Issue 3 March 2015
WMA JOURNAL In this issue
Financial Crime Technology The EU Managing Change
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Outcomes of the WMA Strategic Review The last year has been an extremely exciting time for the Wealth Management Association, following its rebrand from APCIMS in October 2013. In my first speech as CEO of the association, at the 2014 annual conference on the one year anniversary of the rebrand, I called on members to feed into a new strategic review. Since then, I have been regularly meeting with member firms, travelling across the country to determine the key needs and wishes of the member firms and the areas that the WMA should focus on to help the members and their clients. The WMA has a solid basis upon which to grow and fulfil its purpose as the trade association for wealth management. It has specialist wealth management employees and advisers and a committee structure, which leverages the knowhow and expertise of the best in the membership. It is clear, however, that the members want more from us and I am grateful to the support and enthusiasm that is shown to the WMA. Following feedback and input, there will be some changes and the WMA will now concentrate its focus on the following five areas:
Advocacy - with governments, regulators, media and the wider financial services community to speak up for the sector, voice and represent the interests of our members, promote wealth management and challenge some of the perceptions about the sector Influence - policy and decision makers to the benefit of WMA members and their clients, seeking proportionality and appropriateness, educating about the industry and the unique nature of the retail investment market Research and information – as an aggregator of research, trends and data about our industry and continue to provide guidance, advice and information to our members and early warning systems on regulatory, market and business issues to help them with their business Thought leadership – to lead debate on how the industry should and could respond to emerging changes, regulations and business issues Facilitation –identification and sharing of good practice, benefiting the membership as a whole to enable them to implement good practice and learn about new thinking
In order to achieve its objectives, the WMA will remain agile in working collaboratively with members and key stakeholders, forming beneficial partnerships where appropriate.
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Thought leadership
Research and information
Influence
Advocacy
Facilitation
So what does that mean in practice? Investment in people, such as new staff members in policy, research and events teams. We also continue to work with our team in Brussels so we are at the coal face on European issues. Investment in technology – we are putting in a new ‘back office’ CRM system to ensure we know our clients, know their needs, and offer services that are suitable for their needs, which will automate several processes such as event booking. Increasing our connectivity with our members, through events such as • • • • • • •
More regional meetings; Roundtables; Relevant and good quality seminars; Specific subject or business type forums such as the LLP and HR forums; Half day seminars – ‘the insight series’ – which will include debate on relevant industry issues such as ‘conduct’ and the impact of technology; An Associates Briefing, which will aim to update all Associates on current issues and their impact on wealth management firms; An Associates Committee, which will meet to exchange thoughts, ideas and intelligence to inform the work of the WMA.
Communication, communication, communication • • •
We will be reviewing how we communicate with members, resulting in clearer communications, targeted to each type of member and person within firms. We will ensure we communicate what we are doing for our members, so they are clear about the value we provide. We will continue to communicate with members at all levels, on a regular basis, so we have a two way exchange of ideas and feedback and remain relevant to the needs of members.
The sharing of intelligence is extremely important in this very fast paced environment and collaboration and partnership is key. LIZ FIELD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, WMA
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