For me, wealth management is more than just a target vertical that we serve at NexJ. It’s also my personal area of interest– not just from a fintech perspective, but also from a business and industry perspective. As part of that interest, I keep my own wealth advice training up-to-date with the Canadian Securities Institute (CSI).
I noticed that their “Wealth Management Essentials” course – a licensing-path course for wealth advisors in Canada – was updated at the end of last year. One the key things that it emphasizes in the first chapter on the industry is the ever-changing role of the advisor. Long gone are the days of just brokering securities transactions, or even just offering investment recommendations. Successful advisors educate and support their clients in all financial matters and help them use their financial tools through life’s transitions. While we don’t really have a fiduciary standard in Canada (yet), I’m impressed that CSI’s WME training really emphasizes this point about the role of the advisor. Being a good advisor means understanding your client, serving their best interests, and supporting them with the right team of experts – whatever their needs may be.
Cue the illuminating lightbulb in my technology-backgrounded brain! Actually following through on that requires a lot of information about the client, and then making use of that information in the right ways. From that, I immediately think of CRM and BPM (or as I prefer to think of it, CPM), integrated into an advisor desktop (IAD).
Think about it – a system that guides me through gathering all the information I need to understand my clients. A system that intelligently summarizes that understanding, and pulls in integrated information like their portfolio, their financial plan and goals, and puts it all in context for me. A system that makes proactive suggestions to make sure I stay on top of changes and continue to drive a meaningful two-way relationship with my customer. A system that also gives me the right tools to interact with my customer on whatever channel they prefer. That’s fintech and that’s a solution that helps me deliver advice and support my clients in a way that meets their best interests. This goes beyond just a fiduciary standard.
