How has the pandemic changed the way wealth managers are interacting with clients?

Antony Bream, MD of UK & Americas explains how the pandemic has given both advisors and clients more time, and what this means for engagement in wealth management.

I think the major change for both the wealth manager and the client is time: time has changed for them. Obviously clients have lot more time on their hands, they’re spending more time at home, they’re probably doing a lot more of their own research and maybe getting themselves a little bit more anxious than normal, because they’ve got time on their hands to worry about the market conditions with Brexit and COVID, and all the various things that are happening.

But also the advisors have got more time. They’re not commuting, they’re not spending time having to travel into work or getting delayed on trains. So they’re also now able to spend more time with their clients. So really it’s about how are they both using that time wisely, and getting the best use of that time?

At Wealth Dynamix, our mantra has always been we help our clients save time. The software is designed to help advisors to be more productive, to provide better quality and more proactive advice to their clients. And equally, the clients can now spend more time and talk to their advisors more. They have more time on their hands.

So really technology is the enabler of that communication. It’s an enabler to allow that time to be used wisely. It’s really important that the advisors have the right information for the right client, at the right time in context at their fingertips, so that when they do get a call or a Secure Chat or a message to say, “I need some advice” or “Help me” or “What do you think?” they can proactively respond with the right information for that client.

And this is all helping to build, maintain, and grow that level of trust that’s necessary. I think from a client’s perspective they primarily want to make their advisor feel that they are virtually sat in their kitchen with them, they’re sat next to them discussing the market and what was best for them. So digital tools have been essential to really keep that level of communication, to keep that level of trust, but also to use the data that they’ve got to really, really find what’s important to share with their clients and make the clients feel relaxed and comfortable and confident that what’s happening out there is being managed properly and proficiently.

So, technology has really been important and it’s proven its worth – it’s worked. It’s really getting the right tools, the right communications and the right level of data to the advisors to share with their clients. So that’s really, really been positive.