Wealth Management Transformation. Creating a strategy and business target operating model for the global marketplace

Transcription

1 Wealth Management Transformation Creating a strategy and business target operating model for the global marketplace

2 Wealth Management Transformation Creating a strategy and business target operating model for the global marketplace By Nick Jackson, Partner, Capco, and Yelena Stepanyan, Senior Consultant, Capco Increasing demands from developed-nation investors and growing wealth in emerging markets are presenting new business opportunities for investment firms. But many challenges accompany those opportunities. To become global leaders, financial companies need to rethink how they operate. Investment firms are operating in a different, more challenging world since the 2008 financial crisis. As firms compete to retain and capture market share in North America, Europe, Asia and elsewhere in the developed world, the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients they covet are increasingly demanding. Clients aren t hesitating to move their business elsewhere for more attractive investment options and better service. At the same time, the increasing prosperity of nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America has produced a new cohort of upper-tier investors and multilayered opportunities for financial institutions. High-growth economies offer a promising market for new investors, as well as potentially attractive investment options to offer current high-net-worth clients. The changing face of wealth Figure 1 helps explain the recent, rapid emergence of developing market investors. In just the last several years, annual wealth growth rates in Africa, Asia-Pacific, India and Latin America have accelerated dramatically over the previous decade. In contrast, the North American rate is only modestly higher, and the rate in Europe has actually fallen. Africa Asia-Pacific China As wealthy investors have emerged in new geographic locations, other market demographics have evolved as well. Many of the new wealthy are young, some having made their fortunes in the IT industry. This generational shift is changing how products and services are delivered. Younger investors are comfortable with self-service channels, social networking, online banking and mobile applications. They want the ability to use various devices to access information from any location at any time. Are firms prepared for this changing investment environment? To capitalize on the new opportunities and not lose share to aggressive competitors, they will need to do a better job of integrating their operations on a global basis. The task is not simply a matter of realigning information technology assets or organizational structure. Instead, it will require firms to refine their overall market strategy and develop a business target operating model (BTOM) designed for the new world of wealth management, with senior executives leading the way. Europe India Latin America North America World Source: James Davies, Rodrigo Lluberas and Anthony Shorrocks, Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2011 Figure 1: Growing emerging market wealth

3 While they want to maintain a degree of control and self-manage portions of their portfolios, younger investors may still seek advice from investment professionals. How they prefer to get that information has changed, however. Instead of the traditional interaction model of sitting with an adviser and reviewing documents, investors want the ability to hit a button anytime day or night to execute investment transactions or obtain advice, whether using , chat or voice. As wealthy investors have emerged in new geographic locations, other market demographics have evolved as well Investors also want to know how the plan an adviser offers will be executed. They want to see up-to-date performance metrics and customized reports at the fund, portfolio and overall firm-holdings levels. aggressive-growth assets in new markets to increase returns and reduce risk through greater diversification. The hurdles facing wealth managers An array of challenges faces wealth managers seeking to capitalize on new growing markets. Some are technical, others organizational and cultural. As businesses grow organically, a lack of integration between regions restricts creation of seamless middle- and backoffice support throughout a global enterprise. In this disjointed technology environment, the inability to manage processes from end to end can result in delayed reporting, cumbersome reconciliation processes, and a lack of realtime analytics and monitoring. These factors can undermine a firm s ability to provide customized services to its clients around the globe. The shortened life of investment products can add to the stress on middle- and back-office systems. It becomes more difficult to sustain high returns on new products over the long term, requiring firms to leverage their global presence and sort through market complexity to come up with new differentiated products. Fragmented technology can further restrain business growth. Disparate systems and processes with overlapping functionality impair efficient creation and delivery of high-value-add products and services. Legacy systems are costly to replace, so many firms continue to use manual, paper-based processes, reducing operating integrity. Also, current governance and business ownership structures may impede the ability to provide a seamless experience for clients in all markets across geographies, asset classes and client types. Governance models are typically based on physical location and are further segmented based on product and client types. This leads to a compensation structure for business leaders based on the performance of the lines they are accountable for, rather than overall satisfaction of client needs and firm performance. Some firms have gained access to global markets through acquisitions. This approach can create problems, however. Firms operating models, business lines and profit-and-loss management can be highly regionalized. Acquisitions can take longer than expected to integrate and end up being run as separate businesses. Leaders are incented on regional performance, not on a global, clientcentric basis. New channels such as smartphones and tablets need to be leveraged effectively. Rather than simply being another Internet access point, they are changing the user paradigm and experience. Clients can swipe across a tablet to direct changes in their investment portfolio from one investment to another. For wealth managers, the growing affluence of emerging markets doesn t just provide an opportunity to pursue new clients. The economies and businesses producing this new breed of wealthy investors are generating attractive returns and investment opportunities in their own right. Investors already in a firm s client base may well want to tap into the

