What role that doesn’t currently exist in wealth management may we see in the next 10 years?

Tom McCullough, chairman and chief executive officer, Northwood Family Office; adjunct professor of finance, Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto

A human involved in using artificial intelligence (AI). The release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT has brought with it the need for ChatGPT “prompt engineers.” As you do with Siri, an engineer would ask ChatGPT for, say, a report on capital markets in the past three months, and the output would be that report. I think, within the next decade, firms will have this role. ChatGPT has really taken the world by storm and although it’s still early, it’s amazing what it produces. Once AI writing gets better, advisors can use it to write newsletters and market summaries, for example, but a human will still have to tell it what to say. Also, attribution issues and plagiarism risks will need to be addressed.

Kalee Boisvert, financial advisor, Raymond James Ltd., Calgary

It would be in the realm of money mindset and the psychology of money; perhaps some sort of money coach, mentor or even a psychologist. I don’t think the industry has done enough to figure out how we can support and coach people on their relationship with money.

For example, for clients who struggle with paying down debt or overspending, this person would dig deeper and figure out why. If money invokes negative or stressful emotions, the person would look more specifically at the trauma a person could have with money and how it has impacted their relationship with it. Where is that sentiment coming from? Larger teams could have [one designated person in] this position to work with clients when those things arise.

David Bardsley, partner, advisory, management consulting, wealth and asset management, KPMG Canada, Toronto

The chief customer officer, which we don’t see in the wealth space today, particularly in the Canadian market. We have chief marketing, engagement and growth officers, but we don’t have a chief customer officer who [advocates for] a customer’s rights and expectations. I see a chief customer officer sitting at that C-suite level, reporting to the CEO and/or the board, and I can see the role evolving much [like] the chief risk officer role has evolved in the last 20 years within the broader financial services community. We’ve seen it in insurance and banking, just not in wealth.

Sybil Verch, EVP, head of private client solutions, Raymond James Ltd., Vancouver

A concierge service offered by wealth management firms as a value-add for high-net-worth clients. The service connects clients with all the other things they need, financial or otherwise. For example, connecting them to third-party experts in various fields, such as long-term-care support, house cleaners, massage therapists or even a life coach.

Firms could look at setting up formalized paid referral arrangements with these third-party experts. However, from a regulatory perspective, referrals could get complicated and could create a conflict of interest.

Even if it’s done as a value-add with no revenue gained, happy clients refer more business in. Most advisors already act as that authority for their clients, but could it become more of a formalized, standardized offering? I think it would be an amazing experience for the client, and it could also be good for business.

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Maddie Johnson

Maddie is a freelance writer and editor who has been reporting for Advisor.ca since 2019.