UBS Wealth Management USA is modernizing the way it develops new technology and has a new client-facing portal to show for it.
Clients can use the new
UBS iPad app as a singular tool to manage nearly every aspect of their financial lives, from tracking daily expenses and paying bills to long-term financial goals.
Using Yodlee aggregation technology, clients can sync their
UBS accounts and any accounts held at other institutions to see their total net wealth. With a few taps, clients can drill down to see how much they have in their brokerage accounts, 401(k) plans and their daily credit card expenses. The information feeds into budgeting tools and spending analysis features.
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For brokerage accounts, the app gives a snapshot of current assets but does not show investment performance over time. This is something the team is looking to include in the future, as well as integrating the digital advice tool
UBS built in partnership with SigFig.
Clients can list custom financial goals and see them mapped on a timeline, and import information about the passions and people that matter most to their life. The UBS app will use this information to deliver custom content and insights to the investor. For example, a client who cares more about saving for retirement will see different curated articles than someone more interested in leaving an inheritance for children.
Beyond modernizing the digital experience for UBS clients, the app is designed to help out UBS financial advisers. All of the information feeds directly into UBS's adviser workstation, so advisers will know when a client makes a change like adding a new financial goal.
The app also include a button for clients to contact advisers via phone or email (and look them up on BrokerCheck).
"Everything we've done in the design and creation of this is about bringing to life the human elements in a digital platform," said Kraleigh Woodford, UBS Wealth Management USA head of digital client experience.
In the future, UBS would like to include live chat and even video conferencing, but Ms. Woodford said the team is still working through compliance challenges these features present.
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The new client portal is only available today as an iPad app, but will come to iPhones and to web browsers later in 2019. This is the first time UBS has developed something specifically for a tablet, which Ms. Woodford said was driven by recognizing that 20% of clients were using the devices to access their UBS accounts.
"Our visision is that we have a consistent and compelling client experience that allows clients to engage with us the way they want to engage with us," Ms. Woodford said. "We did not set out to build an iPad app. But what we were hearing was [that] clients wanted something that was designed specifically for the tablet."
(More: High-net-worth investors not impressed by mobile wealth management apps)
This reflects an even bigger change at UBS than the new digital portal, Ms. Woodford added. Rather than setting out to build technology products with a list of functions and features, her team began with a list of questions about what clients and advisers actually want, then started considering what they could build.
"That process is something that's really important for us," Ms. Woodford said, adding that this is how UBS can differentiate the product from competitors' mobile experiences. "It's about asking the questions and being crystal clear about the value proposition that we're focused on. Our firm does not go direct to clients. We are all about the adviser-client relationship."
For example, one piece of feedback she received was that it was too hard to sign out of the app. UBS decided to more prominently feature the "sign out" button, which may sound like a small change, but proves it was listening and actually implementing changes based on feedback, Ms. Woodford said.
UBS looked outside of the financial services industry for inspiration on the product design. The method for sharing personal interests in passions is reminiscent of how video-streaming apps ask about movie preferences, and certain swiping functionality appears cribbed from successful dating apps.
Ms. Woodford said her team worked with a design team that previously helped build an app for a high-end retailer and partnered with Deloitte Digital for additional expertise.
