Legacy wealth management firms are adapting or folding. And with new legislation that went into effect recently, it’s essential for wealth management advisors to join the revolution or risk paying substantial penalties.
The Security and Exchange Commission Regulation Best Interest enhancements, which went into effect September 10, 2019, improve a standard of conduct for wealth management, retirement, and life insurance firms when disclosing fees, providing advice and helping clients choose the right products.
Addressing Conflicts of Interest in Wealth Management
While wealth management advisors may have recommended services and products in the past that yielded the highest commission for the firm, advisors are now required to act in the best financial interest of clients. As a result, advisory firms need to provide compliance departments with auditable processes for capturing every interaction between advisors and clients.
Salesforce Financial Services Cloud has several tools for capturing advisor-client interactions, which streamline processes and ensure compliance with the new regulations. However, the greatest advantage Financial Services Cloud offers is the unification of client engagement across all channels, products, and locations.
Protecting Financial Services Professionals with Salesforce
The legislation was actually created to address conflicts of interest and ultimately mitigate risk for financial services professionals. However, some predict the new legislation can increase the cost of conducting business. While cost increases may result from the new legislation, proactive wealth management advisors are seizing growth opportunities instead.
According to the 2016 Q4 Fidelity Advisor Investment Pulse survey, some wealth management advisors are evaluating strategic and tactical changes to treat the Best Interest regulation as an opportunity rather than a challenge.
Revolutionizing the Wealth Management Industry
Implementing Salesforce for financial services is the ultimate way to comply with the law, mitigate risks and increase ROI for wealth management advisors. To comply with the legislation, firms need to capture every interaction between advisors, agents, teams and the clients they serve to provide audit-ready data.
Salesforce Financial Services Cloud addresses advisors’ concerns about staying compliant while strengthening relationships between advisors and their clients. Strengthened relationships increase client engagement and ultimately boost wealth management advisors’ bottom lines.
Safeguarding Wealth Management Clients
Perhaps the best side effect of the Regulation Best Interest enhancements to the broker-dealer standard of conduct is the personalization of relationships between wealth management advisors and their clients.
Centering around the client through personalized engagement tools, Salesforce Financial Services Cloud was built to enhance relationships between financial services professionals and their clients. Putting the clients’ needs at the forefront is the heart of Regulation Best Interest enhancements, and Salesforce’s personalized engagements tools provide comprehensive tactics to ensure compliance with the regulations.
Seizing the Opportunity
Technology is revolutionizing the way wealth management advisors conduct business. Rolodexes and filing cabinets are gone. And advisors are utilizing the latest CRM advances to keep ahead of their clients’ financial goals.
Financial services firms that embrace the change and adapt stand to gain the most. Ready to propel your company into the new marketplace? Contact CRM Science Salesforce Consultants to discuss how your company can benefit from adapting to the new regulations.
Sources: https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2016/03/salesforce-department-of-labor-fiduciary-rule.html https://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2019/34-86031.pdf
