Page 11 - Newcom

September 2020
REPORT CARD ON BANKS
INVESTMENT EXECUTIVE
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MyAdvisor in last year’s Report Card, and while some noted the tool still needed to be fine-tuned, many noted the possibilities it offered their business.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s def- initely a game-changer,” said an RBC planner in British Columbia.
“We are a digitally enabled bank [and we’re] putting a lot of money into this in the future,” added another RBC advisor on the Prairies. “I think that’s fantastic.”
“MyAdvisor was critical for us pre-Covid, but became an abso- lute imperative during Covid,” says Michael Walker, vice presi- dent and head, mutual funds distribution and RBC financial planning, with RBC.
RBC also made collecting e-signatures easier for its plan- ners via two new tools: digital identification and e-signature light. The digital authentica- tion process allows a person to upload a “selfie” and a picture of their identity documents when opening an account. E-signature light allows the bank to accept e-signatures for more types of documents than before, some- thing all banks worked on with regulators.
TD’s financial planners also were fully prepared to work remotely when the pan- demic struck, leaning heavily on the company’s video-calling capabilities.
“In April and March, we col- lectively hosted about 33,000
Webex meetings; 19,000 of those were hosted by client- facing professionals,” says David Terry, vice president and head, TD Wealth Financial Planning. “That is a significant increase in the number of meetings that we had with our clients through the virtual teleconference model.”
At the beginning of the pan- demic, CIBC was largely branch- based, with only about 20% of its workforce able to work remotely. When the lockdown began, the bank tripled the number of people having remote access within nine days.
To supplement advisors’ efforts to stay in contact with clients, many banks hosted virtual events and provided materials to explain current market trends and various government benefits.
CIBC, for example, hosted webinars that included Q&A ses- sions with clients.
TD, for its part, made publica- tions, conference calls and vid- eos from its asset management, research and communications divisions available.
Banks have continued, and in some cases accelerated, the implementation of tools and platforms underway before March. For example, CIBC’s employee training is now 100% virtual. Lee notes the bank had been moving more things online for some time, but the pan- demic sped up the process. The bank also moved forward on its e-signature capabilities and digitizing its back office. As well,
CIBC began the pilot phase of new goal-planner software in August, with plans for a more extensive rollout in the coming months.
RBC is also adding to its financial planning tools with an update to NaviPlan Premium that is meant to be imple- mented, complete with train- ing, by November. The bank also recently launched an appli- cation called CashWise that gathers data from RBC accounts and credit cards to give clients a clearer picture of their cash flow.
BMO, meanwhile, has updated its WealthPath tool to make inputting data easier for advisors while also provid- ing real-time updates to finan- cial plans and the ability to test hypothetical scenarios.
National Bank is in the midst of moving three of its databases onto one nominee platform for its branch-based financial planners. In January, the bank moved RRIF and TFSA accounts to the plat- form; in June, it moved all GIC- related products. Mutual funds
Banks hosted virtual events and provided materials to explain current market trends and government benefits
Safety first
While banks were implementing or upgrading their remote work capabilities, branches remained open by installing Plexiglass-type barriers, placing markers on the ground to enforce social distancing, providing masks and increasing the frequency and intensity of cleaning.
In addition, Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Montreal-based National Bank of Canada paid their branch-based employees an additional $50 per day during the initial months of the lockdown to help cover the costs of transit and/or childcare. RBC also offered its planners $400 to outfit a home office.
The banks also increased their health support for em- ployees. Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia, for example, increased employees’ discretionary benefits account by $500, provided access to virtual health care, added five paid personal days for 2020, implemented paid emergency Covid-19-related leave and expanded access to resources such as psychologists and marriage counsellors. — Fiona Collie
will move to the platform before the end of the year.
“By this [autumn], we’re going to have one integrated nominee platform in which employees will have an end-to-end process, including e-signatures, for cli- ents,” says Paquet. “[It will be] easier for employees to learn [and] use because it’s a 2020 platform and it’s not in DOS anymore.”
Terry notes that TD has made a few recent upgrades: in May 2019, the bank launched the TD Wealth Personality tool, which uses behavioural finance to help clients make decisions, for its planning division; the bank is also replacing its current finan- cial planning software with TD Wealth Architect, a digital tool
that is more visual and collab- orative than the previous soft- ware. That tool was rolled out to Toronto-area regions in June, fol- lowed by B.C. and the Prairies in July; training is scheduled to be completed in September.
As the banks implement these upgrades, financial planning is likely to change forever. That may mean clients will expect more options when working with their planners remotely.
Walker foresees financial planning continuing to evolve beyond a static piece of paper into a dynamic document that is con- stantly updated and adjusted.
Says Walker: “That is the future of financial planning, from my perspective.” IE
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