At the Temenos Community Forum 2023, Finextra interviewed senior product director of wealth management at Temenos Alexandre Duret, who discussed how wealth management is picking up pace by deploying new technologies.
Duret noted that “super trends” in the wealth management industry at present are cloud, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and ESG. He added that major banks around the world are embracing the cloud and setting the rapid pace of the industry at present.
ESG remains a focal point for banks, and Europe is scrambling to adopt ESG practices amidst post-pandemic challenges and the war in Ukraine. However, Duret emphasised that ESG is here to stay and will remain an industry priority throughout the coming years, implying that financial institutions are intent on embedding ESG into their values and goals moving forward.
ESG has become a buzzword in recent years, but more and more financial organisations are dedicated to being more ESG considerate as it boosts growth and improves economic performance. According to an analysis by Bloomberg, global ESG assets are on track to exceed $53 trillion by 2025, representing more than a third of the $140.5 trillion in projected total assets under management.
He continued that digital assets are becoming less important this year, however, they may resurface in popularity in the future.
Duret explained: “It is really all about technology. The cloud itself is an enabler, and such a powerful one when you make a proper use of it. Cloud helps banks be more innovative and allows them to deliver faster. It is a gamechanger especially in wealth, I am excited to see the pace at which things are moving. Wealth has usually moved a bit more slowly than retail banking and corporate banking, but that is definitely not the case anymore.”
Duret emphasised that cloud will revolutionise the industry, and the future is pointing towards cloud integration that will facilitate major players in the industry to scale and expand. The issues that incumbents are concerned about when it comes to the cloud is the process of the transition, on what strategies they should employ, if they should stick to one cloud provider or multiple, and how to modernise legacy infrastructure. Yet, there is significant progress being made as the industry becomes more comfortable with the cloud and learns from past mistakes.
Looking to the future, Duret stated that Temenos is currently laying the groundwork to ensure that all their products can work seamlessly natively in the cloud. The goal is to leverage the cloud, data, and an open platform to ensure that their clients can improve the customer experience with features like a view of real-world impact of sustainable investments.