IBF Wealth Management Seminar 2008: Practices of Delivering World-Class Wealth Management Services

The IBF Wealth Management Seminar 2008 was held on 17 th November 2008 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Singapore. One of the main aims of this seminar was to foster more in-depth discussions on industry best practices amongst key players in the wealth management industry and facilitate the sharing of experiences by senior practitioners that would benefit their younger counterparts. .

Mr Deepak Sharma, Chief Executive Officer – International, Citi Global Wealth Management and keynote speaker for the event, shared his insights on the topic of “Opportunities & Challenges for the Wealth Management Industry in Asia ”. He emphasised the importance of navigating clients through the current crisis, which would precipitate fundamental and transformational changes in the business models and theories of client management, for example, the importance of counterparty risks, the shift from financial markets funding to socialized funding mechanism and the increasingly important role of media and the manner through which information is disseminated. Well established assumptions would also be revisited. This included the ability to leverage on good quality assets and the current risk-reward mechanisms.

Dr Mario A. Bassi, Managing Director, Head Strategy and Business Development Asia-Pacific, Deutsche Bank AG, Private Wealth Management, spoke on the topic of “Nurturing Leadership in Wealth Management”. Dr Bassi shared his view that that the key role of a leader in developing future wealth managers was to be able to create a shared vision and inspire staff and educate clients to see how the bank is differentiated from the rest. A leader should possess a clear sense of direction, have the ability to create an organisation where employees can excel, be able to communicate effectively, be visibly present, engage in dialogues with staff and be able to walk the talk and set a positive example to motivate the staff to achieve targets.

Mr Rajesh Malkani , Regional Head of Private Bank, SEA , The Standard Chartered Private Bank, shared with the audience his insights on “Laying the Foundation for the Delivery of World-Class Wealth Management Services”. With transformational changes sweeping through the financial world now, there was an opportunity to go back to the basics. His presentation focused on the importance of 1) understanding client needs, 2) providing relationship managers with enough backend support, 3) taking away activities that are non-client facing, and 4) acknowledging that Client Relationship Management (CRM) was not an activity, but a corporate culture.

Ms Tan Su Shan, Head of Private Wealth Management for Southeast Asia and Australia , Morgan Stanley, shared her views on the topic of “Developing Skill Sets to Cater to Different Client Segments”. Recounting personal experiences in her career, Ms Tan opined that gender and age would continue to be important factors in the client's decision making process. More importantly, to be trusted advisors who add value to the wealth management process, RMs must understand the client's profile, source of wealth, wealth creation process, ownership structure and family dynamics. To this end,.RM would need to focus on developing skill sets that would set them apart from others and help them build long term relationships with their clients. She emphasized that RMs should take time to acquire in-depth knowledge of their clients' business and industry to better appreciate and relate to their concerns. RMs should also monitor their clients' portfolio diligently and update them even when things went wrong.

Mr Tee Fong Seng, Managing Director, Head of Wealth Management, SEA, UBS AG then discussed the topic of “Developing Products for Different Client Segments”. Mr Tee said that segmentation was traditionally performed based on the client's wealth. However, these days, segmentation methodologies were more complex and factors such as the origin of client's wealth, client's risk profile as well as life cycle stage were being considered as well. He added that conducting a proper “know-your-client” (”KYC”) would help to sieve out critical pieces of information which would facilitate the development and recommendation of suitable products to meet clients' needs.

Last but not least, Mr David Chong, Chairman, Portcullis TrustNet Group, shared his views on the topic of “Appreciating the Legal and Trust Aspects in Meeting Client's Needs”. Mr Chong envisioned that after this financial turmoil, wealthy clients were likely to set up private trust companies to manage their wealth. He explained that individuals did not make good trustees because of their limited lifespan and banks had to address potential conflicts of interest as trustees.