The Race to AI: Challenges for Swiss Wealth Management

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises many technological advances in wealth management. For Selman Bicaco-Urrutia, Head of Private Banking, Swiss private banks must take the plunge but do so cautiously.

This article by Selman Bicaco-Urrutia, Director of Private Banking at Piguet Galland, appeared in French in Le Temps on 25/03/2014.

Investment Implications

Once properly mastered, generative AI will be able to optimize investment strategies by analysing vast amounts of market data. This ability to process complex data would lead to better risk management and asset allocation. However, to ensure stability on par with private banking services, this will require significant investment in technology development in terms of compliance, and of course, staff training will need to be considered.

Impact on Operations and Client Experience

Automating business processes through generative AI will also reduce costs and improve efficiency. Intelligent chatbots and early fraud detection will increase transaction security and customer satisfaction. However, these advances will require careful management of ethical and regulatory issues related to data privacy (where is it processed and stored? Who has access to it? etc.).

Business Opportunities

The application of generative AI in wealth management opens new avenues for advanced personalization of financial services. This technology enables detailed analysis of customer behaviour and preferences, facilitating the proposal of tailored products and services that respond precisely to individual customer needs (segment-of-one approach). Many start-ups have already started to develop specific tools for predicting consumer behaviour. AI is, therefore, an opportunity to create innovative financial products, such as investment solutions based on predictive models or tools to help automate portfolio management. These advances will not only help to improve client retention and loyalty. Still, they will also pave the way for the exploration of previously inaccessible market segments, thereby strengthening the competitiveness of Swiss private banks.

Complementarity between AI and humans

The goal is not to replace humans with AI but to free employees from low-value tasks. It's like a new industrial revolution, enabling greater efficiency and competitiveness to benefit clients worldwide. By automating as many processes as possible and simplifying tasks, AI will allow finance professionals to spend more time on what matters: client relationships and innovation. This freed-up time paves the way for unprecedented creativity and personalized advice, enriching the customer experience with an irreplaceable human touch. It's in this human-machine symbiosis that I believe AI's true value for wealth management lies.

Towards a necessary evolution

The AI race is fraught with challenges, not least regarding data security and regulatory compliance (regulations that have yet to be properly defined). Banks need to take a proactive but cautious approach, engaging in continuous learning and working with regulators to ensure ethical and safe use of AI on the one hand and with emerging start-ups to "surround themselves with the sharpest minds on the subject" on the other.

In any case, it's absolutely crucial for us (Swiss bankers) to stay on top of these advances (AI and all its derivatives). We must be cautious, but at the same time, we can't be afraid of the unknown, and we have to start using AI step by step. These will be small undertakings at first, but they will allow us to learn and increase our confidence in these new tools, enabling us to serve our clients better. In other words, we need to embrace this challenge with the confidence that it will bring out the best in us for our customers and stakeholders.