4 Along with the significant hurdles outlined above, firms face increased compliance requirements. The growing unification and globalization of regulations is reducing opportunities for regulatory arbitrage. The U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), effective in 2013, could have substantial compliance and reporting implications for offshore accounts. Know-your-client (KYC) onboarding and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations have become more important, as evidenced by asset freezes and economic sanctions imposed on some regimes and individuals in the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere. The reputational damage associated with failing to comply with this array of regulations could be significant and heightens the need for enterprise-level compliance and reporting across a company s operations. By building new models and integrating client data into a single platform, firms will be able to offer holistic, consistent endto-end client experience independent of location, product or business line Finally, integrated risk management is essential to providing firms senior management with a global view of all geographies and asset classes, a necessary Traditional approach Variation in functions Variation due to regions/business lines/products Function 2a Function 3a Figure 2: Aligning capabilities Function 2b Function 3b Function 2c Function 3c ingredient for consistent application of risk models and assumptions throughout lines of businesses. Real- or near-realtime, high-quality data can support insights necessary to make critical adjustments in areas such as managing counterparty exposures; understanding risk on global, local and product levels; and creating a solid reporting infrastructure. The models and assumptions will determine the scope of this information and thus need to be constantly assessed against actual results. Reimagining the BTOM A firm s strategic objectives should drive its operating model. A clear view of the future state and the scope and impacts of changes should be reached and agreed upon at the top of the organization. A BTOM is a high-level design of the operating structure that enables a firm to translate its business strategy into the actions necessary to meet its goals. Because strategy and priorities can change based on external factors, the BTOM should provide the foundation and flexibility required to execute new business initiatives. Recommended approach Function 1a Function 1b Function 1c Function Variation in functions 80 (global)/20 (local) functionality Function Function Often one of the overarching issues impeding expansion is the lack of a single, global view of the firm s BTOM among senior management. Firms have historically built their organizational structures around business lines, resulting in various localized BTOMs within the firm. Simply combining disparate localized BTOMs into a firmwide global model is likely to be inadequate, as business alignment by geographic regions creates and reinforces localization rather than optimizing client and product capabilities. At the same time, individual business line strategies may not support the global BTOM strategy. It is important that the BTOM be viewed as a blueprint rather than a fixed design. Flexibility is important throughout design and implementation. Wealth management clients want a consistent experience independent of their location and product and service offerings. Achieving this can require a major transformation, as illustrated in Figure 2. In the traditional BTOM approach, functions are provided on the basis of business line, regional and product silos. The recommended alternative approach is to create a model with all functions delivered horizontally across the global organization based on a clientcentric perspective. Firms will want to consider the full range of requirements when deciding which services should be applied globally and which locally, as well as whether they should be outsourced, provided through shared services or provided in-house. For example, tax calculation capability could be a local function, while tax reporting could be global or shared.

