Wealth Tech Awards 2022: European and CEE winners

Best private bank for digital wealth planning, Europe
Banca Generali

What differentiates Italian bank Banca Generali from local competition is its holistic approach to wealth planning, states the bank’s CEO Gian Maria Mossa. Its proprietary platform, BG Personal Advisory, allows private bankers to take into account financial and non-financial aspects, including real estate planning and business consultancy. “Our dialogue today is not limited to families, but looks to the business world and, more generally, to the most complex assets,” explains Mr Mossa.

Thanks to its open banking model, the bank has developed partnerships with several third-party providers, which play an important role in enhancing the bank’s product and service offering. Third-party fintech services are integrated and adapted to Banca Generali’s customers’ needs.

Through a bespoke version of UBS’s robo-advisory system, private bankers monitor the risk level of clients’ portfolios daily, and automatically reallocate them depending on market movements. 

In partnership with London-based sustainability focused advisory firm Mainstreet, the bank has launched an environmental, social and governance (ESG) digital platform, which offers investment funds aligned with the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), with a model being able to quantify the contribution of clients’ investments to each SDG. 

The bank’s sustainable product range today comprises 270 ESG certified funds. ESG assets have grown to more than €7bn, representing around 20 per cent of Banca Generali’s total client AuM, a percentage which the institution aims to double by 2024.  

Through a strategic partnership with Conio, Banca Generali’s customers “are the only ones in Italy” to be able to trade bitcoin by themselves, operating directly through their current account via the private bank’s mobile banking app.

Investments in technology, also including a tool for investing in certificates and a trading platform developed with Danish fintech Saxo Bank, are key to democratising wealth management.

“The democratisation of financial advisory services is one of Banca Generali’s long-term objectives,” says Mr Mossa, believing that global uncertainty, combined with poor financial education, have increased the need for wealth advice. “In our three-year plan, we have clearly indicated our goal to lower the threshold of access to our solutions, all thanks to the scalability of technology.” ET

Best private bank for use of technology, Europe
BBVA Private Banking

Data-driven advice is increasingly a key competitive differentiator in private banking as it allows improvement of client service. Data analytics is fundamental not only in predictive modelling, but also to assess the effects of marketing campaigns or sales proposals, in order to improve their suitability to customers, says Jorge Gordo, director of BBVA Private Banking.

The main challenge revolves around the use of personal data, with regulation becoming increasingly more stringent. “The key aspect is to help clients understand how and why we use their data,” says Mr Gordo. “The main objective is to help us personalise clients’ proposals, which clearly benefits them.” 

Over the past year, the Spanish bank has expanded the remote management capabilities of relationship managers, so that clients can choose which channel of communication they prefer, from face-to-face meetings and video conferencing, to remote signing of documents, secure conversations in digital channels or telephone, through a new cloud-based telephone platform.

Client reporting has been enhanced with more detailed information on returns of asset holdings in client portfolios and volatility. Environmental, social and governance reporting has also been introduced, providing data on the sustainability of the client portfolio and individual holdings, allowing greater alignment of investment recommendations to clients’ sustainability preferences.   

Client communication has been enriched with timely and personalised insights, which have proved particularly effective with the start of the war in Ukraine. Thanks to improvements in digital wealth planning, clients can gain a holistic overview of their finances and access customised investment recommendations, while the bank has developed a “new sales plan for its branches, based on client data and algorithms”. 

Personalisation is highly valued by clients. “In BBVA, we make lots of efforts to offer ultra-personalised services, especially to ultra-high net worth clients,” says Mr Gordo. ET

Best private bank for digital customer service, Europe
BNP Paribas Fortis

Strategists at BNP Paribas Fortis are keen to differentiate their hybrid model from the totally mechanised wealth firm which some new-age competitors strive for. “A fully remote bank would offer all kinds of banking services purely through digital means,” says Stéphane Vermeire, head of private banking and wealth management at BNP Paribas Fortis. 

“Our ‘digital conversational bank’, however, goes well beyond this sole objective of digitising banking services and enables clients to interact with their relationship manager  – or the bank as a whole – to get personalised advice.” 

Rather than acting as an end unto itself, technology is used to facilitate the relationship with clients in order to better understand their needs and preferences, for which relationship managers can subsequently propose the most suitable solutions.

