complexities of tax reporting for wealth managers. It’s time to shed light on new requirements increasing the reporting burden and how technology is crucial to help firms stand out and strengthen their connection with customers by improving accuracy and efficiency. You can read the full article here: Supporting Wealth Managers To Handle Tax, Other Reporting – A Competitive Edge. Tax reporting has always been a critical task for wealth managers, but recent changes have complicated things. What’s more, some advisers still don’t fully understand the impact. Two specific changes to be aware of are a reduction in the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowance and adjustments to the reporting protocols for excluded indexed securities in self-assessments. Reducing the CGT allowance from £12,300 to £6,000 carries implications that cannot be ignored: an estimated quarter of a million extra people may be charged CGT next year. In addition, an update from HMRC in March 2023 stated that the individual self-assessment return form for capital gains would be amended with a new box for gains arising on the disposal of excluded indexed securities. As a result, software providers were left racing to adapt their systems ready for the 2022/23 returns. In this landscape, understanding the intricacies becomes paramount. For instance, introducing a new way of reporting on excluded indexed securities doesn’t mean there is any additional revenue at stake. Gains on excluded indexed securities will continue to be included in the total gains on securities as they were previously, essentially, doubling up on reporting these gains. With the CGT allowance changes, it’s imperative to have an in-depth view of legislations and classifications to present the most tax-efficient investment outcomes.
consequences should they wish to raise certain proceeds or sell specific assets. For a comprehensive perspective, it’s also important to have easy access to niche data, such as Excess Reportable Income (ERI) and offshore reporting funds. Amid the dynamic transformation of the wealth management industry, where adding value to clients is essential, these challenges are also opportunities. While they may complicate the process and increase wealth managers’ workloads in the short term, they also offer providers a chance to differentiate themselves. By investing in solutions that elevate client experiences and support teams to access all the necessary data, they can create lasting impressions. To learn more about the depth of data required for accurate reporting and how FSL has updated its marketleading CGiX software to help firms navigate the changing landscape, look at our blog, particularly this entry CGiX Software: New Excluded Indexed Securities Functionality.
MICHAEL EDWARDS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF FSL FINANCIAL SOFTWARE LTD INFO@FINANCIALSOFTWARE.CO.UK WWW.FINANCIALSOFTWARE.CO.UK
To optimise decision-making around CGT, I proposed choosing software with “What If” functionality. This empowers advisers to simulate various scenarios and provide investors with clear implications of the potential
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SPRING/SUMMER JOURNAL | 2023
DRIVING GROWTH IN AN ERA OF DISRUPTION
PIMFA.CO.UK
As in most industries today, disruption has become a constant in wealth management. Wealth providers face several challenges, including changing client demographics, increased demand for personalised services, competition from other providers, inefficiencies in operations and outdated technology. Competing priorities, limited resources and, in some cases, a struggle to create a transformative strategy have slowed down progress. The good news is that disruption can also foster innovation, and technology can be the key to overcoming these challenges and positioning wealth providers for growth. MAXIMISE THE ROLE OF DIGITAL Today’s investors expect the same digital experience from their financial service providers as they get from their retail providers. The challenge for wealth providers is delivering a seamless experience to investors, personalised to that specific client segment while meeting that individual’s unique needs. Firms can leverage digital to:
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Offer a seamless, unified experience for your assisted and non-assisted channels. Integrate these channels in real-time to always reflect the latest information.
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Simplify the client onboarding experience across all types of investment accounts. Give the client and the adviser a full view of the client’s holdings. Make it easier for the client to do business with a firm.
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Design the digital experience to suit the investor’s needs and how they want to engage with their adviser. Firms must test their ability to deliver products, services and experiences that accommodate the differences among client segments.