5 BTOM introduces a significant change at all levels in the organization, making leadership buy-in essential to communicate and cascade the new vision throughout the organizational structure and efficiently manage the change. Support of a fully committed and engaged leadership, from the CEO and president to the COO and CTO, is imperative to guide organizational behavior and lead by example. will be needed, divergence from the BTOM should be minimized and the unique vision of the model preserved. Strong governance will ensure that all key functions and processes are correctly implemented and the BTOM doesn t diverge in principle from the agreed course until senior leadership directs a change. Seamless multichannel access. Certain client-facing business processes should be available both to the firm s employees and to its clients who want to use the information on a self-serve basis. Frontto-back access enables firm employees to see the full client picture, including outstanding requests and issues, and explore ways to increase sales and client satisfaction through higher service quality. Clients want various options for interacting with advisers and the firm, including digital channels such as tablets BTOM design and implementation span geographies, business lines and complex processes. Because of this, motivational incentives, including compensation and performance structure, need to be aligned across the entire organization. Some executives may actively resist change. Therefore, it is important to have an appropriate governance structure in place with clearly defined organizational structure, roles and responsibilities. Keys to BTOM transformation success Several factors will be critical in creating a BTOM for the global market: Flexibility. Low-margin commoditized offerings can be outsourced, duplicated processes eliminated, and high-value sticky products and services offered inhouse. This alignment can support competitive pricing and differentiated offerings, and ultimately result in increased profits and market share. Client centricity. Global BTOM involves a shift from regional business lines and product-centric capabilities to clientcentric capabilities. By building new models and integrating client data into a single platform, firms will be able to offer holistic, consistent end-to-end client experience independent of location, product or business line. Aggregated, centralized client data and analytics will provide firms with important insights to better understand client behaviors and offer tailored products and services. Adherence to the global BTOM. While local implementation of some capabilities Use of shared capabilities. The wealth management operation can leverage resources from other areas of the organization, such as capital markets, retail banking and insurance, rather than developing similar capabilities. Building and implementing global solutions for common services and leveraging shared enterprise services will simplify organizational and operational structure and decrease overall costs. Emphasis on client discovery and needs analysis. Developing a holistic client strategy requires accessing all client information independent of the location or servicing business line. Internal business intelligence will help to discover unique client needs, create opportunities for cross-selling and establish clear market differentiation for the firm. and other mobile devices. These new communication methods can help agents conduct more sophisticated client interactions. Technology aligned to the business. To provide customer-centric end-to-end services, the BTOM should align information technology investments with business strategy. The IT organization should transition from a structure with authority over applications and infrastructure to a dedicated service management organization with businessdriven capabilities. An evolutionary transformation. A new BTOM requires a profound transformation of leadership thinking and organizational, operational and IT structures. It needs to be carefully planned and governed so the vision is preserved and realized. Leadership from the top. The role of senior leadership in creating and implementing the new BTOM cannot be overstated. More than 60 percent of

6 large-scale transformational projects are unsuccessful because of inadequate top leadership buy-in. A committed leadership that champions the change is the No. 1 contributor to transformational success. A senior leader must take full responsibility for owning, guiding and monitoring the change. A change agent should be assigned responsibility for the day-today change management process and implementation, using work streams for communication and detailed monitoring of outcomes. New model, new opportunities The winners in global wealth management will be the firms that anticipate market developments, understand client needs, and put the right strategy and operating model in place to meet those needs. By realigning the firm s resources to the priorities of today s high-wealth clients, firms can expand their business and gain competitive advantage. Nick Jackson is a partner at Capco and focuses on operations and technology transformation. Nick is based in Canada and also leads one of the firm s largest global accounts. Nick is a recognized expert in institutional, wealth and retail operations. He specializes in the management and delivery of large, complex transformation projects starting from strategy and support through execution. Nick also has been heavily involved in the ongoing industrialization of financial services through the development of business process outsourcing (BPO) and utility-style models. Prior to joining Capco, Nick was a director at Bankers Trust in the firm s European Security Operations, where he ran UK Equities Operations and was the core business architect for the development of the strategic operations environment. [email protected] Contributor Yelena Stepanyan is a senior consultant in Capco s Banking domain in Toronto. She has been in the wealth management, capital markets and consulting industries for more than 11 years. About Capco Capco is a global business and technology consultancy dedicated solely to the financial services industry. We work in this sector only. We recognize and understand the opportunities and the challenges our clients face. We apply focus, insight and determination to consulting, technology and transformation. We overcome complexity. We remove obstacles. We help our clients realize their potential for increasing success. The value we create, the insights we contribute and the skills of our people mean we are more than consultants. We are a true participant in the industry. Together with our clients we are forming the future of finance. We serve our clients from offices in leading financial centers across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Worldwide offices Amsterdam Antwerp Bangalore Bratislava Charlotte Chicago Düsseldorf Frankfurt Geneva Hong Kong Johannesburg London New York Orlando Paris San Francisco Singapore Toronto Washington DC Zürich To learn more, contact us at or visit our website at CAPCO.COM 2013 Capco. All rights reserved. T NA