Key tools within this framework include the Pax Familia app, which enables discussions about clients’ goals and ambitions for their wealth; the Digital Dashboard for reporting and monitoring portfolio performance, used as a shared communication channel for both client and relationship manager; and Personalized Interactive Debriefings, offering clients modular, interactive videos, determined by data personalised according to their risk profile, investment returns and sustainability impact. 

Crucially, the Pax Familia digital platform, which is now forming the basis of the wealth management offer across all jurisdictions at BNP Paribas, was developed in Belgium at the headquarters of BNP Paribas Fortis, in collaboration with the Guiscare fintech start-up. In fact, a digital, secure and confidential platform for centralising all information related to client wealth planning, had been on the bank’s wish list for many years, so that relationship managers could offer a much more holistic approach to clients. 

As well as trying to develop something like this internally, the bank had been keeping a keen eye on the external fintech market and after finding the right partner, decided to opt for external collaboration. “With Pax Familia, Guisquare very much convinced us of their platform and their top-notch solution for our client’s needs,” says Mr Vermeire. “It puts the client in control of his or her wealth situation and provides them with peace of mind.” YB

Best private bank for digital portfolio management, Europe
BPI Private

In many industries, we are seeing an increasing reliance on self-service as digitalisation comes to the fore. Balancing this algorithmic input with human influence remains crucial when developing portfolio management, particularly when markets are volatile, believes Antonio Luna Vaz, head of private banking at BPI Private in Lisbon.

“Although there has been a huge development in algorithmic portfolio management, we still see that in difficult times for financial markets, and although we have had an evolution in recent years, these algorithms tend not to work or even contribute to magnify drawdowns,” says Mr Vaz. “For now, we think that a mixed approach is the best way to go, since algorithms allow us to neutralise some of the behavioural biases humans have while investing. Technology is key in portfolio management going forward, but as a tool to help us manage and not completely replacing humans.”

There are also assets, particularly in the alternative investment spectrum, which do not immediately lend themselves to a digitalised approach, although the bank is making some progress on this. “The main challenges of incorporating private market assets in our portfolios are on the operational side because private market assets have special features like capital calls and distributions that are difficult for IT systems to handle, especially as these are often not apparent at the time of subscription to the product,” says Mr Vaz. 

“To overcome these kinds of limitations, we have tried to focus on products in which the commitment is made in a lump sum format at subscription, and then try to adapt our systems gradually, to be able to handle these kinds of products.” YB

Best private bank for digital marketing and communication, Europe;
Best private bank for big data analytics and AI, Europe
CaixaBank

CaixaBank is unique among its peer group that it does not make any grandiose claims of wholesale cultural transformation towards the digital economy. The view in Barcelona is that the customer has always been at the centre of the bank’s strategy and this has in turn dictated the way advisers communicate with clients.

“To this end, our omnichannel model requires that we adapt to our clients’ preferences whether they prefer to interact with us face-to-face in a physical branch, or if they prefer to interact digitally,” says Victor Allende, head of CaixaBank Private Banking.

“We do not force anyone to choose the way to relate to us, so we do not transform our culture. Instead, we adapt to social changes. Clients have the branch, they have the CaixaBankNOW app, they have their advisers, and they are the ones who choose the way to communicate with us at all times, being able to switch from one channel to another at any time.” 

The pandemic, he says, has strengthened the bank’s hybrid relationship model with clients, enhancing digital capabilities and improving the effectiveness of one-to-one meetings when needed. The digital armoury of relationship managers – 100 per cent of whom were using Smart PCs before the pandemic hit – and their ability to onboard clients with digital signatures and documentation, can help contribute to efficiency, while also complying with regulations, says Mr Allende. “All these features have allowed us to engage more closely with clients, reassure them, and provide timely market updates and advice during these very challenging times.” 

Last year, the bank launched a new customer segmentation method which uses big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to sort customers into clusters. “By knowing the customer’s characteristics, we can reduce the commercial time previously dedicated to customer research,” says Mr Allende. “Likewise, commercial actions are better directed, and it also helps to make better use of resources, aimed at increasing volume of customers, with a specialised manager and client service proposal for all new customers.” 

At the same time, big data and AI are also being used to manage investments, through adjusting equity exposure in Smart Allocation portfolios, enabling “dynamic management, with greater control of volatility”.

