IT’S PERSONAL
The sponsored article by private wealth manager Melville Douglas on pages 34 and 35 ends with the words “it’s personal”, referring to the quality of client service on which the company prides itself. But without detracting from what Melville Douglas has to offer, I believe “it’s personal” has become the bar above which financial services companies will need to operate in the future to succeed. The relationship between the industry and the consumer has been a rocky one. For decades, products and services were weighted in favour of the industry: the predominant business model, where you were persuaded to buy inappropriate products on the “advice” of commission-driven salespeople, put company profits before your interests. There is still much room for improvement, but the “democratisation” of financial services – first through the proliferation…