Asia's talent shortfall continues to stunt the prospects for the wealth management industry. To address this, wealth managers need to cultivate the skills to talk about clients' dreams, ambitions and life challenges. By Kees Stoute
A common complaint that has haunted the wealth management industry in Asia for many years is that it lacks the talent to live up to its potential.
From many interviews with senior industry practitioners and from many presentations at wealth management conferences, the broad consensus is that the winners of tomorrow are those wealth management firms which have the client value proposition right.
And to deliver that proposition, we need people capable of doing so.
Unfortunately, as an industry, we seem to struggle to find the professionals with the caliber to provide the type of service that clients really benefit from. What’s particularly saddening is the fact that we have heard industry leaders bemoan this situation for at least the past 20 years.
The right proposition
Before we try to answer questions about what we have done to try to fill the talent void, it may be worthwhile to understand how we define ‘the right client value proposition’. Without this, we won’t be able to effectively educate a generation of capable and competent wealth managers.
Each organisation is obviously entitled to its own definition. However, for me, this value proposition sounds something like: make sure that the wealth of rich individuals and their families is fully aligned with the life they want to live. As wealth managers we should have an ability to improve our clients lives by making them feel at peace with their wealth.
Anyone who agrees with a definition like this, also agrees that we need a generation of wealth managers which is able to talk about what people want in life.
Talking about individuals’ dreams, ambitions and life challenges requires a certain skill-set which differs from the type of skill-set we commonly find in the wealth management industry.
People who studied Economics or Law, for example, may possess the technical skill-set to add value, but lack aptitude to have a discussion with their clients about the things that really matter. And what’s the value of a technical skill-set if we aren’t able to apply it effectively?
In view of our definition, the relationship manager who is able to have (deep) conversations about how individuals want to live the rest of their lives or which legacy they wish to leave behind, stands a better chance to deliver the right value proposition to a client than an adviser who is just capable of explaining the difference between alphas, betas, gammas and deltas.
If aligning wealth with life ambitions is our goal as wealth management professionals (and why shouldn’t that be our ambition?) then we should consequently focus our training efforts on ensuring that the wealth management professionals of the future are capable to deliver this value proposition.
Just complaining about the lack of talent without addressing the root of the problem in this way will only lead to one (unfortunate) outcome: in 20 years’ time we will still be complaining about the lack of talent in our industry.
Managing Director at Hubbis
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