The bank has also recently launched its OpenWealth initiative, a global advisory service for ultra-high net worth clients with assets of at least €50m ($54m), selecting the most appropriate external partners and service providers for them. CaixaBank describes this as a “pioneering mode” in the Spanish banking sector. It says this multi-family office style service will “employ state-of-the-art technology and include unified reporting with the consolidation of all financial and non-financial entities’ positions, thus providing a comprehensive look-through of the portfolio for analysis of global investments at any given time”. YB

Best private bank for culture and vision, Europe
Indosuez Wealth Management

Indosuez Wealth Management, part of the Crédit Agricole group, pursues a ‘two-track’ innovation strategy, to meet both clients’ and employees’ expectations. 

While ‘product owners’, a network of 20 employees, oversee the development of targeted, strategic innovation plans, the Innovation Lab in Paris, created in 2020, facilitates the rapid development of ad-hoc, tactical solutions, bringing together clients and employees. They share ideas, provide feedback on innovations and create new products, embracing an ‘agile approach’, a collaborative working method which all staff are encouraged to adopt. 

 “If detecting the risk of dissatisfaction among our clients is key to preventing customer attrition, taking their opinion into account from the design stage of a new product or service allows us to place their expectations at the heart of our strategy,” says Jacques Prost, CEO of Indosuez Wealth Management group.

‘Transformers’, a global network of 120 employees act as “ambassadors of cultural transformation” and promote the adoption of new digital tools among bankers. 

The idea of decentralising innovation pervades many of the bank’s initiatives. Last year, Indosuez launched its first ‘ideation challenge’, on a dedicated online platform, bringing together 900 employees and creating more than 300 ideas to enhance the client and employee experience. Some of the winning ideas are currently at the development stage, with plans to roll them out globally. 

“Promoting intrapreneurship or organising a group wide ideation challenge helped spread an innovation culture within the company at all levels, from junior members of staff to executive committee members,” says Mr Prost. 

The institution works in partnership with several fintech firms and start-ups to accelerate its digitalisation journey. ET

Best private bank for digitally empowering RMs, Europe
Julius Baer

Speak to most private banking commentators across Europe, and few would refer to Julius Baer as a digitally advanced bank. Indeed, they see it as part of the old school, headquartered on the lower reaches of Zurich’s pristine Bahnhofstrasse, barely a stone’s throw from larger rivals Credit Suisse and UBS.

Yet when it comes to recruiting relationship managers, there have been interesting developments at Baer, which has managed to steal a march on some of its rivals, with bankers reporting that the tools and skills they are being given are finally starting to measure up against the market.

“At Julius Baer, we are taking many steps to empower our relationship managers with digital tools and solutions,” confirms the bank’s chief operating officer Nic Dreckmann. “Through a series of targeted investments and ramping up of resources in the digital and automation space over the past years, we have been able to accelerate our progress in a number of landmark projects at the bank.”

These projects have included the Digital Advisory Suite, a platform for digitally scaling regulatory-compliant advice. The bank’s Mandate Solution Designer has also attracted admiring glances, while tools based on AI permit Baer to assess how clients’ portfolios are likely to perform or which products might suit the client portfolio in terms of risk or diversification. “This is all part of making us one of the most digital banks for the relationship manager,” claims Mr Dreckmann.

Similarly to its rivals, Julius Baer has built these innovations in order to allow relationship managers to move away from routine tasks, and spend more time providing tailored client service, strengthening relations with clients and ultimately delivering better value to them.

Part of this has been achieved by working with external firms in addition to developing the internal services at Zurich HQ. “Partnering with external accelerators drives new business cases and advances the client experience,” says Mr Dreckmann. “Technology partnerships complement our comprehensive in-house capabilities and ensure we have the insight needed for the digitalisation of wealth management.” YB

Best private bank for ESG technology, Europe
Lombard Odier

While others continue to experiment, Geneva wealth manager Lombard Odier has integrated environmental, social and governance (ESG) thinking into all of its investment decisions. “We have centralised our sustainability capabilities across our group, providing a single resource for all investment teams,” says Geoffroy de Ridder, head of technology and operations at Lombard Odier, explaining that research and insights developed by the bank’s sustainability team is made accessible via a centralised depository and analytical dashboards. 

