Q&A with James Land: Avaloq's new MD Australia
International services and software firm, Avaloq, has appointed James Land as managing director, Australia, reporting to newly-appointed GM and head of Australia, Anantha Ayer. James speaks to Industry Moves about what he believes are the "significant forces at play" in the rapidly changing industry, and also shares his view of the industry post-royal commission and what that might mean for reg-tech.
International services and software firm, Avaloq, has appointed James Land as managing director, Australia, reporting to newly-appointed GM and head of Australia, Anantha Ayer. James speaks to Industry Moves about what he believes are the "significant forces at play" in the rapidly changing industry, and also shares his view of the industry post-royal commission and what that might mean for reg-tech.
The Australian wealth management industry has changed rapidly, what are the key changes impacting the industry?
We are seeing significant forces at play including:
* Increased regulations, especially in the areas of know your customer (KYC), investment suitability and fee for advice which have been further enhanced by the Banking Royal Commission.
* The changing of revenue models, due to the removal of vertical integration and product commissions, with a focus on fee for advice.
* Increased competition with the entry of new independent advisory firms.
* Increasing need for advice, as investors move from accumulation to retirement and life expectancy increases.
* Efficiency pressures, including delivering quality services at the right price.
The financial services industry is facing increased regulatory scrutiny, what's the likely impact on wealth managers?
There will obviously be a huge impact on wealth managers. The most significant will be the burden, both financial and otherwise, of keeping pace with regulatory change, while continuing to deliver value to customers.
How do you see things evolving in wealth management post the Royal Commision and Productivity commissions?
There will be a number of changes that will have a wide-ranging impact on the industry. We expect the industry's embrace of technology (especially regtech) to accelerate, at the same time as customer focus increases and improves.
There will also be an increased disintermediation of vertically integrated business models, as businesses look for ways to innovate and achieve operational excellence. More organisations might also look to partner with global experts, with local understanding, to achieve this.
From a global perspective, what are some of the key trends in financial services you're seeing at Avaloq?
The main trends we've observed are an increasing take up of Software as a Service (SAAS) and Business Process as a service (BPaas). SaaS is when a software that a business might need sits in the cloud (as opposed to a business's office services) and BPaas refers to business processes delivered via the cloud servicing model, such as SaaS and Platform as a service (Paas).
The desire to improve investment returns by investing across global markets is a dominant theme. Access to a broad range of products and markets gives advisers and their clients the opportunity to identify new sources of alpha and achieve optimal returns. Advisers therefore require platforms and systems that can handle these products seamlessly and with limited additional costs.
We're also seeing that the digital revolution is impacting all industries, and wealth management is no different, with the industry recognising the need to innovate through the creation of fintech ecosystems and open APIs.
And finally, you recently joined Avaloq as Managing Director, Australia, what attracted you to this role?
All the changes we've mentioned above mean it's a very exciting time of growth for Avaloq in the Australian market. In this role I can also use my experience in delivering innovation, transformation and operational excellence to financial services companies.
