FinTech wave: To Fight it or to Ride it?

| 14 Feb 2019

Without a doubt, FinTech has profoundly shaken up the financial services industry. We have all witnessed the inexorable increase of automation touching all financial sectors, including financial literacy, wealth management, retail banking, lending, borrowing, investment management - and much more.

Andy Peh, Senior Financial Services Manager from Professional Investment Advisory Services (PIAS), a financial advisory firm in Singapore, is an MDRT qualifying member from 2017 to 2019. The Head of Recruitment for PIAS’s branch Infinity Wealth Management Group shares with us his thoughts on navigating and riding  technology that evolves constantly and rapidly. 

As financial advisers, we are tempted to say, ‘What can we do to disrupt FinTech? How can we fight back?’
 
I’ve had my fair share of having to win clients/prospects from competitors. About two years ago, I crossed path with a competitor who began prospecting my clients. Let’s call him ‘Agent X.’

A few of them defected to him because they felt he offered a much cheaper option without a middleman fee. Others happened to come across him online and decided to switch to his service – not only because it was cheaper, but because it was so easy to make the change. And a few more opted for Agent X because he customises investment portfolios with AI and is automated. Some felt Agent X is more convenient and efficient.


Whenever I lost a client or prospect to Agent X, I became livid. But no matter how much I cursed or swore, more Agent X appeared. 

Now the question is, do you know who Agent X is? 
 

Of course, you do. Agent X is simply a symbol of FinTech, the so-called disruptive force that we believe has wreaked havoc on our business practices for the last few years. I’m sure you have all faced this in some way.

But it’s not all gloom and doom. Although we may be reluctant to admit it, there are real opportunities during these changing times.
 
The real problem is not this FinTech. The problem is that many of us in the industry stay frozen – or immobilised – and are unable to adapt to what could be an incredible opportunity. And this reluctance becomes a barrier to real progress!
 
In July 2017, I made a daring decision. I made Agent X my key business partner. My agency developed an in-house FinTech system and I decided to merge the exclusive FinTech system into my advisory practice. With technology, I can now easily customise my messages to my clients and instantly keep my entire clientele base updated. Policies renewals and payment reminders have also been automated. The result was an incredible breakthrough in performance, efficiency and eventually profits.
 

Financial adviser VS Robo-Adviser

They are not the wave of the future. They ARE the future. And it’s important that YOU, the financial adviser, must understand the key difference between you and a Robo-Adviser.

Unlike robotic tools, we are able to demonstrate human empathy. In other words, we can show clients our emotions – our understanding of their needs, our sympathy, our compassion, our consideration. For that simple reason, a robot can never replace us!

Each one of us here started our careers by using a face-to-face centric model. That has not changed and still has incredible value today. It is in our best interest to stay relevant to the new age by not only holding on to the traditional model but to bring it up to a whole new level. 

The power of a human being’s dynamic thinking and empathy when aligned with advanced technology, will actually generate more clients and business growth!

Do you want to stay stagnant and be left behind as the market continues to move forward? Or will you ride the wave to greater success? The choice is yours. I for one am riding the wave!

 

Take action now with these few tips and steps

Here are 5 steps to navigate around digital disruption, by professor-in-practice of London School of Economics and Political Science and Chairperson of WanaArtha Life on World Economic Forum. Or take back a few tips from a digitalisation seminar from the 18th SAMC - Zero to Mega in a few digital ways, featuring founder of a multi-million dollar company, Mario Singh.  In this article, we bring you bite size points on how different agencies are engaging their clients in different ways.

Embracing Technology

Watch how AIA has built humanoid robots to serve in their customer service centres and how they plan to incorporate digital tools to help customers live healthier, longer and better lives.

 

Take your mind off stress and read these instead:

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