Asset Management In Retail Business

Transcription

1 NewsFlash IS.Teledata November 2005 Solutions Robeco's Retail Asset Management 1 Commerzbank's New Securities Information System 3 IS.Teledata New Solutions At EBIF IS.Teledata MD Solutions At Finance Forum 5 Editorial 2 Products Optimising Sales With Portfolio Solutions 6 IS.Slider Improved 7 Finding Suitable Certificates 8 Partners Providing Market Services To Deutsche Bank With ComStock 8 Markets Retail Banking In Switzerland 9 Investment Company Asset Management In Retail Business Portfolio Assist By Robeco Optimises Financial Advice Asset Management in the private customer sector offers banks and financial advisors interesting potential for growth, but it also presents a challenge. There is a definite demand most private investors are aware that they need to plan their financial investments and cannot rely on social security systems. Others set their sight on consumption-oriented investment and savings goals. They expect help with their personal portfolio planning from banks and financial advisors. This puts high demands on advisors concerning the required comprehensive knowledge of financial markets, of financial mathematics and of portfolio management. The advisory process is also frequently unstructured and thus inefficient and time-consuming for the bank. The Dutch investment company Robeco has now addressed this issue successfully. With assets under management of about 118 billion Euro, Robeco is one of the leading providers of asset management services in Europe. It supports its sales partners in Germany with the online advisory software Portfolio Assist with three features: It helps banks to structure the advisory process and provides the required financial market data and methods to analyse portfolio structure and yields. Banking advisors can thus increase their sales perform- Kai Röhrl, Director Marketing and PR Robeco Germany ance. The funds-based advisory software recommends specific investments and rankings which also include but are not limited to Robeco funds. This enhances sales of Robeco funds and increases awareness of the Dutch company with financial advisors and private customers in Germany. The customer benefits from high-quality and personal investment advice and receives comprehensive financial market information. Robeco developed Portfolio Assist in cooperation with IS.Teledata. Standard & Poor s supplies the funds information. Since 2003, the software has been employed by Robeco s sales partners in Germany, mainly by savings banks, credit unions and independent financial advisors. By now, about 800 advisors use the application and their number is growing steadily. We are very satisfied with the success of Portfolio Assist. The software has been very well accepted by many sales channels and their private customers. Apart from continued on page 2 Commerzbank 3 IS.Portfolio 6 Retail Banking in Switzerland 9 Interview with Dr. Jörg Brock about the Infobroker securities information system Optimising customer portfolios systematically Distinction by process optimisation

