Improve the Client Experience: Transparency, Wealth & Pizza Delivery

If you have ever attempted to move your retirement investments from one financial institution to another, perhaps engaging with a new advisor, you know the process can be long and arduous. It’s not that the process itself is complicated – moving money and assets are what financial institutions do all the time. But after you meet with your new advisor, complete your KYC, and the request is made to transfer your investments over to your new firm, you will likely wait four or more weeks, during which time you may not be very clear as to where you are in the process. In fact, you’ve probably had more clarity around placing a pizza delivery order than you have had around your own investments.

Currently, most of our industry operates within an opt-in policy for clients receiving updates: clients need to make a request, or we take it upon ourselves to share with them. Given the impact of the work we do, we must do better. In addition to setting realistic expectations around timing, wouldn’t it be nice if we could make data shareable to clients, and set it up in such a way that there is transparency in the process, while removing the inconvenience to the client of always having to ask?

Time for transparency

With this in mind, IPC is working to drastically improve the client experience, starting this journey with onboarding. By year end, we are aiming to be able to provide clients with a kind of transparency they rarely experience in our industry. Clients will have the ability to know at any time where in the onboarding process they are as it relates to their account opening. They will not need to contact their advisor for this information, but will simply log on to their account to see where they are in the onboarding process right before their eyes. They’ll know right away if the process is delayed due to a required signature or if another action is needed.

Let’s face it, the financial industry in North America has rarely been at the forefront of innovation or open to change. For example, globally, Australia and Europe are moving towards Open Banking 2.0 (a term used to describe a system that is set up to allow clients access to their data at any institution, as well as knowing exactly how that data is being used). Predictably, the North American financial industry has been slow to adopt this move, as our current systems are not set up for this model.

Eventually however, we will need to acquiesce, because our clients will demand it. It’s all about transparency as we start to erode old systems that would keep information hidden. Look at the impact of the current pandemic on mutual fund companies traditionally resistant to change – they were forced to quickly upgrade their technology to accommodate their business and quite frankly, to survive.

"If we are not prepared when changes in our industry happen – if clients want their advice in a different way or want more transparency and we’re not ready for it, they will move past us and look elsewhere."

Expectations around our industry have so rapidly changed that it’s imperative we keep up. If we want to continue to provide valuable advice to our clients, we need to be nimble enough to evolve along with their demands. If you place a pizza delivery order and the company does not have transparency in their process, chances are pretty good that you will be ordering elsewhere the next time. The same thing can happen to us. If we are not prepared when changes in our industry happen – if clients want their advice in a different way or want more transparency and we’re not ready for it, they will move past us and look elsewhere.

Client expectations outside of our industry will continue to move our industry forward, and those that lead in responding and accommodating will be the ones that win in the end.