Analysis and reporting on ESG have become a standard items in the bank’s reporting repertoire. At a minimum, all asset classes apply the exclusions and restrictions policy (norm-based screening and severe controversy screening). For more than 80 per cent of assets, ESG/sustainability is much more deeply integrated, with specific targets or ESG objectives embedded into the strategies.

But this has not been without its obstacles, particularly when assessing sustainability data covering 20,000 companies. “This has presented significant data challenges, in terms of the collection, handling and processing of this data,” says Mr de Ridder, describing how the bank leveraged an existing, proprietary data platform that acts as a central repository of financial and non-financial data. Lombard Odier has also created new roles, responsible for specifically monitoring quality and consistency of this data, including novel strands such as geospatial data and satellite imagery, for which it has developed custom-built infrastructure.

Recent achievements have included integrating private market assets into the digitalised ESG approach, through launching a sustainable private credit strategy, focused on key sustainability themes linked to the transition to net zero. 

Engagement with companies and consideration of ESG aspects is an explicit priority for this strategy. “Our exclusions and restrictions policies apply equally to public and private markets,” reports Mr Ridder.

The belief at the bank is that transition to a more sustainable, net zero and nature positive economy involves significant uncertainty, and hence necessarily involves an element of judgmental analysis. For this reason, Lombard Odier management have opted to in-source their analysis of the alignment and exposure of firms to these transitions. 

The bank does, however, work with external parties which supply raw data insights. The closest such partnership is with SystemIQ, a sustainability-focused consultancy, in which Lombard Odier has become an equity partner. The bank also works closely with academic institutions, including Oxford University, where they have either funded external research, produced co-authored studies, or hosted secondees within the firm. YB

Best digital innovator of the year, Europe
SEBA Bank

SEBA Bank has attempted to bridge the gap between traditional and digital finance. In particular, its proprietary Digital Asset Technology Integration Layer acts as a central hub for managing an extensive suite of digital asset banking and investment services. These include, among other examples, investment services like SEBAX Crypto Asset Select Index, a digital assets market index. In addition, SEBA Bank offers institutional-grade access to decentralised finance (DeFi), following the successful integration of more than eight DeFi tokens onto its platform over the last year. 

The provision of other bespoke offerings, including SEBA Earn, another institutional-grade solution that offers clients the opportunity to earn yield on their crypto holdings, underscores the degree to which SEBA Bank is acting as a gateway to the new digital economy. Notably, SEBA Bank works closely with a range of stakeholders across Europe and beyond when it comes to key digital innovations. This includes central bank digital currency trials with the Banque de France. 

“With our robust, state-of-the-art digital offering, SEBA Bank is the preferred partner for both traditional investors and those native to the crypto landscape,” says Franz Bergmuller, chief executive at SEBA Bank. 

“This gives us the unique opportunity of playing an integral part in fundamentally reshaping financial infrastructure. In our efforts to do this, we have cultivated a partner network of some of the financial industry’s leading names, including Julius Baer and LGT. With this support, we can drive forward the digital transformation of finance by granting secure access to this innovative emerging asset class,” he adds. JK

Best private bank for self-directed investments, Europe
Société Générale Private Banking

As part of its digital transformation programme, last year Société Générale Private Banking France launched an investment client journey, including an investment adviser solution catering to self-directed clients called ‘Coach Financier’.

The service is available to subscribers to life insurance plans offered by Sogecap, the life and savings insurance company of Société Générale group, allowing them to manage investment portfolios implemented on their insurance policies. 

Through the platform, available on any device, clients receive personalised advice based on their requirements and risk profile, in line with the private bank’s investment strategy. The solution, developed in-house, is based on algorithms and natural language technology. 

Clients can follow experts’ recommendations and execute operations online but can also get more information from their private bankers on strategic views and recommended fund choices.

Through the service, clients have access to external and internal funds selected by the private bank, but the plan is to broaden the investment universe and include new asset classes such as structured products and real assets. 

The French institution estimates that more than 20,000 of its life insurance subscribers may look for investment advice and aims to offer this solution to half of them by the end of next year. The digital platform will allow the bank to fill the advisory gap, reaching clients not using its discretionary portfolio management or advisory services.

