Co-CEO (Head of Wealth Management), Vontobel Holding AG
Georg Schubiger: «Wir nennen es das Wolly Valley» (27.07.2018)
Vontobel verstärkt seine Wachstumsanstrengungen im Wealth Management. Chef Georg Schubiger lüftet im Interview mit ...
About Georg Schubiger
In 2018 and 2019, Georg Schubiger discussed Vontobel’s strategy in wealth management, including digital initiatives and acquisitions. He described the creation of a "digital hub" in Wollishofen, which he called "Wolly Valley," where teams from customer advisory, IT, product development, and marketing work together to develop digital services and shorten development cycles. Schubiger stated that Vontobel evaluates new customer segments and already serves clients with assets under one million Swiss francs, and he said that digital tools could allow the bank to serve such clients more efficiently. Schubiger also commented on the integration of Notenstein La Roche following its acquisition by Vontobel, saying that client and employee feedback had been positive and that the acquisition was intended to support organic growth. He noted that Vontobel had demonstrated organic growth over the previous six years. In 2019, Schubiger presented the "Walt" wealth management app, which he described as an active asset management service allowing clients to influence investment themes. He said the app was intended for both existing and new clients and that Vontobel was increasingly moving into digital client acquisition, while maintaining its network of physical locations and client advisors.
Transcript (17 segments)
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Interviewer0:05
Mr. Schubiger, after the acquisition of Notenstein La Roche by Vontobel, how is the integration of the private bank progressing?
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Georg Schubiger0:13
We are very satisfied with the progress of the integration. There is always a certain risk with the clients, whether they will go along with this acquisition.
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Interviewer0:20
What have the reactions been so far?
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Georg Schubiger0:20
The clients have given very, very positive feedback. They are looking forward to being able to establish a business relationship with Vontobel in the future. I believe we can benefit greatly from our reputation, our tradition, and especially our investment capabilities.
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Interviewer0:39
Vontobel also said that they want to take over all the client advisors who were at Notenstein La Roche. Are they all coming?
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Georg Schubiger0:49
Well, we said we bought Notenstein to continue growing organically. And if you want to continue growing, you naturally need these people. And we have also received very, very positive feedback from the client advisors. They are happy to work with our institution and to join us.
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Interviewer1:07
Now, such an integration is not a piece of cake. It costs a lot of management capacity. Does that come at the expense of organic growth in Vontobel's wealth management?
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Georg Schubiger1:18
No, not at all. No, we have shown over the last six years that we grow organically year after year, and we will continue to show that. It is a priority of the organization to demonstrate to the market, shareholders, and clients that our products and services are very competitive, and that will continue to lead to organic growth.
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Interviewer1:43
A key point of Vontobel's wealth management strategy is the US business. There have been some changes in recent months. There was a CEO change, and they had to close the Dallas location. Does that mean you are completely realigning the business?
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Georg Schubiger2:01
No, the US – the asset management business with American clients is part of our strategy. We have invested further in recent weeks and months, that's correct. We have consolidated locations in the US. We are now primarily active in New York and no longer in Dallas, and we have expanded New York. And we lost a team in Zurich, that's correct, but we compensated with a larger team, and more people will join us. So we also have a very clear growth strategy here, the numbers show that.
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Interviewer2:36
Vontobel is seen as an innovative bank, especially in terms of digitalization. Now you are building a so-called Digital Hub in Wealth Management. Does that mean that Wealth Management will become platform banking at Vontobel in the future?
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Georg Schubiger2:52
The Vontobel Group has always been very innovative in the digital area. You can see that with all the platforms from investment banking, structured products, and others that have been launched. And we are doing that naturally in wealth management as well. We have, as you say, important digital representation. We call it 'Wolle Valley', it's in Wollishofen, hence Wolle Valley. And what we have done: we have all the functions necessary to reflect services and processes digitally. So it combines – there is client advisory, a team of client advisors doing the actual advisory business. There are people from IT, product development, marketing, and so we can shorten all decision-making paths, shorten development cycles, and are then very quickly able to either improve processes with technical solutions or technical solutions that make the client advisors' advisory more efficient or bring the services more efficiently to clients.
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Interviewer3:56
So that's why the burden was created? This increased efficiency in providing services would enable you to address new customer groups, for example in the early-stage business, which would otherwise not be profitable to operate. Do you have such plans?
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Georg Schubiger4:12
We are always evaluating whether we want to open up new customer segments. The business, as you call it, is a business we actually already operate today. We have a substantial number of clients with assets of less than 1 million that we serve. It is correct that with digital help, we can naturally serve a larger number of these clients, we can serve them more efficiently. From the client's perspective, that means that a client with a bit less money can also enjoy Vontobel services that were previously reserved for wealthy individuals.
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Interviewer4:52
That's actually good. And when is the rollout planned for this Digital Hub?
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Georg Schubiger4:52
We do not see this as a project with a rollout, start, and end. We see the entire digital topics as a process that never ends. And for that reason, we have certain applications that we are already testing, which have had an internal rollout. We will also come out with certain topics externally in the second half of the year or next year. But it will certainly not be something completed. This is a trend in society, both private and business. We use more and more, support or replace digital services, and we naturally want to be part of that.
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Interviewer5:36
Many thanks to Mr. Schubiger.