Reuters
As of December, the firm had around 6,500 advisers in the US overseeing some $1.4 trillion in assets - its largest region by assets under management and adviser headcount.
- The US wealth management business at UBS has redesigned its iPhone app and added new functions to it. It's a sign that the most high-brow firms are trying to better utilize tech to cater to the world's richest clients.
- UBS worked with Deloitte, the global consulting firm, to create the new app's tools and look. Gordon Smith, the US digital wealth management leader at the firm's Deloitte Digital unit, said the wider wealth management space has to catch up to customers' preferences.
- "The industry is behind," Smith said in an interview. "I think there's still quite a bit that the industry has to do to catch up in terms of creating this experience that's more human, that's relatable to what I get with Netflix, and Uber, and Google, and Apple."
- Wirehouses have largely dialed way back on recruiting experienced financial advisers to their ranks, and are focused much more on boosting revenue by squeezing more productivity out of existing advisers.
- Visit BI Prime for more wealth management stories.
The US wealth management business at UBS has redesigned its iPhone app and added new functions to it, in a sign that the most high-brow firms with thousands of advisers are trying to better utilize tech tools.
Kraleigh Woodford, the head of digital client experience for UBS wealth management in the US, told Business Insider in an interview that her team tried to lean into the idea of an all-encompassing solution for managing wealth.
"What we started looking at is, does our current platform do that? And I think the answer was no," Woodford said, adding that they thought, "how can we as a digital organization look at creating a digital experience that complements the relationship our advisers have with their clients - and also helps deepen their connection to us?"
It's a concept industry executives like to tout as a "holistic" approach: helping clients not only pick suitable investments, which is now largely seen as a heavily commoditized offering, but also plan out their financial lives.
The app now has features including tools that showcase budgeting and spending habits, cashflow analysis, as well assets held at other institutions, and is ready immediately to US clients with iPhones. It's also added new tools to manage personal cash and set financial milestones.
UBS worked with Deloitte, the global consulting firm, to create the new app's tools and look. Gordon Smith, the US digital wealth management leader at the firm's Deloitte Digital unit, said the wider wealth management space has to catch up to customers' preferences in a way that will always feel tailored to them.
"The industry is behind," Smith said in an interview. "I think there's still quite a bit that the industry has to do to catch up in terms of creating this experience that's more human, that's relatable to what I get with Netflix, and Uber, and Google, and Apple."
The firm is meanwhile planning to roll out the new features for its existing Android app, but does not know when it will launch, according to a person familiar with the plans.
Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters
Aggregating a view of clients' assets all in one place can be a boon for wealth managers like UBS and rival Morgan Stanley, who can benefit from seeing the full picture of where they can sell more products and services.
Meanwhile, wirehouses have largely dialed way back on recruiting experienced financial advisers to their ranks, and are focused much more on boosting revenue by squeezing more productivity out of existing advisers.
Last year, UBS overhauled the wealth unit's structure across regions and shuffled leadership. The firm last week said it was replacing its finance chief for global wealth management with UBS' group controller and chief accounting officer, Reuters first reported.
The business, which has some 10,000 financial advisers overseeing around $2.6 trillion in invested assets as of December, has still slashed hundreds of wealth management jobs in an effort to cut costs.
Business Insider reported last month that two large clients withdrew money from the bank's wealth arm in the Americas during the fourth quarter; one of the clients had an account between $3 billion and $4 billion, while the other was between $1 billion and $2 billion. Those outflows helped explain the bulk of the overall unit's $4.7 billion fourth-quarter outflows.
Woodford, a managing director who joined UBS 20 years ago, said recently at the firm's Manhattan offices that the revitalized app took into consideration feedback from financial advisers and clients.
The firm's first iPad app was rolled out in early 2019, and served as a kind of template for the new application. Improving its app was also a play to appeal to a younger set of clients still building up their own wealth, she said.
At an industry inflection point, squaring tech and the human touch
As of December, the firm had around 6,500 advisers in the US overseeing some $1.4 trillion in assets - its largest region by assets under management and adviser headcount.
"It's not just about the numbers, it's about what you're trying to do with them. What do you want your family to do, what do you want your life to look like? That's what we're trying to do every single day," Chip Donovan, a New Jersey-based UBS financial adviser whose clients are using the app, said in a recent interview. "But some people still treat us like brokers, just investment managers. We are constantly trying to break that perception of us."
The app's improvements come as legacy firms are doubling down on their relatively stable wealth business lines to balance out, in the case of sprawling wirehouses, more volatile operations like trading. Firms are plowing resources into both technology and human advice to hold onto their clients.
Some people still treat us like brokers, just investment managers. We are constantly trying to break that perception of us.
In some cases, new digital entrants like standalone robo-advisers have beaten the big banks to the punch, coming up with some new capabilities that banks are now introducing.
Wealth and asset management leaders from EY, the consulting firm, last year surveyed 2,000 wealth management clients in 26 countries and found that the "wealthiest and youngest" are most likely to switch service providers. That would benefit independent firms and fintechs most, they said.
Changes in the landscape have impacted advisers' perception of the wealth management field. Business Insider reported last month that a recent survey of financial advisers from the research firm Greenwich Associates found that 43% believe their population will shrink in the next five years. Of that group, 43% believe robo-advisers are the leading factor in eliminating financial adviser roles.
In 2019 UBS spent $100 million on wealth-tech and $3.4 billion on overall tech spend, finance chief Kirt Gardner said last month on its fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts. This year it plans to spend $1 billion on tech and wealth-tech investments with savings that will come from cutting back on back- and middle-office roles, he said.
