Standard Chartered Securities (B) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), recently won the ‘Outstanding Transformation in Digital Customer Experience (CX) by a Wealth Manager 2023 Award’ from the Digital Banker, a publication focused on the global financial sector. The 6th annual Digital CX Awards 2023 is dedicated to recognising pioneering innovation in digital customer experiences across financial services, according to the Digital Banker.
In an interview with the Weekend Bulletin, CEO of SCSB and SCB Head of Consumer Private and Business Banking Brenda Low discussed the significance of the award as well as shared some general insights on wealth management.
BB: Given digital transformation has been a strong theme over the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, could you share with us the initiatives that led to winning an award from the programme?
Brenda: The pandemic was an unprecedented global event which had pushed the need for us to be digital ready. So while it gave us many challenges, we also saw it as an opportunity to review the way we worked and delivered client services.
During the pandemic, we quickly pivoted for our clients to be served via video calls as well as enabled them to send investment instructions via phone or e-mail. This removes the need to have in-person interactions, and we have continued this practice for the convenience of our customers.
We invested and rolled out many capabilities during the pandemic to allow our clients to learn more about investments and keep up with market trends.
The latest is our ‘Interactive Fund Library’, which is available on our website and enables our clients to do fund comparisons. It allows them to search for the fund of their choice and look at the top performing funds. They will have access to detailed fact sheets on the funds and make side-by-side comparisons.
We also launched our Standard Chartered Money Insight podcast in 2021. It is about five to 10 minutes long and covers the latest views on the global market.
There’s input from the group’s experts around the world and it helps our clients keep up-to-date with the current trends and navigate and position themselves in the market.
We also have ‘Market views on-the-go’ available on our website, which allow our clients access to our global resources to analyse financial markets around the world with feature articles such as the Global Market Outlook, Weekly Market View and Market Watch.
We have also launched our Fund Select brand, which stems from a global team of fund analysts applying the three Ps (Performance, People and Processes) framework.
It lists funds selected on these merits, the fund’s performance, the fund manager’s expertise as well as the investment processes.
This is also available in our Interactive Fund Library, where clients can look at a list of selected funds.
Lastly, but not least, we have our online investment portfolio which we rolled out sometime in 2020. It is the first of its kind in Brunei, where our clients can access their investment portfolio online, look at the latest pricing as well as retrieve portfolio statements or a consolidated statement on all their securities for up to 12 months.
BB: When it comes to technology, the field can be rapidly changing. How is SCSB keeping up with the latest trends in digital CX and what is your next step after winning this award?
Brenda: I think we will always be on the constant drive for innovation and improve the way we work.
Of course, at the moment we are the only wealth manager in Brunei with the capability to provide an online investment portfolio.
We have this interactive platform where our clients can search and compare funds before making a purchase and a podcast to keep our clients up to date.
We want to promote these capabilities to the public and clients, to help educate them and improve investment literacy among the public. So whether it is your first time investing or if you are a veteran investor, you will benefit from the capabilities.
With the recognition from the award, it will encourage us to continue to innovate and create the best-in-class solution for our clients.
BB: How do you feel about the Brunei public’s attitude towards investment products and the idea of growing their wealth through financial services? Is there a particular gap in knowledge when it comes to financial products that should be addressed?
Brenda: Over the past year, we have seen improvement in the receptiveness towards investing. There is a misconception that investment requires a lot of money. That’s not necessarily the case. We have unit trusts which you can invest in with as little as BND1,000 or with as low as BND100 a month with a regular savings plan that is part of that unit trust.
There is also a hesitancy in accepting risk over better returns. For example, there is a misunderstanding that investing is putting money into a fixed deposit.
While fixed deposits in their own way shelters you from inflation, it doesn’t actually help you grow your wealth exponentially.
Then there is hesitancy to invest for the long run. Investments take time and it is not an overnight ‘get-rich-quick’ kind of programme. There are pockets of clients who want fast returns but do not understand the risks involved.
