Scott Albahary – Chief Strategist, Financial Services

This is the time of year when banks think about what strategies and investments to pursue in the coming year. And while retail and commercial banking is a complex, global industry driven by a combination of local-market macroeconomics, regulatory regimes, competitive forces, and customer behavior, the digital transformation strategies banks pursued for many years were […]

J.D. Power announced that three wealth management firms, Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo, and Edward Jones, received high customer satisfaction scores on their mobile apps relative to the rest of the brokerage industry. The success seems to come from each firm designing its app to fit the specific needs of its customer base – Charles Schwab’s […]

For all those who think traditional banks will not be able to compete with fintech companies, a federal judge’s ruling in October and the pulling of fintech start-up Robinhood’s bank charter application, which would have allowed it to become a federally insured bank and eliminated the need to partner with other banks, show that it’s […]

According to InvestmentNews, internal UBS studies show clients with assets between $2 million and $5 million behave more like clients in the lower segment than like high net worth clients. They use more online services rather than client advisers and don’t make use of sophisticated products and service offerings. Starting early next year, clients in […]

Charles Schwab is set to buy TD Ameritrade for $26 billion, which could create a firm with some $5 trillion in client assets, according to a report from Fox Business. The move comes amid pressure on revenues caused by October’s race to zero commissions. No-commission trades are pressuring brokerage firms’ revenues and further emphasize the […]

Google is going to offer checking accounts next year. That’s big, and scary, for a lot of banks. A Reuters article provided these salient quotes: “Our approach is going to be to partner deeply with banks and the financial system,” sure thin, general manager and vice-president of payments at Google, told the Wall Street Journal […]

We are continuing to see the big financial services firms catching up and in some cases leapfrogging other industries in their use of digital content and artificial intelligence to gain customers and loyalty. UBS recently announced many enhancements to its equity compensation plan services and digital platform, alongside access to personalized advice from a UBS […]

The financial services industry serves as a prime example of one that’s poised for rapid digital transformation. Since the economic meltdown in 2008, many financial services firms have been focused on regulatory compliance. Now firms are starting to take investment budget and put it toward projects that help grow or change the bank as opposed […]

Whether you think Facebook users don’t understand what information of theirs is subject to disclosure (user’s fault) or Facebook needs to provide more education and acknowledgement of risk to its users (Facebook’s fault), no one can argue it’s been a rocky year for the company as it works to regain user trust. In the rush […]

Recent research from the Digital Banking Report found that only 13% of financial organizations globally have deployed at least one artificial intelligence (AI) solution. 27% believe they will have an AI solution in place in the next 18 months. 37% say they will consider an AI solution within the next 18 months, and close to a […]

Customers place a lot of value on innovation when selecting financial services products. They now identify “Innovative” as an attribute that stands out in terms of differentiation. Yet, most retail banks and credit unions struggle with innovation (as do most companies). In 1997, “The Innovator’s Dilemma” was published. It is considered one of the most […]

The wealth management industry currently stands at a crossroads that is driving firms to adapt and update business models in order to succeed into the future. Future growth will come less from marketing and rainmakers, and more from your firm’s service model and the ways in which these services are delivered. You will have to […]