Scarcely a week goes by without news of another private bank or wealth manager launching a smartphone or tablet application. But the true potential of such applications is about far, far more than “on the move access to information such as portfolio valuations”, argues Alessandro Tonchia, founder and director of the Italian technology firm Finantix.

Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Citi Private Bank, Clariden Leu and Deutsche Bank are all recent “big name” entrants into the app fray, but firms both large and small all over the world are increasingly embracing some form of this technology. Finantix, however, is at the vanguard of what looks likely to become a revolution in client-advisor interaction.

Finantix has developed a suite of iPad Wealth Apps designed to help advisors prepare for and conduct face-to-face client meetings, and is currently conducting pilot schemes of the new technology with advisors at several forward-looking firms. While industry observers will probably be familiar with valuation-type apps, it quickly becomes apparent that what Finantix is offering really takes tablet applications to the next level.

Streamlined on-boarding

Treated to a personal demonstration of Finantix’s advisory suite by Tonchia at the firm’s London headquarters, the potential of the product quickly became apparent. Particularly impressive was the client on-boarding function, designed to help advisors build up a comprehensive picture of a client’s financial situation and future needs in a fraction of the time it would typically take: clients are first invited to pick out circumstances, such as “married with children”, with which they identify before considerations such as income, financial goals and risk preference are factored in to build up a complete picture.

Designed to make the most of the iPad’s capabilities, Finantix’s application is as sleek as you’d expect; the user dashboard seems pretty intuitive to use and the sophisticated graphics are indeed impressive. However, as Tonchia explains, the product’s appeal is about much more than attractive visuals – it’s more about facilitating human interaction.

One of the main ways in which Finantix’s Wealth Apps helps advisors to save time in the onboarding process is by helping advisors to gather what is essentially very personal information from clients more quickly, Tonchia explained. Advisors are able to say “do you recognise yourself here” and then by having clients select or deselect items or tweak metrics such as retirement income requirements a holistic picture can be built up quickly. Put simply this part of the suite is intended to “make it easier to fact find” and create a “real dialogue faster,” Tonchia said.

Pilot schemes

Finantix is currently piloting its iPad advisory suite with Finanza & Futuro Banca, the Italian financial advisor network which is owned by Deutsche Bank. The trial has yet to finish, but early indications point to both advisors and clients getting excited about the product. Not only does it have a “wow factor” that enhances the client experience, but the Wealth Apps suite has also fulfilled a clear need among advisors, said Tonchia.

Tonchia makes the interesting point that previously it was IT departments driving technological advances at private banking firms, but nowadays it is just as likely to be advisors themselves – many of whom have iPads. Having seen what the tablet could do in a non-work capacity, advisors were actually trying to create their own iPad-based ways of showing clients reporting data – presumably to make it more interactive and easy to understand – and it is with such enthusiasts that Finantix is most keen to work on a pilot of the new apps. In fact, Tonchia said, advisors are queuing up to be involved, as users feel that it brings “an element of prestige” to their practice.

For those somewhat daunted by newfangled technology, Tonchia urges them to view the iPad suite as “intelligent paper”, or rather an elegant replacement for endless hardcopy charts and graphs. However, he notes that in today’s technology-savvy times resistance to products such as Wealth Apps has been minimal at the firms Finantix has worked with. Nor, as you might think at first glance, is advisor age a factor. “It’s intuitive and that helps,” said Tonchia, adding that smartphone and tablet devices are virtually ubiquitous now across the generations.

Addressing security concerns

Counter-intuitively, Tonchia notes that if there is a slight element of resistance it often rather comes from IT departments worried about security and implementation. Finantix does seem however to have a strong handle on these concerns and has put some pretty impressive security precautions in place. Firstly, controls on data downloads ensure that only a certain, flexible number of clients' datasets can be transferred to the iPad advisory suite at any one time, ruling out large scale data thefts by disgruntled employees, such as that which emerged at HSBC Private Bank last year. Data can also be set to "perish" after a set period of time, and another security feature is the ability to anonymize client data preventing, for instance, clients’ details being read “over the shoulder” of the advisor. Perhaps most James Bond-like is the ability to essentially make the data “self destruct” through a remote delete function if the device is lost or stolen. “We’ve looked at everything that could go wrong,” said Tonchia, “you can have very strong protection and control.”

While it remains to be seen how central a role tablet and smartphone-based technology will play in the industry going forward, it will be safe to assume that what now looks almost unfeasibly slick and futuristic will quickly become industry standard – not only as a way to streamline processes and trim costs, but also as a key differentiator in the battle for wallet share. As Tonchia notes “anything better than paper is already a win” when going through complex information with clients, and he is confident of a “domino” effect taking hold as more and more advisors try out the new technology. “There is a strong sense that once you’ve used it, you won’t go back,” he said.