Specialised attention to changing needs

Dinesh Sharma Head of Consumer Bank, ME Region for Citi, explains that while the best post-Covid opportunities may have peaked, attention to the specific customers needs and appropriate adoption of technology, will be key to providing superior service

COVID-19 has proved that digital is no longer an option. How quickly do Wealth Managers in the Middle East and Africa need to adapt to this new digital-first reality?

Wealth Managers have been enabling “banking on the go” for clients even before the pandemic, which accelerated digital adoption from a customer perspective. While the pace accelerated, enabling more digital experiences and straightthrough processes, we remain mindful in this transition, understanding the customer journey, their preferences and perceptiveness to digital as an alternative or go-to channel. The approach should be a personalized data-driven engagement bringing a holistic experience of advisory, insights, and wealth solutions. We believe that for Ultra High Net Worth Customers, specialized advisory, relationship management and tailor-made wealth solutions will remain a key driver of customer preference for the foreseeable future while for others it will move towards a hybrid channel engagement/experience model. Sooner rather than later, digital wealth solutions will be more widely used and leveraged by customers, especially the digital native generation.

As the more digitally native gain wealth and move into more prominent positions in their business and families, what are you doing to keep them engaged with your products and services?

We constantly evaluate our core value propositions and product offerings ensuring the relevance, suitability and competitiveness to this segment and done significant market research to better understand their needs, wants and aspirations. The data and insights are very important as we use these to customize and tailor the communication, creative tone, wealth solutions and delivery. Equally important is a deeper understanding of their life-stage and being present where they live, work and play, raising top of mind awareness and preference.

For investment strategies, what are the leading concerns of HNWI’s in the region at this time?

COVID changed the world economy, largely via adaptations made to cope with pandemic restrictions. Additionally, the macroeconomic management and scale of government involvement may have changed for the long run. In the coming quarters, with a strong multi-year recovery ahead, some of the key concerns of HNWI remain around the fact that the strongest “bounce back” investment returns have already been earned, with some of the lowest quality assets leading the way and while certain sectors and national markets still offer mean reversion potential, the range and scope of opportunities is narrowing. We believe that focusing on portfolio quality, positioning the asset allocation for “mid cycle” conditions and exposure both to assets that still have untapped recovery potential and to reasonable long term growth assets might be something that HNWIs should consider

Dinesh Sharma Head of Consumer Bank – ME Region

With the current growth in the market, how challenging is it to source and retain experienced wealth managers and relationship managers in the region?

While there appear to be challenges of supply vs demand at an aggregate level, experienced wealth and relationship managers are looking for institutions providing visibility as to long term viability, and growth. Therefore, within the available pool of talent, the well-established institutions, with commitment to the region, have less of a challenge as there is a “flight to quality.” The challenge may be more of availability of talent that is comparable to other major financial centres in the world. Significant strides have been made in improving the standards of the wealth management industry and this should help growing and retaining top tier wealth talent in the country.