Banques Privées Suisses: qu'est-ce qui a changé? 3ème partie

L’été est souvent propice pour faire un bilan et se relancer à la rentrée.

En Mars 2015 sur LinkedIn, j'avais publié un billet sur la transformation de l’industrie de la Gestion de patrimoine. Qu'est-ce qui a changé depuis ? pas grand chose.

Ce billet est présenté sur Bilan dans sa forme originale en anglais, en 4 parties, chaque mercredi.

Voici la suite de la deuxième partie.

Aujourd'hui: Réglementation, efficacité et efficience.

Regulation

Adapting is costly and time consuming. But this is not the worst effect. The worst is what happens for clients, complexity which is created for them and for the bankers, both being transformed into administrative agents.

Unfortunately, current regulation trend works against what should be private bankers’ DNA: trustful advice...

Because regulators do not trust banks and want to avoid product misselling, they want to make sure Advisory will not be used against clients’ interests. By enforcing the suitability concept, regulators transformed what used to be, and should become again, the unique selling proposition (USP) of a private bank, trustful advice, into a standardized offering.

How to differentiate and compete if your USP is a standard imposed to all players?

In addition, implementing the Advisory model raises risks ; because of consequent risk of non-compliance, one of the leading private banks is wondering whether they should really implement Advisory model in Europe and Switzerland, although this model was successful in Asia!

Compliance is an entry barrier but not a differentiator as such, except in the way you do it; do you create more complexity for your clients and people, or do you take this opportunity to adapt?

The only way to do it with differentiation in mind is to make sure risk people think in terms of clients’ satisfaction and not just regulators’.

If you truly serve clients needs well, you can get compliance for free.

Is there another route for private banking than total commitment to clients’ needs? An interesting approach is observable in the US to create an Advisory code of conduct (update note: DOL act on fiduciary duty passed a couple of weeks ago).

Efficiency & Effectiveness

How to balance revenue effectiveness and efficiency and how to develop?

• Well balanced cost cutting (meaning that it should start by understanding costs at client, product and service level, and finish by protecting future growth),
• Streamlining to reduce complexity, outsourcing,
• Winding down, focusing on some but not all client and market segments, consolidation and exchange of markets,
• Well-managed structural projects, especially technology change and post-merger integration, 
• Bridging the gap between technology trends, clients expectations, existing infrastructure and end-users knowledge, agile capabilities,
  
• Talent attraction and training, strategic compensation based on contribution to P&L and long term growth,
• Revenue assurance and enhancement, pricing model definition and execution, raising the bar in sales culture and effectiveness,
• Addressing share of client wallet and not just market share (especially in areas where financial assets tend to move away from trading, such as philanthropy, real estate and private equity)

are probably critical initiatives private banks could take to re-focus and develop their business from there.

Dernière partie mercredi prochain: État d’esprit, Modèles d’affaires et Décision stratégique.