“Life insurance is French households’ favourite investment because of specific financial advantages, hence most of our clients hold one or several contracts,” explains Omid Zafaranlou, digital advisory director, Société Générale Private Banking. “Moreover, it constitutes an important part of our clients’ savings. That’s the reason we chose life insurance as the first step to guide and support most of our clients.” ET

Best private bank for digital customer service, CEE
Akbank Private Banking

Digitalisation has been a key focus area at Akbank to respond to clients’ changing behaviour and expectations. Through Akbank Mobile, customers can invest in a wide range of mutual funds, including sustainable solutions, monitor their investment activity, price changes and trends. In 2021, 94 per cent of equity customers and 67 per cent of mutual fund customers executed their transactions through the app. 

Clients can also follow foreign exchange and gold rates and execute transactions through the ‘Instant FX’ platform, where rates are customised, depending on the volume and frequency of trading of each client.  

The signature free tool ‘Finish with Mobile’, launched at the start of the pandemic, allows relationship managers (RMs) to initiate transactions and clients to complete the process on their mobile app. It has been a “significant facilitator for clients,” says Alp Keler, executive vice president, private banking and wealth management at Akbank.

The Turkish bank also offers robo-advisory products to clients both on the mobile app and in branches. “While improving these tools continuously, we try to keep the process as simple as possible,” adds Mr Keler. 

Akbank is looking to establish new partnerships with environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating providers and fintech platforms to help clients select and monitor a wider range of ESG investment opportunities. The aim is to provide an “automated classification” of all investment products based on the UN sustainable development goals, explains Mr Keler.

Investments in digitalisation will continue both to enhance customer service and digitally empower RMs. “Digital solutions will provide new ways to engage with customers and deliver a highly personalised, seamless and integrated customer service,” he says. ET

Best private bank for client acquisition, CEE
mBank S.A.

In recent years, mBank has been prioritising the digitalisation of its products and services. The key objective of this initiative is to enable customers to achieve a high level of self-service when it comes to advanced wealth management offerings. 

In this vein, mBank launched fully online customer onboarding through the eDO mobile application in September 2021. The service was launched in partnership with the Polish Security Printing Works (PWPW), which is 100 per cent owned by the Polish treasury and tasked with producing bank notes and national security documents. The PWPW acts to verify the identity of each customer. 

The process offers customers a quick and easy method for onboarding, however, a private banker is available to assist customers throughout the process if required. mBank had to overcome a number of challenges in order to launch this service. This included the online verification of the customer’s identity and adhering to the highest compliance standards.  

“We anchor the future of mBank on five pillars: understanding of customers’ needs and calibrating products adequately to support them in most effective way, banking secrecy and a firm promise to protect personal data and financial profile of their activities, mobile access being the core channel for interaction with the client, executing an environmental, social and governance agenda focused on our responsibility for climate, society and financial health of our clients and  helping clients to keep their finances in order by providing them with advanced financial management capabilities,” says Krzysztof Bratos, managing director for private banking and brokerage service at mBank. JK

Best private bank for ESG technology, CEE
OTP Private Banking

In a region where environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is still relatively immature, especially when compared to western Europe, OTP Bank was the first bank in Hungary to launch a dedicated “green debit card” for its private banking clients. The whole card manufacturing process is based on new technology using only natural and recycled materials such as corn starch.

The Hungarian bank is aiming to build ESG-driven portfolios with different risk levels and is also at the implementation stage of its wealth management platform, which will support ESG-compliant advisory, in line with the upcoming EU sustainable finance disclosure regulation.  

There are two main reasons why the central and eastern Europe region lags western Europe when it comes to sustainable investing, explains Attila Bánfi, managing director of OTP Global Markets, encompassing OTP Private Banking. First, there is “no real pressure from the client side yet”. Second, there is “stronger scepticism from many professional actors regarding the effectiveness of the sustainability trend”.

Fintechs and start-ups can play an important role in the ESG transition, as their size, focus and agility allow them to quickly deliver scalable, smart digital solutions. Their products and services can be tailored and used to complement traditional banking services, believes Mr Bánfi. However, these firms may also compete with private banks on specific products and services.

Access to reliable and relevant big data is key to any developments in the ESG space; companies that acquire or build this data capability will be able to make meaningful progress in this area, he says. 