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HARNESS THE VALUE OF DATA
BUILD A CONNECTED ECOSYSTEM
MANAGE PRIORITIES, RISK AND COMPLIANCE
The volume of data continues to increase, and many firms struggle with using it efficiently and transforming it into meaningful and actionable insights. Generally, firms are proficient at storing demographic and financial information on their clients. Still, they aren’t leveraging this information to better service the client, personalise experiences and provide better outcomes. Additionally, wealth managers spend an excessive amount of time on administrative tasks. These tasks slow efficiency and hinder their ability to spend time on higher-value activities. To meet the challenge of data accessibility and applicability, firms must:
Relationship management has shifted from focusing on portfolio management, rebalancing and transactional capabilities to a goal-oriented approach. This approach requires a holistic view of clients with aggregated assets and liabilities. Wealth managers, however, are still largely dependent on legacy enterprise systems that rely on point-to-point integrations that cannot provide this level of data, or at the least, are too complex and expensive to achieve. These systems are costly to maintain, difficult to support and unable to deliver data or execute transactions on time. As a result, firms are challenged with enhancing connectivity, increasing functionality and delivering better experiences to clients. It also impedes growth by limiting expansion into new markets. Modernising systems is critical for firms to remain competitive and grow their business beyond their current offerings. Building a connected ecosystem helps firms:
With all the different challenges that wealth providers face, it’s easy to lose sight of where to focus priorities or identify where there may be gaps in their business model. Cybersecurity threats are rising significantly. Regulatory and compliance requirements continue to evolve and become more complex. All these variables contribute to increased risks, cost and inefficiencies. To address priorities, risk and compliance, firms should:
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Institute a strong data infrastructure that enhances data availability from multiple sources, provide ease of access and the ability to analyse information quickly. Streamline workflows, automate administrative tasks and provide enterprise reporting and benchmarking. Give advisers more time to focus on business development and client retention with a consolidated view of information across systems.
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Leverage technology and integrated data with artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide next best action recommendations, detect patterns and identify anomalies so that advisers can proactively approach their clients’ investment needs.
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Accelerate time-to-market by decreasing development time and costs while increasing flexibility and scale as required. Implementing a platform that leverages APIs provides an integrated value chain that allows firms to offer the right tools to the adviser and the investor. Leverage open architecture and cloud-based technologies that enable the creation of intelligent, client-centric services and extend capabilities at the enterprise level. A modern architecture enables open integration patterns that support partnerships with external applications and increase operational agility. Expand enterprise integration within and across verticals, including banking, brokerage, retirement and insurance. Firms must have a strategy that includes product offerings that expand beyond the enterprise to achieve significant growth.
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Seize control of their business by focusing on their core competencies and resources to drive new business growth. By outsourcing middle- and back-office processes, firms can redirect their attention to what’s important to them as an organisation.
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Consider outsourcing some, or all, nonstrategic operational business functions to improve operational efficiency, reduce key person or talent risk, maintain agility – particularly when nimbleness is critical – and improve the bottom line.
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Choose a provider that offers both the services and technology that enable firms to direct their time and investments to the areas that matter most in the marketplace.
MEET DISRUPTION HEAD ON The environment that wealth managers operate in today is in constant flux, and that will continue as new disruptions come into play. Technology will continue to improve, client requirements will change with new generations, wealth will transfer and competition will become fiercer. Now more than ever, technology needs to be agile, open and adaptable, as well as capable of enabling service and delivery model changes. Firms must accelerate their strategy to solve today’s challenges, remain competitive and drive growth to thrive in this era of disruption.
LUKE MCCABE, HEAD OF WEALTH PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, FIS FISGLOBAL.COM
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AT FIS, WE HAVE THE SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES TO HELP YOU MEET TODAY’S CHALLENGES, WHILE POSITIONING YOU FOR GROWTH TOMORROW. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US AT GROWYOURBUSINESS@ FISGLOBAL.COM
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One of the fundamental obligations applicable to all regulated firms is the need to implement appropriate processes to manage risks.
