Innovate or stagnate: Reimagining FS

At a time of dramatic change, Wealth Management and Financial Services firms must make smart changes to survive and thrive.

Executive summary

A changing landscape in FS means that, to remain successful, firms must transform their client segments, strategically align human resources, and modify behaviours without compromising their expertise and professionalism.

It’s a formidable challenge, but it is achievable with the right systems and approach. SBR Consulting’s experience in guiding clients through these types of transformation has allowed us to identify five elements that are critical in maintaining competitiveness in today’s dynamic market.

These elements are not just pivotal; they are the keystones for any organisation seeking to navigate change effectively and sustainably.

Vision

A clear, well-communicated vision translated into a tangible strategy by leadership, ensuring every team member understands their role in achieving the common goal.

Action plan

A robust action plan is essential for turning high-level strategies into effective tactical operations. This involves setting clear, measurable milestones, defining lines of responsibility, and establishing accountability measures.

Leadership & enablement

The evolving positioning of human advisers, from bureaucratic functions to value-added activities like co-creation and education, requires effective leadership and training. This demands a shift in traditional behaviours, which can be achieved through strong leadership and enablement strategies.

incentives & metrics

Objective metrics are vital for tracking behaviours and assessing performance. Aligning these metrics with compensation plans can stimulate the right behaviours and provide a clear framework for accountability, addressing the common challenge of subjective performance assessments.

Resources

Adapting team members into new roles and responsibilities requires training, coaching, and time. Introducing new metrics can help reallocate efforts to more impactful activities, and addressing challenges upfront is essential for embedding new practices.

These elements are crucial for driving organisational change and ensuring long-term success in the dynamic financial landscape.

Introduction

From the FinTech wave to social changes that affect client wealth, risk appetite and relationship-building, the world of Financial Services (FS) is experiencing unprecedented challenges to the traditional ways of servicing client needs.

But FS professionals will only successfully adapt to these new behaviours if they are able to identify how they have affected their clients, how those clients want to be served in the future, and how they can transform their own practices to meet those challenges.

While FinTech has been in the ascendency for some years, the Covid period accelerated society’s adoption of online tools, as businesses and individuals alike recognised the convenience of problem-solving online.

The result was not only a growth in the use of digital payments – projected at 9.52% annually, to US$16.62tn by 2028 – but also in other segments of FinTech. For example, the number of Digital Assets owners has increased from 70m in 2020 to 670m in 2023, and is expected to hit 1bn in 2027.

Statista: Digital Payments Worldwide & Estimated Fintech Users by Segment.

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