BNP Paribas Wealth Management is promoting among its clients myAdvisory, a new personalised financial advice tool based on investment guidelines, at a frequency defined by the client and which includes access to articles from over 100 sources in line with the client's own portfolio, as well as direct trading and chat capability with in-house investment specialists.
MyAdvisory is part of a global strategy launched by BNP Paribas last year to establish a new kind of client experience around the bank's wealth management offering, according to Salvador Vidal, global head of product & services at BNP Paribas Wealth Management. "To define the new set up, we partnered with clients and fintech firms to find the best solutions in the market to build this new service," said Vidal. "MyAdvisory is a new service that will be offered to those clients that have an advisory contract with us. Up until now, this kind of service was offered through relationship managers and private bankers, but the change in the needs and behaviour in clients means that to respond to demand we need to be able to deliver advisory services directly to the client."
Since December 2016, myAdvisory has been available on various markets as the bank continues to launch services 'tailored to each client's personal situation'. All of these initiatives are aimed to be fully embedded in the client's life and are empowering clients to manage the banking relationship the way they prefer, according to Vidal.
As part of the personalised financial advice offered by myAdvisory, investors will receive recommendations in an SMS format, including graphs and videos, written by a dedicated advisory team, tailored to the client's guidelines. These investors will also be able to filter the recommendations they want to receive, as well as how often and when. They can see and analyse their investment portfolio and relevant metrics as well as place order from their smartphones, according to Vidal. Clients will also be able to see top buys and sells by other clients with the same risk profile, as well as top equity and bond picks by country/region and 'exclusive' in-house macro-economic research, recommended by BNP Paribas Wealth Management.
"MyAdvisory will deliver in a very simple and straight forward way bespoke recommendations to every individual client with products that will fit their risk profile and goals," said Vidal. "This is not a roboadvice tool because only the smartphone application is automated. But those providing the recommendations are BNP Paribas Wealth Management advisors. We think this new service offers a very interesting mix between technology and the human element."
According to Vidal, the service has not been conceived as a way to push BNP Paribas products or to provide a distribution channel to the investment bank. "However, myAdvisory was developed from an open architecture perspective and we will consider any product that fits the needs of our clients," said Vidal. "MyAdvisory will make recommendation on internal and external products and we will cover all products and all asset classes."
Although there is no particular focus on structured products they will be recommended if they are fit for purpose, according to Vidal. "This is also a complementary service for our clients which can already access to structured products or ETFs via their bankers," said Vidal, adding that the service was designed to streamline the communication process with the bank's clients and to respond "faster and with better recommendations", and as a "way to provide added value".
"We are not focusing on a particular product set as most robo-advisors do but on providing recommendations across products and markets including structured products and ETFs but also mutual funds, fixed income products, direct investments on equities, Forex, etc," said Vidal. "One of the aspects we take very seriously is suitability and each and every recommendation will be suited to the risk profile of the client. This service is aimed at leveraging our advisory expertise and to provide clients with tools that can help them to drive the relationship with their advisers, and maximise the overall product offering available."
Since 2016, BNP Paribas Wealth Management has been building a brand new client experience, with new services and functionalities, co-created with clients. These initiatives are aimed to be fully embedded in the client's life and are empowering clients to manage the banking relationship the way they prefer such as choosing preferred channels, or adopting new ways to secure information, personalising content, information, investment advice).
Vincent Lecomte, co-CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management said that by leveraging the bank's 'powerful in-house data engine, clients can see the impact of a recommendation on their portfolio with a simulation of their current position and a forecast based on our advice'.
'The client can give the instruction directly from the app,' said Lecomte, in a statement. 'Each session lasts just a few minutes, so it's perfect when clients are travelling and have a spare moment for example at the airport.'
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