HOW TO CREATE RISK OWNERSHIP WITHIN YOUR FIRM
A firm must have robust governance arrangements, which include a clear organisational structure with well defined, transparent and consistent lines of responsibility, effective processes to identify, manage, monitor and report the risks it is or might be exposed to, and internal control mechanisms, including sound administrative and accounting procedures and effective control and safeguard arrangements for information processing systems. (Source: FCA Handbook, SYSC 4.1.1 R)
But how do we encourage colleagues to take responsibility and raise issues appropriately? Good risk management brings many benefits to firms. Whether you’re a regulated firm or not, there is value in nurturing a corporate culture where staff throughout the company seek to improve standards. Most people are familiar with the basic risk management process:
IDENTIFY
IMPROVE
REPORT
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RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS
ASSESS
MONITOR
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But before you can begin to identify risk, you need to engage everyone within the firm. Firms should raise awareness by defining what is meant by risk. This would encourage staff to identify and flag risks. This means that the culture within a business needs to encourage staff to speak up and take ownership of their daily processes. A robust governance structure engenders staff participation and provides clear direction for the company.
1
GOVERNANCE
2
CULTURE
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STEP 2: CREATE A CORPORATE CULTURE
STEP 5: ONGOING MONITORING AND CONTROL
Like most things, staff copy what they see. If their line manager shows signs of malaise or lack of belief in the company’s strategy, how will staff react?
Once policies and procedures have been implemented, firms’ compliance and internal audit teams start to assess the effectiveness of controls. These reviews will help provide reassurance to the Board that its risks are managed.
Firms need to: • •
Define company values and how you wish to demonstrate them. Identify ways to ensure that conduct reflects those values (such as remuneration policies).
Senior managers should use language that supports the company values and demonstrate behaviours sought.
STEP 3: CLEAR & CONSISTENT COMMUNICATIONS
CONTROLS
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STEP 1: STRATEGY Risk management starts with your business strategy. How are you going to achieve your business goals? It’s not solely about profit. Firms need to consider how they deliver good outcomes for their customers. Start by looking at your business objectives and engaging the board in discussions around: • • • •
Reviewing corporate objectives Aligning corporate goals with client outcomes Supporting the business objectives with clearly defined department and individual objectives Consider risks posed by third parties and contractors.
There must be a clearly defined strategy that is cascaded down throughout the business. This helps to encourage a collaborative approach with everyone’s minds focused on the end objective.
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Staff must have a strong understanding of what they are trying to achieve in their respective roles. They need to understand what a risk is and have the appropriate mechanism in place to raise queries or flag when something does not seem right. This means clearly defined company policy supported by actions and clear communications that: • • •
Explain to everyone what they need to do. Set staff objectives that demonstrate corporate values and goals. Be clear about expectations.
STEP 4: CONTROLS A control can be something straightforward. For example, “the company policy is that all personal trading must be approved before a trade taking place”. The policy sets the boundaries within which staff perform their duties. Firms should implement processes where staff raise a request and receive a response promptly, while also creating an audit trail. Processes provide consistency in approach and an agreed way of conducting business.
Monitoring teams will look for hard evidence to support not only that a task has been completed, but that it has been conducted in the proper manner, with the correct sign-off. In effect, they are looking at the quality of completion and evidence to confirm why something was done. They will also look at the audit trail to confirm who did what and when.
STEP 6: REPORTING The company’s Board has a duty to manage its risks appropriately. It determines its risk appetite and requires reassurance that risks are controlled. It is then the responsibility of a senior manager, usually the chief risk officer, to implement those decisions at an operational level. The Board seeks reassurance from the senior manager and speedy notification of any developing trends. This cycle of assessing and improving risk management should be emphasised within firms. Nothing remains static for very long. Engaging staff and building a risk culture helps to encourage staff to query the process and suggest changes in a controlled way. It also helps to keep the firm agile and resilient to changes.
PRISCILLA GAUDOIN, HEAD OF RISK & COMPLIANCE, RULEGUARD, WWW.RULEGUARD.COM/OPERATIONAL-RISK-MANAGEMENT-SOFTWARE
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MIFID TRANSACTION REPORTING – 2023 AND BEYOND….
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At the start of 2023 we celebrated the fifth anniversary of MiFID II Transaction Reporting and as we now enter the last four months of the year, we look back at some of the regulatory developments thus far to give us a guide as to what is likely on the horizon. MARKET WATCH 72 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) began the year with Market Watch 72 giving a detailed review of the services provided by Approved Reporting Mechanisms (ARMs) – with commentary on data quality included. Mid-year Euronext informed clients that it was going to cease providing ARM services at the end of 2023.