2 NewsFlash Solutions Editorial Dear readers, The portfolio is one of the essential instruments for financial service providers to serve and retain customers. The Internet provides high-quality applications, even to non-customers, which presents all transactions aggregated by risk, performance, etc. Actual portfolio applications available to customers often lack these functions even simple charts which compare portfolio performance to benchmarks such as an index is frequently missing. Though certainly paying customers deserve better than curious Internet surfers. Carsten Dirks, Director Sales International IS.Teledata AG This edition of NewsFlash offers you some suggestions how you can revamp portfolio applications to serve as a prime instrument for customer service and retention. Best regards, Carsten Dirks continued from page 1 Asset Management In Retail Business the closer customer relationship, we also benefit from the associated sales of our products, explains Kai Röhrl who is responsible for the marketing activities in Germany and the development of the software. The refinement of the software which has been used by our partners since mid August was just a logical conclusion from the success of the first version. Tactical and strategic adjustment of the customers actual portfolios The important new feature of version 2.0 of Portfolio Assist is a function that takes stock of the client s existing portfolios at the beginning of the advising process. It registers not only funds, but also investment in stocks, certificates, bonds and cash positions. The customer s actual portfolio is then analysed strategically and tactically, regarding its allocation in bonds, money markets and stocks as well as its distribution to regions, sectors and currencies. The new product module Asset Scanner analyses the exact allocation of a portfolio across all asset classes. Advisors thus receive a compact overview of the investment focus and the portfolio s performance in recent years. After the assessment, the structured advisory process of Portfolio Assist proceeds as before. The advisor determines the investment objective, the investment term and the savings rate. A chart visualises the capital stock, savings rate and increase in value. The parameters can be adjusted until they match the preferences and possibilities of the cus- tomer. Next, a short questionnaire helps to determine the customer s risk preference and his investment experience. This information is not only relevant for the process, it also corresponds to legal requirements to ensure that the customer has been informed about investment risks. In the second stage of the advising process, the software creates a model portfolio that matches the customer s investment objectives and risk preference which initially reflects a strategic asset mix of stocks, money market and bonds. Another new feature of Portfolio Assist s version 2.0 is the direct comparison of the model portfolio with the customer s existing portfolio, so advisor and customer recognise instantly where there is room for improvement. The next step compares the tactical allocation of the actual portfolio, i.e. the distribution to counties, regions and sectors, with the model portfolio to show where the actual holdings may be improved. The tool presents all portfolio key figures like volatility, annual yield and maximum possible loss for different time periods. We have developed our own method for the analysis and optimisation of the portfolio, says Kai Röhrl. Based on current market estimates, we continuously adjust the model portfolio structure. With the systematic approach and the error-resistant entry feature, the Robeco sales partner minimises latent liability risks opposite the customer. The argument behind tactical allocation recommendations, which are updated continually by Robeco s research department, can be retrieved in the tool. Changing the portfolio structure The last step of the advising process optimises the portfolio and recommends a specific, fund-based investment. In the comparison of funds, Portfolio Assist taps the funds universe and the ratings of Standard & Poor s. About 8,000 products are available. The selection may be restricted by the bank. The recommendation only considers the one Robeco fund that ranked best in comparison with all funds categories. The financial advisor can also add his own recommendations at any time, add funds or compare various funds. Serious mistakes are ruled out because the online tool instantly recognises when selected funds do not match the strategic model portfolio. The advisor then discusses with the customer the list of specific positions to be bought or sold. Entries can be edited, but are always subject to strategic and tactical consistency. Then the specific investment recommendation and its results are summed up in a PDF document in the last step of the advising process. Upon request, the S&P fact sheets of the recommended funds and Robeco s market analyses can also be included. We are confident that the extension of Portfolio Assist supports our partners better yet in their advisor processes and offers added value to private customers, says Kai Röhrl. We are already considering further developments of the online advisory software. November

3 NewsFlash Solutions Retail Banking Commerzbank Employs New Advisor Solution By IS.Teledata Interview with Dr. Jörg Brock, Head of Investment Strategy and Product Development Private Clients NewsFlash: Commerzbank has launched a new securities information system Infobroker. What is so special about Infobroker? What is the vision driving it? Dr. Brock: Extraordinary scope of information, easy to use to create a securities information system that is beyond compare in the German market. Judging from the first reactions by advisors and especially customers, we have succeeded. NewsFlash: Which asset classes, what additional data are contained in Infobroker? Dr. Brock: Apart from classical asset classes such as stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies, Infobroker covers information about instrument classes like investment funds, certificates, warrants, options and futures as well as news. We anticipate the user s way of thinking which makes the system easy to use. So apart from quotes, prices and fundamental data, the basic data of any securities information system in a way, we provide much more. we include a variety of recommendations, all sales prospectuses, earnings estimates and comparison data to ensure a comprehensive supply of information. NewsFlash: Which departments of the bank employ Infobroker? How many persons use it? Dr. Brock: Infobroker is used by several different Commerzbank departments, such as the private customer business and corporate banking as well as trading and research teams, but also revision, compliance, etc. Altogether, we have far more than 10,000 employees using Infobroker. But we also offer access to Infobroker to our customers as part of our online portal commerzbanking.de. NewsFlash: To what extent does Infobroker represent Commerzbank s business processes? How does Infobroker change the way financial advisors work? Dr. Brock: Infobroker is a powerful tool to research security and exchange data which is the first half of the data universe that s essential to banking. The second half is the customers data. What instruments are among his holdings? What is the portfolio s structure? How should he invest? These two parts are largely separate interestingly enough, most banks store customers data in "We have succeeded to create a securities information system with an extraordinary scope of information that is beyond compare in the German market." conventional mainframe systems, while exchange data are increasingly supplied by Internet sources. One of the main requirements of the new Infobroker was to unite these two disparate worlds. And the system managed to achieve a close fit of these spheres of information which simplifies our advising processes tremendously. Advisors can now conveniently combine the customer portfolio view with the securities overview two worlds previously apart are now joined together. NewsFlash: How can Commerzbank s customers benefit from Infobroker? Dr. Brock: The customers of Commerzbank have Internet access to Infobroker where they find a powerful, yet easy to use information system. Together with the qualified advice in the branch, the supplied information is absolutely state of the art in Germany. Let s take investment funds, for example. The system not only contains all funds registered for sales in Germany, it also provides the best of recommendations for all funds groups, determined by Commerzbank s certified fund selection process. Funds can be compared by various criteria, ratings are available, investment structures are clearly shown down to the individual holdings. In short, Infobroker will improve the quality of investment decisions considerably. Dr. Jörg Brock, Head of Investment Strategy and Product Development Private Clients, Commerzbank AG NewsFlash: What s the technical basis of the system? Dr. Brock: Infobroker is a web-based software solution so it can be used by every entitled user. This saves us the costly rollout of a software to the desktops of all users. The solution is based on the proprietary market data platform of IS.Teledata. Since it handles multiple vendors and offers a wide range of contents, we can select the data suppliers that we need. Another advantage is the system s client architecture. Access rights to data and functions as well as billing is handled individually for each employee. This helps us to save exchange fees and data transmission costs. A special technical feature allows the seamless integration of our own in-house contents, current financial market data and the portfolio data of customers in one easy-to-use application interface. continued on page 4 November

