It is often said that photography is part art and part science. It relies on myriad factors and culminates in one moment, when the shutter button is pressed and released and light rays are redirected to a single point, capturing and documenting a single moment in time. If you get everything right, you capture a moment of perfect expression. If you don’t, your subject is blurred or moving out of frame, or worse. But the journey to taking the perfect photo begins long before that. It is a pastime that does not just rely on technical factors, light or equipment. Photography is framing, choice of primary subjects, background, colours and above all, message. A good photograph is one that triggers an emotional response.

Wealth management requires the same level of attention and multidimensional mindset to properly meet clients’ needs and to create a contextualised image. When observing a picture it is crucial to approach it not just analytically, but in an emotional sense too, because we’re looking at a unique perception of experience. We must fully understand it and create a connection. It is the same in wealth management, a sector where customers, by type and need, are difficult to frame in a single category. A crucial element of being a wealth manager is the ability to come at the same subject from a different perspective, and to understand that what works in one instance does not necessarily work each and every time.

A crucial element of being a wealth manager is the ability to come at the same subject from a different perspective

The essential relational aspect that defines a good wealth manager is just this, the ability to take a picture that accurately reflects the needs of their client. This is what endears customers to us. Financial performance is not the most important aspect. We obviously do our best in this regard, but critically we provide integrated analysis capability, enabling us to ‘frame’ a client at 360 degrees. Being able to provide the right answer to a client based on their activity and preferences as well as taking into account alignment with regulations is – and continues to be – one of the most rewarding factors in the market. This is because it is a dual approach that delivers a unique and personal experience and one which guarantees full transparency.

By delving into the client’s universe where the most personal themes are combined with technical needs, the job of a wealth manager becomes more than just that of a passionate trader and a financial portfolio manager.

A new picture
Though 2022 has been marked by uncertainty and inflationary pressures, economies recovering from the pandemic have seen the global HNWI population rise by eight percent, and, according to a report published by Capgemini, “wealth management firms will need new and improved ways of delivering personalisation to augment client experience” if they are to capture this new wealth.

Becoming a more resourceful partner for our clients, offering them the opportunity to be supported by a leader in the international markets and capable of proactively servicing clients by delivering any type of personalised service for their requirements is the key to building up an influential market position. Indeed, the wider market trends include the beginning of generational wealth transfer, which will see an influx of Gen X, Gen Z and Millennial clients all with an entirely different set of needs and expectations that wealth management firms need to be prepared for.
Being perceived as a true partner means acknowledgement as a qualitative contributor and a reliable professional, it is a relationship we hope to nurture throughout a lifetime through a personal mix of values, culture and hard work. We don’t just work in terms of global risk and portfolio balancing.

It was the photographer Edward Steichen who said “a portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it,” and it is a similar sentiment to what we aspire to as wealth managers. We know the pattern of the markets, but we wish to gain a better understanding of our clients, and in forging these relationships, ourselves too. This is why managing wealth is not simply the ability to navigate in the financial markets, but a whole lot more.