EU AMENDMENTS TO MIFID II AND MIFIR In March, the European Union (EU) Parliament caught up with the EU Council and reached its own negotiating position on amendments to MiFID II and MiFIR. The “trilogue” stage, during which time the Commission, Council and Parliament work to agree on the final wording of the legislative text has been in flight and we expect to see the final legislative changes agreed during Q3 2023. Some of the changes we may see: The short-selling flag seems very likely to be removed. Powers may be granted to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to assess the possibility of extending the reporting obligation to include Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMs) and management companies. The problems associated with Trading Venue Transaction Identification Code (TVTIC) will probably not all be solved by its promotion to Level 1. Revisions to the scope of instruments to be reported are likely albeit not clear at this stage. The ESMA is also instructed to draft regulatory technical standards to specify: The conditions for linking specific transactions and the means of the identification of aggregated orders resulting in the execution of a transaction. The date by which transactions are to be reported.
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But we are likely to have to wait until 2024 for consultation to begin on the detailed changes required to Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS 22) before firms in the UK with a dual reporting obligation to an EU National Competent Authority (NCA) will know the full impact.
BANK OF ENGLAND REPORT Also in March, the Bank of England released a report: “An anatomy of the 2022 gilt market crisis” which highlighted the use of regulatory reporting data – including MiFIR transaction reports - in the analysis of market liquidity, investor behaviour and price dynamics during the crisis. The report is a reminder that both prudential and conduct regulators in the UK use reported data to carry out detailed analysis especially during times of market disruption. Any inaccuracies in this data will stand out and draw the attention of regulators. And in June the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 received Royal Assent which will allow EU retained law applicable to financial services to be lifted and shifted into the Regulator’s Handbook.
MARKET WATCH 74 The lift and shift of RTS 22 has not yet been announced but the FCA’s Market Watch 74 released in July, may give us some clues. The Market Watch followed a similar pattern to those in the past and once again drew firms’ attention to common transaction reporting errors. This edition tackled several issues not highlighted before as well as reminders for some more familiar issues. Of note were some subtle warnings from FCA within the text:
MDP DATA The FCA reminded firms of their legal obligation to reconcile their records to Market Data Processor (MDP) data and note that they have contacted firms who haven’t done so. Despite the increase in the number of firms accessing their data from the MDP there has been a fall in the number of firms raising errors and omission forms.
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This is somewhat surprising and contrary to our experience at Kaizen where although quality is – as noted by FCA – improving, many firms are still finding and resolving issues dating back to MIFIR go-live in 2018, resulting in costly and time-consuming replay exercises.
TVTIC ON NEGOTIATED TRADES
IDENTIFICATION OF IDM AND EDM
The FCA has clarified the reporting of the Fund Manager and not the Fund, and the subsidiary and not the client of the subsidiary.
The FCA has given some clarity and suggests that an individual named in either of these fields should have more than “limited practical involvement in those decisions at a transaction level.”
COMPLEX TRADES The FCA reminded firms that reports linked by a Complex Trade ID should be reported with the same price.
TRANSMISSION AGREEMENTS When is an agreement not an agreement, or perhaps when is an arrangement not an arrangement, those are the questions… The legislation is not prescriptive, but the receiving firm needs to populate its report with data received from the transmitting firm. This implies that the transmitting firm must seek some assurance that the “receiving firm” has a mechanism in place to take this data and will make the necessary reports to ensure its obligation to report will fall away under Article 4. Unfortunately, some firms relying on Article 4 didn’t get that assurance and have therefore not been making the correct transaction reports.
INCONSISTENT PRICE & QUANTITY NOTATION FOR THE INSTRUMENT REPORTED There should be no excuse for firms not reporting the majority correctly. ESMA also mentioned price discrepancies reported for CDS in its recent Data Quality Report albeit from a slightly different angle.
The FCA clarified this is an optional field where the trade is bought under the rules of the venue.
