© Sapient Corporation, 2011

POINT OF view

What does the word “wealth” even mean anymore? Is “wealth management” an alienating term and concept to the retail investor? How do wealth managers convince investors to get back into the market with new investment strategies when the landscape that faces them looks like this: there is a general lack of trust and high degree of caution and skepticism; information distribution and consumption behaviors in the digital age have changed dramatically influencing the how, when, and where investment decisions are made; and the global set of options for how advisors can put money to work have become impossibly complex?

When you think about these questions within the context of a changing regulatory environment where the demand for transparency will be massive, then what you get is this: the need for wealth managers to re-connect with, and demonstrate their relevance to, investors has never been greater; delivering a relevant, engaging client experience that drives this re-connection has never been harder; and the vision around what a successful business model looks like in the wealth management industry has never been cloudier.

Are you ready?

Around the world, wealth management executives across sales, marketing, products, and technology are struggling with these questions. What unites them all – regardless of geography or place in the value chain (distribution or manufacturing) – is a set of business imperatives, which they all pursue:

• Driveassetgrowthbyreachingnewcustomersinnewwaysinanincreasinglycompetitiveand noisy marketplace

• Complywithgovernmentandconsumerdemandforincreasedtransparencyandsimplicity• Re-engineertheadvisoryprocesstomatchnewwaysinwhichinvestorsconsumeand

process information and make decisions in a global market• Profitablyscaleahighlycomplexandpersonalizedexperience• Maximizetheleverageofatremendousamountofin-houseexpertise,data,institutional

knowledge, and invaluable social networks

Building a “Signature Experience”for Wealth ManagementBy Alex Sion, Vice President Financial Services, SapientNitro

POINT OF view

© Sapient Corporation, 2011

POINT OF view

What’s clear is that our industry is at a key turning point. Global market dynamics, anticipated regulatory pressures, changing investor behaviors and demands, and introduction of potentially disruptive technologies (Web 2.0, mobile, social, tablet devices, etc.) have culminated to a point where fundamental re-consideration of how the wealth management industry markets, sells, and services investors around the world is being re-considered. “Wealth” and what it means to the retail investor is being re-defined and the goal is to deliver a more human, practical, grounded, and collaborative client experience.

What the industry needs is a new “signature experience” – a process for engaging clients befitting of the new age: global, multi-channel, digital, personal, transparent, collaborative, multi-generational, leveraging the institutional knowledge and insight gained through global research networks and decades of investing experience.

SapientNitro believes that the future wealth management signature experience will be defined by four key tenants:

• Immersivemulti-channelmarketingandcommunications – The wealth management marketing and sales experience is built upon conversations. Highly engaging, highly personal, often non-linear and exploratory conversations. A digital-centric, multi-channel marketing and communications strategy can replicate that conversational experience with investors who now have different modes and methods of communicating and consuming information. It can alter the experience so that a “conversation” can take place across physical and digital spaces, with or without the need for increasingly precious and expensive face-to-face time with a professional advisor.

• Re-imagined,holisticinvestorviews –Makinganinvestmentdecisionisnotaneasytask. Investors will put money in motion only when they are logically, operationally, and emotionally ready to do so. Traditionally, this has required savvy advisors and investing professionals to take great pains to articulate and illustrate their investing logic in a way that will resonate with investors. That translates into lots of cycle time, lots of data aggregated from multiple sources, lots of conversations. With the information

availableinthemarkettodayandthetechnologyathandtobeabletoaccess,visualize,and present it in increasingly more engaging ways, investor views should be re-

imagined with the goal of speeding up the investing decision cycle and increasing the velocity of money.

• Enablingacollaborativeadvisoryexperience – The old wealth management advisory experience: come visit the branch — advisor on one side and investor on the other – advisor looking at desktop, investor looking at oak furniture and paintings on the walls, “book” handed to investor, never read. The new wealth management advisory experience: investor explores investing concepts in multiple channels beginning online, largely self-directed, tools are engaging, easy to use and understand, advisor guidesratherthandrivesexperience,clientmeetsadvisorincoffeeshopandfinalizesinvestmentscenariooveriPad,finallyexecutesonline,getsconfirmationandstayspro-actively engaged through mobile.

© Sapient Corporation, 2011

POINT OF view

• Empoweringintelligencenetworks – As Gordon Gekko once said, “the most valuable commodity I know of is information.” Wealth and asset managers build and brand themselves around this statement, each claiming to be able to deliver a different kind of insight. With sprawling networks of professionals scattered around the world, the leading global wealth management institutions are treasure troves of information. But howwellisthisinformationreallyputintoaction?Doestheretailinvestorreally“feel”the information advantage? Leading wealth managers of the future will learn how to use emerging technologies – social, mobile, augmented reality, etc. – to increase their information advantage and better leverage insight gathered from armies of seasoned professionals, a global footprint, and networks of relationships across many industries.

A new signature experience in wealth management will transform the industry. It will increase levels of client engagement, improve and scale the advisory experience, and make investing and the markets more relevant for the retail investor. The ability to deliver this experience is within our grasp.

AlexSion,VicePresidentFinancialServices,SapientNitro

AlexisaVicePresidentbasedinNewYorkCityandwhereheleadsDigitalStrategyfortheFinancialServicessector.He has over 10 years of experience in digital strategy for financial services firms as a management consultant and as an executive for a leading wealth management firm.

PriortoSapientAlexwaswithCitigroupGlobalWealthManagementwherehewasaSeniorVicePresident.AlexwaspartofthemanagementteamthatfoundedmyFiwhichwasanewbusinessCitiGlobalWealthManagementcreatedtofocusonthemassaffluentsegment.AtmyFi,Alexwasresponsiblefordefiningandlaunchingthecorebusiness/technologyplatform,client services environment which included both branch and service center advisors, and distributionstrategy.Allofthesehadaheavyfocusonleveragingdigital/onlinemediums.PriortoCitigroup,AlexwasontheleadershipteamofCapgemini’sWealthManagementpractice.AtCapgemini,Alexworkedwithavarietyofleadingretailbanks,brokerages,andother diverse wealth management firms to develop sales, marketing and distribution platform strategies. He had a significant focus on advisor sales processes and desktop technologies and customer experience and online transformation efforts working with companies like MerrillLynch,MorganStanley,ING,AmeripriseandWachoviaintheseareas.Inaddition,hewasaprimaryauthoroftheWorldWealthReport–anannualsizingandanalysisofthehighnetworthmarketlandscapepublishedbyCapgeminiandMerrillLynch.AlexgraduatedfromYalewithhonors.

For more information, please phone +44 (0) 207 786 4500, email info@sapientnitro.com or visit www.sapientnitro.com