W&F Issue 10 2018

www.wealthandfinance-news.com 10 Wealth & Finance International - Issue 10 - 2018 There is also an increasing awareness that the usual identification of AI with Machine Learning is limiting and the most impactful use cases in wealth management need to involve other AI disciplines, such as Natural Language Processing and Automated Reasoning. As usage and understanding matures, there is evidence that AI can play a major role in increasing efficiency and productivity, improving client relations and service, and ensuring compliance. Intelligent systems can automate much of the mundane manual work, allowing relationship managers to concentrate on cementing client relationships and fulfilling their ‘sales’ role proactively in a highly focussed and personalised manner. For wealth managers this could deliver a boost to efficiency at a time when they are facing intense competition - both from the traditional players and the encroachment of robo-advisers and platforms – as well as increased costs and reduced profitability. Meanwhile, AI is also making a major contribution in meeting clients’ evolving digital expectations in terms of instant investment portfolio valuations, actionable analytical tools and top-notch functionality and experience. But is AI really delivering for the wealth management industry? The utopia the industry seeks revolves around increasing client acquisition, client retention and sales. So, let us consider how AI can help wealth managers deliver throughout the client lifecycle… Lead generation AI can identify individuals that are interesting targets for a wealth manager, for example people owning fast growing companies, benefitting from IPOs or company sales, receiving large bequests or moving to new senior positions. It can reveal networks and referrals chains by looking at news, social media and company registries. For a given target profile, AI can also suggest the most appropriate messaging, language and touchpoints that will build affinity and trust to increase the odds of success in landing the first meeting with a prospective client. And, for the meeting itself, AI technology can identify the most appropriate value proposition, pitch and supporting content, and even suggest the adviser most likely to achieve success. Onboarding and KYC AI-powered technology can aggregate and analyse client information for potential risks from multiple sources, thereby dramatically accelerating Know-Your-Customer (KYC) research processes. This is especially the case where international clients are targeted and the due diligence analysis might involve multiple languages and alphabets. In this area technology is very mature and can both automate mundane research tasks and ensure rigorous compliance and risk reduction. This enables advisers and compliance specialists to focus their time on giving clients a smooth and efficient on-boarding experience. It can also improve the client experience by ensuring good management of the necessary regulatory- After intense discussion around the dramatic promises and threats of “universal Artificial Intelligence”, the AI debate is now taking a more analytical, and possibly more serious, perspective that is looking at the applicability and the concrete benefits for specific sectors and use cases. The wealth management industry, whilst not leading the technological adoption curve, has started significant initiatives and has already collected meaningful experiences. AI has been dubbed ‘the fourth industrial revolution’ but is it delivering for the wealth management industry?