CHAINS
COULD IT HAPPEN AT YOUR FIRM? Following the arrival of any Market Watch, best practice dictates that firms take steps to reassure their Senior Managers that all is well and that these errors wouldn’t, couldn’t, or shouldn’t, be happening on their watch. The FCA makes it clear that firms should heed their warnings: “….some firms are not paying sufficient attention to our warnings on the importance of reporting transactions to us in a complete, accurate and timely manner.”
Major rule changes may not happen in 2024 but it is clear that the FCA is taking the opportunity to focus firms’ minds on data fields it really cares about whilst reducing the burden on firms for those it doesn’t.
MATTHEW VINCENT, MANAGING DIRECTOR, KAIZEN, WWW.KAIZENREPORTING.COM
Kaizen and PIMFA are running a Transaction Reporting Academy to provide firms with detailed training on how to fulfil their reporting obligations correctly. Visit The PIMFA Transaction Reporting Academy 2023 – PIMFA – Building Personal Financial Futures for more information.
And: “We may conduct further work on the areas covered in our Market Watch articles to ensure appropriate remedial actions are undertaken by firms.” Perhaps firms would be wise to read “may” as “will”. Hot on the heels of the Market Watch was an announcement by FCA that they would be downgrading the supervisory priority for a number of fields as they have already done for the short selling flag.
LOOKING AHEAD Data quality continues to be at the forefront of regulators’ attention with mentions from ESMA and FCA on a number of occasions during 2023. The RTS 22 consultation will indicate direction of travel in the EU during 2024 – we expect some significant changes.
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A 5-STEP FRAMEWORK TO AID A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
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Why do 70% of business transformations fail?1 Many firms have robust plans for deploying new technology or rolling out new business workflows, yet they can share a common flaw: They can fail to proactively manage the people aspect of implementations. As a result, these projects are often challenged by high turnover, overt or passive resistance to change, and lower productivity or delays—all of which can lead to suboptimal outcomes. That’s why it’s crucial to develop a proactive plan for transformation, ensuring that all stakeholders feel included. As part of SEI’s stakeholder-focused approach to change management, we recommend the following fivestep framework:
STEP 1: AWARENESS Start by creating a sense of urgency among stakeholders, with compelling arguments to show that what you’ve been doing is no longer sustainable. It often helps to use top-down messaging to demonstrate leadership’s support for change. Also, connect the initiative to your broader organisational strategy, so everyone understands how it fits into the big picture.
STEP 2: DESIRE The initiative will excite some people, while others will be happy to keep things the way they are. Frankly, many probably won’t have any idea what the initiative means. Make the excited people part of the programme, so they can drive change and promote the benefits.
STEP 3: KNOWLEDGE Your change-initiative team members will likely be experts in their jobs, whether they’re on the business or technical side of your company. But few may have formal training in organisational change management. If you work with a strategic partner like SEI, we’ll work with your team to deliver the training to enable you to be effective in supporting the change process and addressing issues that come up.
STEP 4: ABILITY It’s important to set up the right infrastructure, particularly by putting trained individuals in roles where they can impact and support the process. This could involve a change management lead, who monitors and supports the overall process, or a network of change agents that keeps the lines of communication open with stakeholders.
STEP 5: REINFORCEMENT Most firms are not looking for a once-and-done change process. They want to maintain the momentum and make continual improvement part of the organisation’s DNA. That’s why we believe it’s crucial to get your people involved in driving the change—to make the decisions and the effort—so they own the initiative.
Make sure people who oppose the change have a voice in influencing the outcome of the initiative. For those who don’t know what it’s about, provide clear communication to mitigate undue stress and concern.
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“Perspectives on transformation: Why do transformations fail,” McKinsey & Company, July 2019.