4 NewsFlash Solutions continued from page 3 Commerzbank Employs New Advisor Solution By IS.Teledata NewsFlash: Where do you see Infobroker in the future? Do you have plans to expand the solution? Dr. Brock: It s like everywhere else: If you don t proceed, you lose. Today, we re state of the art with Infobroker. But would be outdated soon, if we didn t keep it current. Yet not every gimmick is really worth implementing. Adding more functions is always a trade-off which often hurts a system s usability. But we already have some good ideas up our sleeves. NewsFlash: Why did you order IS.Teledata with developing and operating Infobroker? Dr. Brock: IS.Teledata comes originally out of the Internet sector. This requires a certain flexibility and creativity, too. This especially benefited the combina- "Advisors can now conveniently combine the customer portfolio view with the securities overview two worlds previously apart are now joined together." Dr. Jörg Brock, Commerzbank AG tion of customer views and market data. In addition to that, IS.Teledata has been a reliable and good partner after its merger with Onvista Technologies GmbH. NewsFlash: Infobroker has been live at Commerzbank since June. How do your advisors like the securities information system? Dr. Brock: How do they like it? Using Infobroker is so easy that you can use it right off the bat. And the longer you use it, the more you re surprised that with increasing knowledge about its functions and its scope of data, one aspect remains the same: its convenient ease of use. These benefits outweigh certain growing pains which a large system like this always causes. Let me put it this way: I don t think we could take the system away again without causing a revolution...! Did you know that IS.Teledata servers process more than 50,000 data updates per second by 75 different markets and exchanges? The administration tool of Infobroker seamlessly integrates in-house contents like analyst recommendations. The home page of Infobroker presents current information about indices clearly structured. November

5 NewsFlash Products Retail Banking Portfolio Solutions For Optimised Sales Analysing Performance, Structure And Risk Of Customer Portfolios Portfolio solutions have become the cornerstone in efforts to enhance customer retention and revenues. They can be employed to increase product sales. They support financial advice processes with reports, they strengthen customer satisfaction and simultaneously provide information for internal risk control for financial advisors. Portfolio solutions thus bring much potential to retail banking. Many customers can no longer be satisfied merely with current market information and investment tips. They demand a more strategic approach from their banks. This creates both the challenge and the chance to offer asset management services in the retail market which is time-consuming and requires specific qualifications of advisors. On a positive note, investors receive higher quality advice which can foster a long-term relationship when the products added value for the investors specific situation can be emphasised. This can convince clients to make an investment decision. These challenges can be addressed with a portfolio solution. Three features are essential: A clear presentation of the portfolio s structure and performance, a convincing investment recommendation, based on model portfolios and risk estimations as well as workflow support and user friendliness of the system. Supporting The Advisor Process "We can now persuade the customer with convincing arguments that he might not be positioned right in certain scenarios." Jens Bernecker, managing director Stockguard GmbH IS.Teledata has implemented these three features in a completely reengineered IS.Portfolio suite. IS.Portfolio consists of product modules which are combined to a customisable solution. Using the transaction data of the customer portfolio, advisors and investors can visualise the portfolio s true performance in diagrams and charts and compare it with benchmarks or model portfolios. Users thus analyse the portfolio s dynamics and need for re-allocation which is not possible based on a portfolio s current holdings. The Asset Scanner module analyses the exact allocation across all asset classes. It shows sectors, countries, currencies and time periods in which the portfolio has invested in clear charts and tables to reveal structural risks. After determining the investor s investment objectives and risk preference, IS.Portfolio helps to create a model portfolio for comparison with the existing holdings. Internal and external analyses form the basis for the solution s model portfolios, its rankings and recommendations. Research and product development departments thus benefit from an efficient opportunity to inform sales of their results. The Portfolio Analytics product module analyses the risk of the existing portfolio. Drawing on different scenarios, the solution determines value at risk (VaR) or volatility that are required to hedge the portfolio. Jens Bernecker, managing director of Stockguard, an Internet-based solution that financial advisors use to monitor stock portfolios, says: We can now persuade the customer with convincing arguments that he might not be positioned right in certain scenarios. IS.Portfolio serves advisors and asset managers in private and retail banking who want to optimise their sales. The solution is workflow-oriented and easy to use. IS.Portfolio in a more standardised format may also be employed by online brokers who want to offer investors the opportunity to monitor and optimise the performance of their portfolios in an easy and reliable manner. The Asset Scanner analyses exact allocation across all asset classes. November

