Bankers and engineers team up at BNP Paribas

When Mariam Rassai, who had trained as a computer science engineer, joined French bank BNP Paribas as an IT project manager nearly 30 years ago, she had little idea her work would one day help transform the entire experience of clients in wealth management. 

In those days, her tasks involved simplifying cumbersome manual processes and improving technological infrastructure at what was a very Franco-French firm. For somebody of a multicultural background like Ms Rassai, a fluent speaker of Persian, Italian and English, as well as French, managing IT projects for the bank’s international branch network, and helping mould its rusty but ultimately pliable tech-stacks, would prove an enduring but irresistible challenge.

“I was already convinced the future would be very much linked to technology,” recalls the softly spoken but high-spirited Ms Rassai. “However at that time I saw technology as a lever to implement more reliable, automated processes. I was far from imagining that technology would become the material to design a new experience for our clients.”

On moving from fixed income to the wealth management unit, soon after the start of the new millennium in 2001, she began to slowly influence its eventual radical reshape. Ms Rassai soon realised the importance of conducting a cultural transformation in parallel to the technology shake-up and in 2011 was appointed head of learning and development for the wealth management division, where she designed the BNPP Certified Private Banker programme. 

This was part of a trend of wealth and asset managers developing their own “internal universities” to boost the quality of existing staff, rather than poach from rivals within an ever-shrinking talent pool.

Getting clients onboard

As well as transforming the culture internally, Ms Rassai realised advisers must become more closely aligned to clients. It was vital, she believed, for customers in a client-centric bank to be involved from the outset in building new apps, platforms or services. This was key for a private bank, which even in recent years, was seen by bosses as primarily a distribution channel for products constructed in its corporate and investment banking factory.

Commentators rate this as her overarching achievement. “Mariam has led the BNP Paribas WM business from a trailing position to become a digital leader among European banks,” says Alois Pirker, director of the wealth management practice at the Aite-Novarica Group in Boston, US. 

“Without her co-design approach, it would be hard to imagine that BNP would have been able to make this transition. She has orchestrated digital innovation at BNP on a global level and across a diverse set of local markets.”

The cultural challenge Ms Rassai faced as a woman from an ethnically diverse background should not be underestimated. 

“BNP Paribas WM has transformed itself from a typical French bank, filled with well-dressed men, to a more inclusive environment with more women, newly designed offices and a tech-forward approach along with a decidedly environmental, social and governance (ESG)-focus,” says April Rudin, CEO of the Rudin Group wealth management consultancy in New York. “While I cannot say that it was Mariam alone, I am sure that she played a part in bringing new line thinking into the bank.”

Millennial clients

Much innovation has come from the ability to better understand needs of ‘millennial’ clients, who Ms Rassai believes are “consuming” banking services in a different way, as they become better equipped digitally and increasingly mobile physically. 

“Their major expectations from their banking experience today are  simplicity, immediacy and personalisation,” she says, adding most clients also expect their bank and its culture to embody their personal convictions, when it comes to morals, ethics and attitudes to social and environmental issues.

These are all crucial areas where advisers must be brought up to speed, both culturally and technologically. “One of our most important goals is to accompany our teams and advisers, throughout this transformation journey,” says Ms Rassai, putting huge emphasis on relationship manager training. 

Indeed the Wealth Management University certification, which she herself instigated in previous years, has now become mandatory for all advisers. Digital private banking is one of six core topics offered in the curriculum. 

Finding inspiration

But the engineering background from which Ms Rassai emerged also constantly reminds her that banks must always keep observing developments in other industries. 

“Our lives have drastically changed over the past decade, including the way we consume, interact and access information,” she says. “We can find inspiration in these experiences of our day-to-day lives and from all industries.”

Digital leaders, she believes, must keep a keen eye on start-ups and tech giants in addition to the financial services ecosphere. “Of course, the standards of big tech companies are also a source of inspiration. Indeed, our new ways of workings, with small multi-skilled teams, are directly inspired from the tech native companies. And inspiration also comes from conversations with our colleagues and clients.”

All of these building blocks have played a part in her transformation of wealth management at the bank. From 2016, she has been in charge of digital strategy, design and delivery of client digital and content platforms, as well as partnership with start-ups. 

The main change she has seen is that of technology moving from enabler to more central focus for the industry’s future direction, sharing the vision of CEO Vincent Lecomte, who puts technological development side-by-side with the desire of clients to see their investments through an ESG lens.

This matches the GTS Plan for 2025, recently shared by BNP Paribas, where GTS stands for Growth, Technology and Sustainability. 

“Technology is at the heart of our strategic plan, both for the Group and for Wealth Management,” says Ms Rassai, who smiles when PWM suggests wealth management companies will soon be controlled by engineers such as herself rather than the old-school bankers of yesteryear. 

“In a way, we are becoming a tech company,” she admits. “The way we envision the future of our business is very much tied with the creation of digital services, the usage of data, artificial intelligence and technology.”

But the role of the client as a driver for this transformation must always be front-of-mind, and she dismisses any notion of a “culture war” between traditional bankers and new-age digital disruptors. “What our clients expect from us and what we are now committed to deliver is a hybrid experience, where human interaction will remain key,” she says. 

“So we will need to mobilise all our talents, all our skills – and this includes all our bankers and all our engineers – to deliver the optimal service to our clients.”  

Mariam Rassai has been awarded PWM’s accolade of Digital Leader of the Year for 2022 . She is head of client experience and digital transformation, BNP Paribas Wealth Management