At SIFMA’s 2023 Private Client Conference, senior business executives from across the industry gathered to discuss what’s next for wealth management and the clients we serve.

The Future of Wealth Management is a video series that brings you into our conversations, including the evolution of the client-advisor relationship, demystifying AI, the regulatory landscape and more.

Navigate using the chapters above or jump right to each episode:

Introducing the Series with Ken Cella

 

“What is the future of wealth management? How do we get there?

Hi, I’m Ken Cella. I lead Branch Development at Edward Jones and I’m Chair-Elect for the SIFMA Board of Directors. Welcome.

We’re at SIFMA’s 2023 Private Client Conference, where we’ve gathered senior business executives, regulators and consultants from across the industry to talk about what’s next for the industry and the clients we serve. On stage and in the hallways, we’re talking about the evolution of the client-advisor relationship, demystifying AI, the regulatory landscape and more.

It’s my pleasure to bring you into just some of these conversations. Let’s dive in.”

Ken Cella
Chair-Elect, SIFMA Board of Directors
Principal, Branch Development, Edward Jones

The Future of Capitalism with Penny Pennington

 

“I had the pleasure today of speaking at the SIFMA Private Client Conference about a topic that’s been talked about a lot lately, and I think is a crucial one – the future of capitalism.

There are some who are re-examining the merits of capitalism, and whether it does more harm than good. I believe there is a great deal of goodness that’s inherent in capitalism, and I shared my views on it with the audience at SIFMA Private Client.

It revolves around three powerful attributes of capitalism:

• First, it’s a win-win cycle that can increase opportunity and prosperity for more people – and aspirationally, for everyone.
• Second, capitalism benefits society in innumerable ways.
• And third, it raises economic prosperity in a sustained way over the long term.

At Edward Jones, we see plenty of evidence of this in how our nearly 19,000 financial advisors promote lasting financial strength with our 8 million clients – in their communities throughout North America. When I think of the impact that can be made by the entire SIFMA membership, and by the business world in general, I know there’s much we can accomplish – because business for good is also good for business.”

Penny Pennington
Managing Partner
Edward Jones

The Future of AI with Bharat Sawhney

The Future Talent Pipeline with Pamela Everhart

 

“Building a talent pipeline is critical for the future of our industry and the clients we serve.

At Fidelity, we are building our diverse talent pipeline by increasing our brand and visibility in diverse spaces, building intentional relationships with various Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), implementing inclusive hiring practices and talent programs, and enhancing the way in which we connect with diverse audiences.

We acknowledge that in many of these spaces, wealth building and generational wealth is important and want to embed Fidelity’s core ideals into our outreach. Some notable connections include National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA), Afrotech, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) Leadership Institute, MBA Veterans, Lesbians Who Tech and Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA).

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are a key component to our diversity recruiting strategy as they produce the largest number of black students with professional degrees. We are leveraging partnerships with organizations such as the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) to advance our efforts in developing and expanding relationships.

We continue our focus on implementing inclusive hiring practices.

In 2021, we launched a one-stop shop of learning modules, tools and resources to help enable a more inclusive hiring process for all managers and candidates. The Inclusive Hiring Practices hub is focused on helping hiring managers source, interview and select the most qualified candidate possible, while offering a positive and inclusive candidate experience.

Fidelity aspires to change the racial makeup of people entering the industry by helping underrepresented people see financial services as a fulfilling and rewarding destination for them.”

Pamela Everhart
Senior Vice President, Head of Regional Public Affairs and Community Relations
Fidelity Investments

The Future Regulatory Landscape with Saima Ahmed

 

“2023 has been nothing short of a busy year for financial regulation so far.

While facing challenges and opportunities on many fronts, the financial industry is dealing with an avalanche of rule proposals coming out of regulatory bodies in Washington, DC and across the globe. Perhaps most notably, however, is the litany of proposed rules coming out of the SEC.

The SEC’s rulemaking agenda is far-reaching and aggressive, with dozens of new rule proposals. From an overhaul of U.S. equity markets to sweeping proposed custody rules, SIFMA has engaged on nearly all of the proposals, noting at every turn our substantive and procedural concerns. We have and will continue to push our counterargument: that rather than rushing to finalize rules, we urge the Commission to focus its resources on the most time-sensitive priorities; to conduct more robust economic analysis that factors in the cumulative and overlapping effects of the proposed rules, such as with the sweeping proposed equity market structure rules; and to prioritize transparency and public engagement.

For wealth managers, the increased regulatory burden is real. We’re looking at implementation of Regulation Best Interest and the marketing rule, scrutinizing complex products, protecting senior investors and other clients from scams, managing remote branch inspections and hybrid employees, and more.

The industry welcomes dialogue with our regulators and we are particularly appreciative of those who joined us at this conference, as well as the many other senior regulators at the federal, state and SRO level who we communicate with on a regular basis. It is critical for the markets and the clients we serve that we continue to engage in a dialogue.”

Saima Ahmed
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
SIFMA

The Future Advisor-Client Relationship with Scott Smith

 

“When I think about the future of advisor-client relationships, it’s all about collaboration using clients, advisors, and technology altogether.

With technology facilitating improved engagement, ultimately, we’ll end up with more comprehensive lifetime relationships. Clients want to outsource their worries and responsibilities, and that’s how we can help them most in the short term by taking these burdens off of all their shoulders.

Personal finance is complicated and scary. Thankfully, we can work through this with conversational discovery and really understand our clients a little bit better. They can talk about their lives and their challenges and their goals, and in the end, know that a professional is looking out for them to really guide them through this process.

Ultimately, our focus will be on being proud to leverage all our resources to create client-centric models to better help families meet their financial goals.”

Scott Smith
Director of Advice Relationships
Cerulli Associates

The Future Financial Advisor with Kenny Correa

 

“Now we truly have to be holistic wealth managers, and that has to start with being able to provide that comprehensive plan.

So that means being their financial planner, being also their trust and estate provider, but also being their banker, their private banker, their lender, being able to service them, their families, their businesses and the employees of their business. In addition, it’s also being able to look at investments that are not traditional, like alternative investments, private equity, hedge funds, credit, hard assets.

The second piece, being able to provide a high-tech, high-touch relationship. One where a client feels that they have 24/7 access to their accounts, to you, almost like a concierge. Doing that in a safe and secure manner will enhance a client’s experience. And that’s where technology, that’s where being able to do an engagement with a quarterly review via Zoom, WebEx, we’ve seen this post a pandemic. More and more clients want to engage that way. Being able to do that, that too will modernize and enhance the experience.

And then the third piece is being able to provide service in a multifaceted approach where a client feels like it’s not just you, but it’s more people, more people on a team, a team where they feel it’s almost like a multi-family office that’s offering everything and anything to them. So that requires people that have multiple skills, that bring different experiences, different perspectives, different viewpoints, different thoughts that will drive innovation. That also means diverse teams that will change with the face of wealth of the country.”

Kenneth Correa, CFP
Managing Director, Head of Business & Client Development
Merrill Lynch

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