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P: Digitalisation in Wealth Management: Improving the

Client Experience

Sérène El Masri, CEO of UBP Monaco

Digitalisation has become a buzzword in the banking industry, and private banking is no exception.
With the advancement of technology and customers’ changing e pectations, private banks are
increasingly looking to digitalisation to improve their services and stay competitive in the market.

In the wealth management industry, authentication as a handwritten signature, new technologies, private banks can never be as
digitalisation aims primarily at improving removing the need for meetings or multiple automated as a fully digital bank. Customised
the client experience and interaction with the postal exchanges. Implementing e-signing can solutions are still essential, especially for
private bank. This can be achieved by leveraging be a particularly complex and arduous journey, clients with an international profile that require
on two dimensions: the facilitation of processes but once it is achieved, as it has been at UBP, a multi-jurisdictional approach. As digital tools
and the use of data. relationships with clients are greatly simplified. that simplify processes rely on standardisation,
By moving from manual to automated processes, Digitalisation also enables the gathering they cannot provide the tailor-made service
banks can improve their service to clients while and analysis of data. Private banks can that private banking clients require. Above
also reducing costs by streamlining operations. leverage the data they have to gain valuable all in difficult times, when financial markets
For instance, automating account maintenance insight into their clients’ circumstances and are volatile, private clients expect to talk to
can help clients open additional accounts or preferences and thus tailor their services. their relationship manager and not to a robot.
mandates faster and more efficiently while Data analytics can also help private banks Although digitalisation will eventually be a given
allowing the bank to manage the compliance improve their risk management capabilities for basic transactions, managing wealth is not
checks like KYC (“know your clients”) and AML by identifying risks and detecting and will never be a commodity. Trust cannot
(anti-money laundering) more effectively. fraud. However, collecting data is not be digitalised.
Automating such processes is not without its inconsequential: privacy is a critical concern, To stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital
challenges: to open a discretionary mandate, and private banks need to ensure that their landscape, private banks need to embrace
for instance, the client must be identified and clients’ data is protected. This also means technology. However, a successful digital
sign various contracts and forms. Digitalisation being aware of cybersecurity threats and transformation cannot be achieved without
offers the technology of qualified electronic having robust security measures in place. a proper, enterprise-wide and thoughtful
signatures which provide the same level of It is important to note that even with the use of technological strategy in place.

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