Technology-enabled client experiences

TJ Valerio
I am TJ Valerio, managing director on our private banking relationship team. I'm here today to talk about the future of wealth with Grayson Greer. Grayson, you mind introducing yourself?

Grayson Greer
Yeah, for sure. Thanks for having me today, TJ. I'm Grayson Greer and I'm managing director of Global at First Rate, which is an investment performance reporting provider based in Arlington, Texas.

TJ Valerio
Awesome, Grayson, thank you. Alright, first question, let's jump right in. Let's talk about the future. What do you think the future of wealth will look like in 10 years and what are some of the milestones we'll hit along the way?

Grayson Greer
You know, so I think it's important to point out that the future of wealth is here. And I think, you know, when I think about the future of wealth, I think about mainly the widespread adoption of some of the emerging technologies that people are talking about. Things like blockchain, alternatives, other asset classes that may be leveraged as part of the portfolio. I think, you know, AI was a lot of the talk over the last couple years, but it's here now. It's here to stay, it's here to be leveraged. And so again, when I think about, you know, what does the next, you know, 10 years like or look like, I really think it's a focus around the customer experience, knowing your customer, knowing how to put those technologies into their hands to be able to ac access, you know, what, what they need at their fingertips.

TJ Valerio
No, that's, that's great. I think you're absolutely right. So, within that frame, what are some of the main changes and challenges that you think the industry is facing now?

Grayson Greer
You know, I think the, the top one that comes to mind is really the regulatory environment. You're seeing things especially in Europe, such as consumer duty, as well as other types of, you know, legislation passed by the, the FCA and, and other ones, like in the US, like well, like the SEC, you know, I think there's a lot of regulatory pressure around how do we regulate these, these new technologies and allow for firms as well as individuals to access them, but access them in the right way and remain within compliance and, and things like that. So I think, you know, regulatory changes is a big one that, that people are facing. I think, you know, also, I would just say, you know, something that continues to come up is things like direct indexing. How do you, you know, take and customise portfolio solutions to individuals? And so we've got things like the Robo-advisors and other types of new models that people are trying to figure out how do we embrace these technologies but also still remain compliant, remain within the, you know, regulatory framework.

TJ Valerio
No, no, definitely headwinds. So, so amongst those headwinds, what sort of technology do you see transforming wealth management in the future?

Grayson Greer
Yeah, so I mean, AI is obviously the hot one that everyone's talking about. You know, it's been an interesting journey, I feel like for our industry because, you know, when you think about the AI tools that are out there and the firms that are beginning to leverage it, it's less and less about firms having proprietary types of AI tools or AI functionality, but it's really around the learning and around the data. And so being able to harness tools like AI, train that on the, you know, data that you have access to, and then being able to have, you know, analytics as well as insights from leveraging and harnessing AI. So we talk a lot about, you know, how can you harness AI? How can you have it, you know, work for you? How can you have it complement what you're doing? And so when we think about the future, you know, from a first rate perspective, it's not that jobs are going to go away necessarily from AI, but it's more around how can you take your existing workforce and your existing groups, give them the tools that they can use to help make them more efficient and 20%, 50%, even a 100%, sometimes more efficient.

TJ Valerio
So on that point, changing workforce, new technology, flooding the market, how do you see the role of a wealth manager changing?

Grayson Greer
In order for them to provide advice, they really need to have a holistic picture of the client's portfolio and understand that even if they may not have total ownership or custody over certain assets, especially in the world of like alternatives and collectibles and, you know, things that may, may be of value to, to them, I think the role is changing that, you know, people are starting to see them more as like a confidant, a trusted advisor, a friend, you know, ways that they can continue to provide a holistic advice around their entire net worth, per se. Rather than just one specific area. And I think that's going to really transform the way firms work together versus how firms may be, you know, in competition with one another and really, you know, prioritise the client.

TJ Valerio
So we have changing technology, changing roles, that's a lot for any firm to manage. So what advice would you give to the executive level of a firm today about protecting and transforming their future?

Grayson Greer
So I think it's a great question. You know, I think it all starts with one, knowing your customer. So knowing, you know, what it, what is the customer segment? What is the customer that you're working with? What are they looking for? What are their needs? You really have to be, you know, ultra and hyper-focused around what you, you know, what, what your customer is looking for. And I think the second thing on that is that then leads you to determine what is the unique value proposition that you're providing. You know, I think in the, in the space that we, that we operate in today, there's obviously a lot of firms out there, a lot of technology providers, a lot of, you know, different advisors, different end managers. And while they all operate in the same space, a lot of them have different value propositions in different ways that they maybe can focus on. You know, maybe they, you know, specialise on the alternative side or, you know, specialise in, you know, fund accounting or fund admin or, you know, other areas. So I think hyper focus on the customer focusing on, you know, what your unique value proposition is. And then the last thing I would just say is probably stay true to your values. And I think that's one thing that's kind of easy to get lost in today with all the technology and things that are changing with the environment is, you know, when you originally started the firm or whether it was 10 years ago, one year ago or 50 years ago, you know, what were the values that drove, you know, the launch of, of that firm and what are the values that continue to carry yourself into the future?

TJ Valerio
That's awesome. Grayson, I appreciate your answers. Such an easy topic to talk about, predict the future for the next 10 years.

Grayson Greer
Yeah. Enjoy it.

TJ Valerio
Thank you for your time.

Grayson Greer
Thanks for having me.

TJ Valerio
Thank you everyone.