So there is an ongoing process where we help educate our investors and the public, especially if they are new in their investment journey.
BB: In recent years, what have been some common concerns and worries local investors have, in particular regards to global challenges? Have risk appetites gone up or down among local investors?
Brenda: There can be a lot of noise in the market. We help our clients understand what are really just ‘white noises’ and what noises they really have to pay attention to.
The pandemic, geopolitical tensions, inflationary fears as well as possible recessions in the United States (US) and Europe are on the mind of many investors, and in a way lower the sentiment towards investing.
This is where we come in. We help our clients understand their portfolio holdings and how to diversify their portfolio to protect their wealth. Seasoned investors know they are holding investments in the long run, so they know to wait for the market to correct itself. For example, in March 2020, the market dropped significantly but it picked up after three or four months and it picked up quite fast.
Before investing, we help our customers define their investment profile, which is understanding the client’s financial situation and the time horizon for their investment goals.
Are they investing for their children, education, mortgage or more for retirement? All of these have different portfolios.
Risk appetite also depends on the life stage you are at. If you are young and fresh in the job market, you might be able to take on more risk and have a longer time to get your capital to appreciate.
However if you are starting a family or building your home, you might want a more stable capital growth and income generation.
So we recommend everyone to go through investment profiling and find out your tolerance towards risk and returns that are optimal to your financial circumstances.
BB: Given the plethora of global challenges still on the table, what are some general strategies for navigating through them?
Brenda: We advise investors to not just look at the ups and downs of the market but have a consistent approach to investing, so that you are sheltered from all the noise and remove emotional biases.
We have historical data that if you react to fears and do something versus not doing anything, you can miss out on an opportunity.
For example, if the market is down one day and you are worried that it might continue to go down and sell off, but it goes up instead, you would have missed a window to benefit.
Instead, we encourage our clients to take on a disciplined approach of rebalancing their investments every now and then.
We believe that asset allocation is the most important first step in the portfolio and the crux to improving the chance of long term investment success.
There are many asset classes – equities, fixed income, multi-asset or even cash and cash-equivalent types of securities. Asset allocation balances your risk appetite and investment objectives. If asset allocation serves as a compass for an investor’s goal then rebalancing is the act of recalibrating the needle so it always points to that goal despite any turbulences and obstacles.
You can still look at the market and make tactical decisions in areas that there might be opportunities.
For example, if the market is in a downward trend, it is the best time for a first time investor to go in, as prices will be low. Seasoned investors can also take advantage of it with ‘dollar cost averaging’, buying so that the average cost of their portfolio is lower.
BB: What’s SCSB’s outlook for the remainder of 2023?
Brenda: This year, we believe that the US and Europe are likely to head into recession and China will recover strongly after re-opening its economy. We recommend that our investors adopt a SAFE investment strategy to mitigate headwinds and ride tailwinds as it happens.
SAFE comprise the following:
S for securing one’s yield. Today there are higher bond yields, quality bonds that can provide more value. This is something that our investors can start looking at.
A for allocating to long-term value. We currently see this more visibly in Asian equities as well as Asia-US dollar bonds.
F is for fortifying the portfolio against economic and market surprises through high quality bonds or cash securities.
E is for expanding beyond traditional asset classes. For example there are relatively low collaboration securities that have alternative strategies that hedge against the ups and downs of traditional asset classes.
BB: Thank you for your insights! Is there anything you’d like to add?
Brenda: Ultimately what we want is to help our investors, whether it is their first time or a seasoned veteran. We want to help them understand investing. We want to demystify investment and show it is not as complex as it sounds. It is more about discipline.
We also want to encourage investors to talk to licensed people or entities, which they can find listed on the central bank website.
This is critical, as licensed capital market service holders will have gone through detailed scrutiny to get approval from the central bank and will help people avoid get-rich-quick schemes that might be quite damaging to them.