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POTENTIAL BARRIERS TO SUCCESS Even with these elements in place, delivering successful business transformation has its challenges. In our experience, those barriers tend to fall in a few main areas: Leadership doesn’t maintain the level of support needed to drive the next set of goals, or it fails to provide the required resources. Resistance among stakeholders is not acknowledged or addressed, and it eventually delays or derails parts of the initiative. There’s little communication about the initiative’s benefits and progress, and the project loses the support of stakeholders shouldering much of the burden. Another key barrier is change fatigue, which is resistance or passive resignation to organisational changes. In fact, according to a Prosci study, 78% of employees say their organisations are at or past the point of change saturation. While this is not altogether surprising, it can, and often will, derail the process. The good news is that we believe there are ways to manage these situations. Simple steps, such as early planning and factoring in team members’ workloads, will help ensure that people know what they need to do well in advance. When individuals are needed to test the systems, try finding resources to cover their daily jobs so they can focus on the change initiative. And, remember that continual reporting, often through project dashboards, can go a long way in making progress more visible and maintaining commitment from stakeholders.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION This information is issued and approved by SEI Investments (Europe) Ltd (“SIEL”) 1st Floor, Alphabeta, 14-18 Finsbury Square, London EC2A 1BR. This article and its contents are directed at persons who have been categorised by SIEL as a Professional Client and is not for further distribution. SIEL is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. While considerable care has been taken to ensure the information contained within this article is accurate and up-to-date, no warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of any information and no liability is accepted for any errors or omissions in such information or any action taken on the basis of this information. The information in this article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. The value of an investment and any income from it can go down as well as up. Investors may not get back the original amount invested.
Lastly, internal communications are crucial. We believe it’s important to share things that come out during project testing, such as the risks, actions, benefits, issues, and decisions. Remember to track these over time. Doing so will not only highlight progress, but also help ensure that the broader stakeholder group is well informed. Above all, don’t forget to communicate wins. It’s an excellent way to maintain excitement and enthusiasm for transformation. VINCE CAMPISCIANO, DIRECTOR OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT, SEI WEALTH PLATFORM WWW.SEIC.COM
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Introduction to Change Portfolio Management,” Prosci.
2“
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NEW STUDY REVEALS THE THREE PILLARS FOR WEALTH MANAGERS TO UNLOCK OPPORTUNITY IN CHALLENGING TIMES
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Investments in complete digitalisation, customer experience innovation and ESG offering are the cornerstones to meet the challenge of current market conditions, according to the study “Unlocking opportunity in challenging times: innovation in European Financial Services” commissioned by Objectway. Regulation and competition are putting increasing pressure on financial firms of all dimensions. However, priorities and intensity of the innovation projects depend heavily on the size of the company.
In the current rapidly changing environment, banking, asset and wealth management are playing a catchup game, having previously been conservative and reluctant to innovate. The financial sector in Europe is undergoing a profound transition. The war in Ukraine, high inflation and the threat of recession have put pressure on the profitability of players. According to the study commissioned by Objectway to GlobalData and designed to gather the industry’s views on the key
challenges facing the European banking, wealth and asset management industry, over 52 percent of the surveyed firms intend to tackle full-spectrum digitisation projects within the next two years in order to remain competitive, while more than 40 percent are already working on innovative concepts for their customer experience [figure 1].
Figure 1 - State of innovation projects across Europe’s wealth and asset management industry
Full spectrum
52.4%
18.6%
28.5%
Platform modernisation
18.7%
26.3%
54.3%
Target operating model
17.7%
25.4%
56.8%
Service offering Customer experience 0% No, none underway or planned
33.5% 18.7%
27.2%
39.0%
41.1% 20%
40%
39.9% 60%
None currently planned over the next 2 years
80%
100%
Yes, both underway and planned
Yes, currently underway Figure 1 - Source: Unlocking opportunity in challenging times: innovation in European financial services, GlobalData – Objectway, April 2023
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he study, in fact, shows that despite headwinds, the industry has not cut back on its transformation efforts: banks and wealth managers increased their investments in technology by 8.5 percent last year and will probably increase them by a further 9.2 percent by the end of 2023. Increased competition between players, the challenge of digitalisation and the ability to then guarantee the results of investments are the biggest challenges. A lasting relationship with
increasingly demanding customers is then a key factor. When it comes to the strategies for improving customer experience to retain and increase clients, artificial intelligence (AI) is the subject matter, with almost 50 percent citing AI and machine learning as the biggest changes over the next two years [figure 2].
