Impact of Covid-19 on Wealth Management, greater digitalisation and flexible working

Brown Shipley CEO, Alan Mathewson, shares his thoughts on greater digitalisation and flexible working.

COVID 19 has turbo boosted two trends in Wealth Management: greater digitalisation and flexible working. As an industry we can’t unlearn the lessons we’ve learnt. We must continue to adapt and evolve how we work and how we engage clients. Recent Oliver Wyman research showed digital engagement had increased 7-10x during the crisis.

At Brown Shipley we’ve benefited from the significant investment in technology with the launch of a new client app in 2019 which has supported a more dynamic relationship with clients. Our recent engagement survey told us many colleagues feel more productive working from home. I’ve always been an advocate of flexi working and the days where everyone is in the office 5 days a week are now gone. Wealth Management is behind the curve here.

Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University who has spent years studying the pros and cons of working from home spoke about his best known research which concerns a travel agency Ctrip. They found productivity boosted by 13% with lower absenteeism and happier colleagues when it moved to working from home. Increasing productivity and improving colleague welfare are two priorities for any CEO and at Brown Shipley I will ensure the power of proximity is not overlooked in the post pandemic environment.

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