6 NewsFlash Products IS.Slider Enhanced By New Screener And User Administration IS.Slider, the Financial Desktop by IS.Teledata, is being improved further by new functionalities such as enhanced search functions and a comprehensive entitlement system. One of the marks of a powerful financial terminal is its ability to deliver essential information in the right context not least thanks to a sophisticated search function. A tolerant search in IS.Slider delivers the intended results, even when typos or incomplete search terms would normally throw off the search. IS.Slider even allows to adjust the degree of error tolerance to the user s preferences so the terminal displays more or less results. With the new Screener feature, IS.Slider users benefit from a drilldown search which leads from hundreds of securities associated with a stock or index, currency or commodity to a select fewinstruments that precisely match the investor s requirements simply by refining a search step by step by entering additional parameters and sorting by relevant values. One of the highlights of IS.Slider is the intelligent chaining of search terms that is similar to Internet search engines that provides instrument data immediately and in context. Option searches, for example, can be tedious. Rather than entering a vague search for options by issuer or underlying, an IS.Slider search for DAX 5000 Call will now easily retrieve all call options on the DAX with a strike price of Given the steadily increasing number of available financial instruments and the ever-growing wealth of background information that is relevant to investment decisions, such sophisticated search functions play an important role in the efficient and convenient use of terminal solutions. The administration tool allows customers to manage access right to data and contents per user. More Flexible User Entitlement Thanks to the improved entitlement functionality, customers enjoy greater flexibility in the administration of data and contents per user and to receive additional contents. This further promotes an increase in efficiency, not only in daily operations, but also in the controlling of data fees. Every user can set up one or several master users which may set and edit access rights to exchange data, news and additional financial information for groups and individual users as required. IS.Slider thus serves even large and complex corporate structures reliably with different locations, cost centers and user profiles. Especially large and internationally successful financial service providers benefit from this flexibility. The new permissioning system reliably controls the use of received data, so customers pay only for the contents they actually need. It also allows to adapt IS.Slider more precisely to current user and department needs and requirements. Colleagues can quickly and conveniently share screens and set individual preferences like language and local time zone. For prospects and new customers, the entitlement lowers the threshold in the evaluation stage: The master user can independently administrate test users and assign them appropriate contents. An order function facilitates the ordering process after the decision has been made. The Screener sorts search results in customisable tables by asset class. November