Figure 2 - Industry view: what are the biggest changes in your customer experience strategy that your bank or company is planning for the next 2 years? By size of firm
Market average
Additionally, changing customer expectations regarding sustainable investments make technological progress inevitable for the financial sector. And when it comes to innovation in terms of offering, ESG investments take the absolute lion's share. Across the industry, 84.5 percent plan to add or expand their ESG investment offering in the next three years headed by Private Wealth at 97.2 percent. In this regard, there are several ways to develop or sharpen an ESGcompliant profile. Creating new investment solutions is the most common response to changing investor priorities, according to 73 percent of respondents. Other important means of developing an ESG brand include asking clients about their ESG views (64.7 percent) or providing additional support and resources for financial education (48.5 percent).
Regardless of the company's priorities, the research underlines how any successful strategic innovation requires a coordinated approach and shared goals among all stakeholders. More and more companies are recognising the benefits of having an ecosystem of fintech and wealthtech partners and are outsourcing aspects of their business. In doing so, they are creating new opportunities for growth while reducing the cost and complexity of administrating the different aspects of such aspects. Flexibility is the top reason for outsourcing an innovation project: this is especially true in large companies (47.6 percent) that have internal resources but do not want to use them exclusively for what could be a critical modernisation. The other key factor, at around 40 percent, is clearly cost, especially for smaller companies, for which it is usually not cost-effective to develop software internally [figure 3].
Figure 3 - Main reasons to outsource innovation projects, by size of firm Small Industry average Medium
Small
Medium
Large
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Large
Figure 2 - Source: Unlocking opportunity in challenging times: innovation in European financial services, GlobalData – Objectway, April 2023
Offering hyper customised/personalised journey
Increasing understanding of customers through behavioral analytics
Customers data management & data integration
Expanding the number of customer-facing channels
Leveraging AI & machine learning
A clear majority, almost 70 percent, also believe that ever-increasing regulatory pressure is forcing firms to continuously question and adapt their business model. In light of the recent financial turmoil, the call for stricter international regulation is inevitable. Investor protection and environmental concerns are increasingly becoming
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0%
10%
30%
40%
50%
Figure 3 - Source: Unlocking opportunity in challenging times: innovation in European financial services, GlobalData – Objectway, April 2023
Speed to market
Flexibility
Resources not available internally
priorities for regulators in Europe. And whilst the extent of the changes is uncertain, they are expected to create a number of additional costs for, say, administration and legal departments. Therefore, a shift to more efficient, digital and technologically advanced business processes will be necessary.
20%
Cost reduction
Access to world-class capabilities
Process fragmentation
As such, the industry has been responding to challenging conditions with an escalating program of investments in innovation, within a framework which includes the most critical thematic areas that will help financial service players to successfully target their digital transformation journey: end-customer experience, offering design and the overall target operating model.
By leveraging this innovation framework, financial institutions get concrete benefits across their entire value chain. ROGER PORTNOY, CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER AT OBJECTWAY MKTG@OBJECTWAY.COM
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WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE AN ARTICLE? Alongside updates from PIMFA, the Journal includes several useful inputs from our associate member firms. These articles are an excellent opportunity to gain interesting insights into the wider industry and to learn more about PIMFA associate members. If you are an associate member and you are interested in contributing to future editions of the Journal then please contact: Richard Adler, Director of Strategic Partnerships (richarda@pimfa.co.uk) or Nigel Ross-Scott, Copywriting & Publications Manager (NigelRS@pimfa.co.uk)
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BUILDING PERSONAL FINANCIAL FUTURES PIMFA.CO.UK @PIMFA_UK @PIMFA
Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA) 69 Carter Lane, London EC4V 5EQ Tel: +44 (0) 20 7448 7100 Email PIMFA Members: enquiries@pimfa.co.uk Email Non-Members: info@pimfa.co.uk No responsibility for loss to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of any material contained in this publication can be accepted by PIMFA, the author, publisher or printer.
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