“We walk in the world with our eyes wide open, as many solutions are already on the market and, with the right adaptation, can be suitable for use,” says Mr Bánfi. ET

Best client reporting platform, CEE
Tatra Banka

Tatra banka has worked hard to digitalise its client relationships in recent times. This has improved the customer experience through faster transaction speeds and better access to information, among other benefits. Today, the bank’s clients can analyse their investment portfolios and electronically sign digital contractual documents through Tatra banka’s mobile application. Not only has this reduced the need for paperwork but it has also created key operational efficiencies across the spectrum of the bank’s relationship with its customers.

“Preparation of the project and its implementation required the co-operation of several colleagues from different banking fields,” says Marek Neckár, head of private banking at Tatra banka. “Their engagement, mutual communication and exchange of information were crucial for the project to succeed. By bringing in their experience from real life, private bankers have significantly contributed as well. We informed our clients about the project of digitalisation and the benefit it will represent and the change has been adopted without complications.” 

Meanwhile, the development of the Financial Advisory Tool has also improved Tatra banka’s client reporting capabilities by opening up new investment tools and augmenting reporting, access and information related to clients’ investment portfolios. Following the implementation of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II legislative rules in the European Union, this offering was improved to handle risk monitoring and risk management functions as well as advisory suitability tests. As a result, private bankers are given a client’s information through one platform, including transactions, suitability and appropriateness tests and portfolio allocation and performance, along with other key reporting metrics. JK

Best digital innovator of the year, CEE
TEB Private Banking

TEB Private Banking’s digital initiatives focus on the need to offer fast, safe and practical products that are in line with current market needs. As a result, a number of projects continue to be realised, including robo advisory solutions and digital portfolio monitoring and management. The banks also benefits from its strategic partnership with BNP Paribas.

TEB Private Banking’s mobile application, known as CEPTETEB, has been modified to meet the needs of private clients. This includes the addition of mobile transaction approvals, eliminating the need to secure a traditional signature from clients, which has increased the security and efficiency of private banking transactions. 

The digital approval of transactions is executed according to three key steps, including the customer’s relationship manager sending the order to the client through the mobile app, receiving the customer’s approval within CEPTETEB, before final execution of the instruction via the relationship manager. 

In addition, clients can generate financial analysis reports using their mobile applications. This covers daily reports, as well as wider analyses to investigate their portfolio’s return over an extended period. In 2021, TEB Private Banking also started sending weekly push notifications via CEPTETEB to keep clients updated about the investment agenda for the week. 

TEB Private Banking has also launched the TEB Private Angel Investment Platform, in which clients are trained and certified to become angel investors. This project sits alongside other initiatives such as the TEB Private Investors Club which brings together serial investors and private banking clients. JK

Best private bank for use of technology, CEE;
Best private bank for digitally empowering RMs, CEE
UniCredit CE&EE Private Banking

UniCredit CE&EE Private Banking’s digital innovation priorities centre on the provision of digital tools for its advisers, and a digital experience and self-service for its customers. 

To this end, the use of UniQue, a two-way web-based platform that offers a secure and direct means of communication between private bankers and their clients, meets both of these objectives. The platform also acts as a central CRM solution for record keeping, in addition to an automated advisory solution that incorporates the group investment strategy and advanced MiFID II obligations for risk management. 

UniQue’s digital portfolio management capabilities include comprehensive portfolio analysis, client profiling, ongoing portfolio monitoring, as well as automated rebalancing. In addition, the solution can respond to different market situations through daily portfolio checks and alerts in the event of changing market conditions. 

The bank believes UniQue played an outsized role during the pandemic through a specific module for order execution in the Private Invest mobile application. In the near future, UniQue will be deployed as a tool for assisting clients with their environmental, social and governance (ESG) preferences and will be able to propose specific investment products according to these preferences. 

“UniQue will be the place where the information about sustainability preferences of our clients and comprehensive sustainability data about our products will meet,” says Daniel Croitoru, head of CE&EE private banking at UniCredit. 

The tool will be responsible for evaluation of the client’s preferences around ESG and will recommend the right products which meet these expectations. “Over time the tool will measure overall ESG exposure of the client’s portfolio and will further facilitate the discussion between the relationship manager and the client to achieve the sustainability targets of client’s investments,” he adds. JK