7 NewsFlash Products Partners Structured Products Finding Suitable Certificates The Scenario Screener, a product module of IS.Reports Derivatives, is one of the innovations which IS.Teledata presents at this year s EBIF. Financial advisors and asset managers can quickly determine the most suitable certificates for expected market scenarios. By combining certificate searches and evaluations, the new product module makes two tedious and sometimes uncertain tasks for financial professionals easier, enhancing the efficiency and quality of financial advice. ule can thus determine a precise ranking that recognises the investor s risk preference and selected instrument classes. Additional overviews show the Top 5 or Top 20 instruments per scenario which allows the in-depth analysis of one scenario or the comparison of individual securities for all three expectations. A chart summarises the performance of structured products aggregated by instrument type. By contrasting the performance spreads in the scenario comparison, advisors and asset managers can evaluate the usefulness of selected types in the different scenarios. Professional users of the Scenario Screener thus benefit from a new and efficient approach to the complex certificates market: By combining search, evaluation and market overview, financial advisors and asset managers can offer their customers clear and convincing investment recommendations, even for complex scenarios. The Scenario Screener takes into account two contrary market expectations, a third sideways scenario as well as customer-specific conditions like the acceptable maximum risk or preferred instrument types. This makes the complexity of uncertain markets for financial advisors manageable when determining suitable investments for their clients. The product module is straightforward and easy to use. After selecting an underlying, the Scenario Screener illustrates the effects of three market scenarios in three steps. The most suitable certificates for the selected scenarios are ranked in a score list which weights and scales the yields of all applicable instruments. The mod- Advisors and investors compare the behaviour of several certificates in different scenarios at a glance. Partner Solutions Market Data Service For Deutsche Bank In Europe IS.Teledata AG and ComStock Europe, a subsidiary of Interactive Data (Europe) Ltd., have signed an agreement with Deutsche Bank to operate market information applications for the bank s European business units Private and Commercial Clients and Private Wealth Management for at least three years. Deutsche Bank has been using IS.Teledata solutions for several years already. The contractual partner of Deutsche Bank is ComStock which delivers a wide range of market data by combining offerings of many different international and local data vendors and integrating it into the applications. IS.Teledata has developed the user interface, operates the applications in its computer centers and provides customer care services. Comstock and IS.Teledata thus continue its longstanding, successful strategic alliance. The two companies have been cooperating closely in several areas, including the sales of their technologies in the U.S. and in Europe. ComStock provides Deutsche Bank with delayed and realtime data of more than 350 international content suppliers and exchanges. The contract covers Internet as well as intranet applications for thousands of Deutsche Bank s employees throughout Europe. The customisable Financial Desktop IS.Slider is used by several hundred advisors of the bank s Private Wealth Management, mainly in Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. A flexible permissioning and reporting system allows Deutsche Bank to control exchange and data fees per user.! Did you know that the IS.Teledata Group currently operates more than 150 different customisable applications for the supply and analysis of up-to-date financial market information in seven languages? November

8 NewsFlash Markets Retail Banking In Switzerland Distinction By Process Optimisation Private banking and asset management are two essential pillars of the Swiss financial market with a share of 37 percent of the world s private banking assets. The country harbours about 2,700 billion Euro in assets of which 70 percent come from abroad. Switzerland has been very successful in recent years, not least in addressing the industry s structural changes. But in the face of chain become increasingly important. The goal is to break up existing process chains to increase efficiency and to establish new fields of competence. Changes In Retail Banking Optimised processes are also important in the retail sector to offer more comprehensive advice and to gain new efficiently so they are available to a wider range of customers. Second, software tools need to enable portfolio management for the retail sector as well. A market study Swiss Banking in 2010 by Accenture and the University of St. Gallen summarises the direction banking strategists are headed: Investments in automatising front processes are expected mainly in sales-supporting advisory tools like portfolio simulations and performance reporting applications which are geared to relieve advisors from administrative tasks and to support the actual advisory and sales process. Accenture and the University of St. Gallen studied the prospective changes in Swiss banking until globalised markets, financial institutions must stand their ground. Simultaneously, they should realise sales potentials in retail banking. Swiss financial institutions tend to set themselves apart no longer by products, but by processes which are more difficult to copy. As they move towards white collar factories, standardised methods along the complete value According to Accenture and the University of St. Gallen, the branch remains the most significant sales channel in retail banking. customers. No financial advisor can spend as much time with retail customers as he can with private banking clients especially not in times of pressure to increase margins. Swiss financial institutions therefore increase their competitiveness in this segment with optimised business processes and systematic solutions. Banks follow two objectives. First, the bank s products have to be rolled out quicker and more The trend towards portfolio solutions which optimise retail banking will increase. IS.Teledata thus offers its IS.Portfolio suite which optimises sales processes in retail banking throughout Europe. The product modules enhance sales of in-house products as well as the comprehensive customer consultation process. The advisor benefits from more efficiency which allows him to increase sales per customer. NewsFlash The Corporate Magazine of IS.Teledata AG Publisher Stephan Wolf, spokesman of the executive board Editors Christina Lotz Kai Weber Layout and Production Susann Schoeppe Published by IS.Teledata AG Sandweg Frankfurt am Main Germany Contact Phone +49(0) Fax +49 (0) info@is-teledata.com IS.Teledata AG is not liable for any errors, factual or otherwise, contained herein. Copyright 2005 by IS.Teledata AG. November