Protect your clients’ sensitive information

Name:

Nicholas Aristeo

Occupation:

Vice-president and portfolio manager, private client group, MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier (3Macs), a division of Raymond James

Location:

Montreal

Age:

35

In the business since:

2003

Team’s AUM:

$220 million

Typical clients:

Professionals and entrepreneurs

Client asset ranges:

$1 million to $5 million

Fee model:

90% fee-based; most are managed portfolios

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This article is part of the Advisor’s Edge 20 Ways to Be a Better Advisor feature package, published in the June 2018 edition of AE. Click here for more tips and to learn about our 20th anniversary.

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One of the easiest things advisors can do is password-protect or encrypt any emails that go out to clients or third parties.

We encrypt all emails that contain sensitive data. Both clients and third parties have to create their own password the first time they open up an email that has personal information [and use that password for subsequent emails]. Our older clients who are less tech-savvy get frustrated. We’ve had minor pushback, but most clients appreciate it. Any time we upload information to a USB that has client information, that USB gets encrypted.

“We put up as many roadblocks as we can to stealing information.”

It’s also quite common for clients to send emails asking us to send money. We’ve heard stories of signatures getting lifted from emails or superimposed on letters of direction. So we made a conscious decision that if we ever get instructions to send funds anywhere, we have to make sure we talk to the client. Verbal instructions are very important for decisions that involve trading or money flows.

Understanding your clients

We think there’s a larger need to understand the granularities of each client and their family. We encourage clients to divulge a little more about their financial situation than the one-page KYC that discusses their risks and their objectives.

I would encourage advisors to take that extra step and dig deeper into their clients’ personal info. Knowing the milestones in your client’s lives is important. For example, send a bouquet of flowers for the birth of a child or call a client on their birthday. I would discuss setting up an RESP with clients who have grandchildren.

The more you know about your clients, the more your relationship is strengthened. I understand it may be difficult at first to pierce that barrier, and that’s why you have to develop a deep, solid relationship with your clients. I can call most of my clients my friends to a certain degree.