Yannick Archambault on client education | BMO Harris Private Banking | Video

Transcript

BMO Harris Private Bank has been offering high-net-worth families a full range of financial solutions for over 100 years. Yannick Archambault, COO of BMO Harris Private Banking, discusses the bank’s core values of honesty and fair dealing, and its latest programmes helping to better educate and serve its customers.

World Finance: Introduce us to BMO Harris Private Banking, and the services you offer to your clients.

Yannick Archambault: At BMO Harris Private Banking, we recognise that while wealth creates a lot of opportunities and advantages, it also brings additional responsibilities, complexities, and often some challenges. What we do at BMO Harris Private Banking, is work with families to simplify their wealth affair and their wealth plans. Every family that we work with has access to what we call a client strategy team. At the core of that team is a dedicated private banker, investment counsellor, trust offer, and also a private wealth consultant.

In addition to these four specialists, we can also bring in what we call a private wealth advisor, or one of the specialised planners to bring wealth planning to the next level.

Over the years, we’ve continued to develop and evolve the platform. In addition to credit solutions, investment solutions, and trust and SA solutions, we now have been offering I would say for the last year or two in some cases, family governance, business succession planning, philanthropy, tax consulting. We’re also looking at business planning and business succession planning, estate planning. And we also include insurance planning.

“The two key things for us are to continue to be thought leaders, and to continue to challenge the status quo”

World Finance: And private banking is a relatively competitive market, so how does BMO differentiate itself?

Yannick Archambault: Yeah, we believe that there’s two key things that we need to focus on to be able to differentiate ourselves. The first one would be challenging the status quo. And the second one would be thought leadership.

When we look at the business that we’re in, there’s three key areas that we like to focus on to understand better the macro trends. And also to gain a better understanding into the goals and objectives of our clients.

The first one would be complexity, the second one would be gaining a better understanding of demographics and the changes of demographics, and the third one would be globalisation.

So if we take the first theme of complexity. There is an abundance of choice, an abundance of information, and abundance also of providers and solutions. So working with the families to demystify, to simplify, that complexity, would be one of the key themes.

Second one would be the changing demographics. So, for us to have a better understanding and a very good understanding of our clients. And our target segment. You know, understanding the evolution of the demographics.

The third theme would be globalisation. More and more clients have access to financial assets that are cross-border. They also have personal affairs that are cross-border. So it’s helping and working with clients to have access to diversification by market, by currency, by jurisdiction, and also by asset class.

World Finance: You’ve talked in the past about your commitment to educating clients on wealth management – have there been any new additions to the programmes that you offer?

Yannick Archambault: So, seven years ago we launched financial fluency and financial focus. Which was focused on demystifying and simplifying credit investment and basic planning solutions.

In the last year or two we’ve continued to develop and increase the offering in terms of education series. We’ve added the art series. And that’s basically a workshop that enables and helps clients better understand the business of collecting art collections and managing art collections, and the auction process that goes with that.

The second addition in terms of seminars would be the creating good will. And that’s working with families in terms of will planning, identifying key values with regards to money. Also talking to them about legacy. And what that might represent for them.

And then the third one would be our product Wealth Group Education seminars, which is catered more to the ultra-high-net-worth. So, working with those families in terms of workshops, bringing in some guest speakers. And we attempt to look at family governance, managing a family business, and the multi-dimensions that are required there.

“We have focused on demystifying and simplifying credit investment and basic planning solutions”

World Finance: So tell us about the other recent developments at BMO.

Yannick Archambault: Sure! And there’s probably like, five, that I’d like to highlight. One would be… call it the creation, or evolution, of what we call BMO Global Private Banking. And that’s essentially a stronger partnership and collaboration between Canada, the US, and Asia, where we’re looking to leverage the capabilities, leverage the knowledge and leverage the ideas that would be found in each of the markets.

The second one would be the new cane strategy. So, working with BMO China, and some of our other partners over in Asia, identifying and working with families that have an intent on moving to Canada, or to the US. And helping them better plan the move.

The third one would be linked to open architecture. So continuing to work with BMO Global Asset Management, to look for top class money managers.

And the fourth one would be client segmentation. I mentioned the client strategy teams a little earlier on, so it’s taking the client strategy teams and adapting them to different client segments, creating client strategy teams that can go a mile deep in terms of the understanding of each of those segments.

And then finally the last one would be continuing to leverage the partnership that we have within BMO Financial Group, to leverage the entire capabilities. So, working closely with our partners and commercial, corporate finance, call it, capital markets, and also asset management. And that’s to be able to provide clients with the entire capabilities of BMO Financial Group.

World Finance: And finally, give us your outlook for the private banking division at BMO.

Yannick Archambault: I think the outlook is very positive. I think we’ve built a very strong business model, we’ve also built a strong brand, and we have a very strong reputation. I also look at the work we’ve done on our client experience programme, client surveys on a yearly basis come out very favourably, so very strong from that perspective. And also from the employee experience. Every year we survey our employees to make sure that the environment is a challenging environment, and also an interesting and fun environment, and the surveys come out positive.

So if you look at the work that we’ve been doing, I think the two key things for us, for the future, are to continue to be thought leaders, and to continue to challenge the status quo.

World Finance: Yannick, thank you.

Yannick Archambault: Thank you.