For a telling measure of the breadth of skills banks are now requiring for wealth management staffers to better service more affluent investors, consider the following excerpts from a job posting from SunTrust's wealth management affiliate, Asset Management Advisors (AMA).
Palm Beach, FL-based AMA is seeking a facilitator to mentor and manage its high-net-worth advisory team who, besides having "broad experience" in the "qualitative aspects of family wealth" and technical skills in "law, tax, finance, accounting," must be competent in "behavioral science, family counseling, family therapy, and/or psychology" too. That's quite a resume, though far from unusual, say those familiar with the sector. It shows how competitive banks have become to grow market share in managing the wealth of high-net-worth individuals.
This is especially true as the boomer generation retires-the first headwinds of which are now being felt. So besides applying their top-level expertise and rainmaking skills in networking the affluent, managers of wealth management advisory units are being told to boost their support and training of the advisors who work for them, so the capabilities of the overall wealth unit are optimized.
The need for better testing and re-mediating of wealth management skill levels has led to a voluminous number of organizations offering wealth management courses and education, whether through Web-based software, in-person consulting, or both. An alphabet soup of certifications also exists, though The Wall Street Journal deems the "gold standard" for advisors to be that of the certified financial planner, or "CFP." Knowledge of QuickBooks and a name in the social register, it seems clear, are alone no longer sufficient to compete in the sector.
So to boost top-line skills of its members' wealth advisors, the American Bankers Association is offering a Web-based tool called the "ABA Case Study for Wealth Advisors: The Corporate Executive," developed in partnership with Pearson Performance Solutions-the e-learning subsidiary of London-based Pearson. The tool focuses on testing and remediation of advisor responses to the financial planning needs of specific high-net worth individuals, based on best practices. The ABA expects to create a suite of case studies with Pearson, based on, for instance, a closely-held business owner or a recent retiree from a large company.
The 45-minute, 60-question tests assess wealth advisory knowledge in four main areas: financial planning, tax planning, estate planning and retirement planning. In estate planning, for instance, advisors are quizzed on their ability to make recommendations regarding generation-skipping taxes, ways insurance trusts can preserve wealth, and exclusion rates for giving money without engendering estate taxes. "The idea is when you're making a suggestion it isn't in a vacuum," says Maryann Johnson, ABA's associate director of programs for the wealth management market.
The app will be frequently updated, and is designed to be integrated into existing training programs. A screen-based pop-up reinforces appropriate responses, such as in helping a client choose investment vehicles to diversify out of a concentrated stock position, and the simulation returns what are considered industry best practices, describing recommendations the advisory should have provided.
Each bank or wealth unit manager can set the scores at which advisors are considered expert or in need of remedial work, though the ABA considers 70 percent passing. The tool also directs users to supplemental ABA training material. The ABA runs its own Private Wealth Academy, an in-depth five-day training program held at Emory University that the trade group's designed for senior advisors.
Private banking degrees are in vogue: Singapore Management University, in a learning partnership with the Swiss Finance Institute, offers a Masters of Science in wealth management. Other third-party wealth management training providers include Dearborn Kaplan; Bisys International Materials; the Global Financial Markets Institute; Greene Consulting; Ibbotson; and the Royal Society of Fellows Training for Wealth Management and Trust and Estate Planning.
Atlanta-based Greene Consulting offers SkillMark, a well-known wealth management e-training suite with a catalogue of about 200 online programs, case studies and courses. SkillMark's been implemented in various capacities by many of the same banks that sit on the ABA's advisory board; Fidelity Investments has also used the platform. "Private banking and wealth management is becoming increasingly more difficult," says Michael Fespa, a Boston-based consultant with Greene. "A lot of technical knowledge is required, so a lot of our clients are really zeroing in on the technical knowledge via these skills- and tools-based programs."
