BECAUSE I'M APP-Y: TECH CAN BRING HELPFUL DATA TO CLIENTS FINGERTIPS
Original article featured in Citywire ' New Model Adviser ' magazine.
James Priday, Managing Director, Prydis Wealth
Through observing changing behaviours in the way people now live aspects of their lives on the move, we have experienced a growth in clients wishing to interact with us differently.
TECHNOLOGY TALKS
Contrary to popular belief, demand for increased digital interaction is not just from the younger generations, it is from right across our client base regardless of age or net worth.
The internet, Wi-Fi and smartphones have allowed us to do what we have always done but in much more convenient ways. Companies such as Amazon and AirBnB have based their entire mission on improving the client experience, yet all advisers know wealth management is much more complex than booking a hotel or buying a pair of shoes.
At Prydis Wealth we wanted to create a level of interaction that put our client experience head and shoulders above our competitors, whether that is advisory firms or robo-advisers.
CLIENT CONTROL
Our objective is to make the client feel like they are in the driving seat, while remaining reassured that we are with them for the entire journey.
To achieve this we have launched an app, Prydis Portal, which is powered by moneyinfo, a Warwickshire-based FinTech firm that provides advisory firms with web-based portal technology. Using this technology we take data from our back office system (CURO from Time4Advice) and overlay it with data from third-party platforms, such as Ascentric, to ensure clients are always seeing the most up to date valuations. This allows us to spend less time on data management because moneyinfo deals with this on our behalf.
The portal offers a secure place for clients to store and manage the paperwork they receive from the rest of their financial services providers. Clients can link any other financial accounts or assets to view on a single dashboard.
We find one of the first thing clients add is their property using their house number and postcode. This can be tracked using Land Registry data to show them the date of purchase, what they paid and how much it's likely to be worth based on other sales in their area.
INFORMATION HUB
Some clients are keen to see a single view of their total wealth, which they can do with the account aggregation. This also helps our financial planners because moneyinfo categorises transactions to produce high-level income and expenditure analysis across all accounts, which avoids the usual client guesswork. For clients, this is often the first time this information has been easily accessible to them.
The app makes it incredibly easy for clients to link held away accounts that could be better managed by us. It is then our job to determine whether they could be achieving better returns, paying lower charges or benefiting from better administration.
moneyinfo helps us spot new advice opportunities more easily and service our clients more profitably. It enhances our ‘Know Your Client’ requirements because the self-updating, dynamic and accurate financial profile identifies what the client owns, owes, earns and spends.
Advisers should not under-estimate is the focus required to gain client adoption. It is important to select a partner that can not only deliver the tech cost effectively but can also support you with the know-how and materials to encourage ongoing usage.
Without full buy in from staff internally and a clear rollout plan, any client portal won’t be worth implementing. Either fully commit or do not bother.
