MiamiRealEstateCafe.com Article reposted from Brett King’s blog of April 6, 2011 

Since the emergence of online banking there has been a fundamental assertion from high-net-worth bankers that their clients aren’t digitally focused, they don’t use social media or mobile banking, and that they prefer to pick up the phone and engage their banker because the nature of their interactions is defined by their wealth – they want the highest-level of service that only comes from engagement through a personal banker.

Is this business immune to disruption, despite the rest of the retail bank being in an extremely disruptive state? It’s apparent that Private Banks are now seeing customers move more frequently to multi-bank relationships because the basic digital hygiene factors within the Private Bank are not taken care of. For a Private Bank to claim that they are the best of the best, but to be amongst the worst digitally is contradictory.  So the depth of the relationship and scale of AuM (Assets under Management) are suffering because of lack of web, mobile and social capability, and Private Bankers are seeing a fragmentation of service offerings as a result of service perceptions.

If we look at High-Net-Worth-Individuals (HNWI), the facts are that they are extremely service conscious and generally loath inefficiencies. Entrepreneurs and successful business people in the HNWI category were the first to get Blackberry’s, the first to get wireless broadband modems so they could work on their laptop in the limo from the airport to the office or sitting in the Maybach running around town, amongst the first to get the cool new iPad or the latest gadget. So right now, clients of private banks are asking – why can I login and do this day-to-day stuff through HSBC, Barclays or BofA, but I can’t through my Private Bank?

So where does technology fit, and can it provide real value? Is there a way that technology can deepen relationships with clients, or does it mean that relationships are less sticky because they are doing more interactions with the brand electronically?

The digital relationship

Recently a well known ex F1 driver and commentator was spotted on Twitter asking his Private Bank, Coutts of London, whether they had a local branch in Miami. The Coutts team respond within just a few minutes of seeing that enquiry come past the Twitter account and letting the F1 driver know that his Banker would be on the phone to him in a jiffy. Such a response is not the norm.

When presented with this sort of scenario, many Private Bankers scratch their heads and ask why a distinguished client like an ex-F1 champion would use Twitter to talk to his Private Banker instead of a simple phone call? That’s not the point – you can choose to approach every single client and ask them why on earth they would want to use Twitter, or you can simply understand that an emerging channel like Twitter needs support.

As the next generation of Private Banking clients start to take over from their parents, the last thing you want is to be identified as that stodgy, old, out-of-date bank that my father used.

Maximizing the client interaction

Perhaps the biggest revolution is in the primary face-to-face asset allocation meeting with the client. Over time we have gradually increased complexity as a result of KYC and risk, for what used to be a simple chat between a client and his banker. Now we load up our client with forms, risk profile questionnaires, with brochures, technical data, etc. that doesn’t actually enhance the relationship – it just complicates it.

Soon we’ll be asking the client to do the risk profiling stuff at home online and we’ll verify this with the client face-to-face. We won’t ask the client to fill out the same compliance information on a paper form that we’ve already asked for 20 times before, because we’ll execute electronically using the data we already have stored.

When we sit with them in a planning session, we’ll use tablet based tools that allows us to show our clients what-if scenarios and adjusted asset allocations that work better for them, then we’ll give them a selection of product decisions which they can learn more about at home online or execute electronically from behind the login. Why?

The real revolution here is in simplicity of the interaction. By maximizing time with our client for discussing their needs, and shifting other activities to supporting channels, we improve service levels. Even the humble monthly statement will be digitized with interactive components explaining market movements, the client’s net position and short-term investment opportunities.

Social Scoring

In respect to client acquisition, the world of transparency through social media will increasingly start to impact banks in the coming 2-3 years. Brands and private bankers will be anonymously scored online as to their effectiveness. Just like dating services, social networks will be able to match bank’s relationship managers with clients based on their expertise, location, and their ranking amongst peers.

When we search for Private Banks on Google or YouTube, what results will we see? We won’t any longer see the most popular brands, but the most respected brands amongst our peer group based on your social score. Unless you have a strong connection digitally with your clients, your social score is going to hurt you on the acquisition side of the business. After all, Private Banking is first and foremost about trust in your advisor – if my friends don’t trust and recommend you, how can I trust you?

Conclusion

Once thought immune to the changes in multi-channel engagement, it turns out that perhaps the most important clients in the retail banking marketplace need to be highly connected, to provide the required service levels. For most private banks, this is an epiphany and hence, we’re seeing aggressive investment in this space today.

If you want to be the trusted advisor – it is clear you need to be connected and recommended. Engagement is no longer limited to a phone or face-to-face, the private banker must extend his reach to clients at every opportunity. A deeper relationship, depends on context and connection – not just a brand and asset management capability.