Last week, UBS surprised markets with the announcement that it will drop the «Iphone of Wealth Management». Does the bank risk losing the tech innovation race?
Smartwealth was a pet project for Juerg Zeltner: a purely digital wealth manager with an advisory to match anything that a flesh-and-blood relationship manager might muster.
But while the management of Switzerland’s largest bank heaped praise on the project, Smartwealth in reality never delivered. And now, the U.K.-based robotic banker is no longer as the bank decided to spend its money on something else.
Departing Tech Masters
Some of UBS’ top digital staff had left the firm even before the decision had been published. Shane Williams, the architect behind Smartwealth, had left a week earlier, joining AQR hedge fund. Ketan Samani, head of digital at UBS wealth management Asia Pacific, had departed only a little while earlier. And Richard Steinmeier, his colleague in the U.S., had signed a contract with LPL brokerage in May.
Dirk Klee is also a closed chapter at the bank. The chief operating officer in wealth management had been a major proponent of tech innovation at UBS and was the man behind the immensely expensive «One Wealth» platform, which he had dubbed the «Iphone of Wealth Management». The German banker became a prominent victim of the wealth management merger.
A Tidal Change
The departures of Zeltner and Klee seem to have prompted a rethink at the bank, a readjustment of how it wants to spend its money in the digital race.
UBS isn’t shy of praising its achievements – Smartwealth was called the Rolls Royce among robo advisers.
Employing Amazon’s Alexa software was intended to revolutionize the dialogue between bank and client. The launch of the UBS Avatar, who can talk and looks like chief economist Daniel Kalt, was widely lauded. Of course, the looks are great, but what are innovations such as the UBS Avatar really good for?
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