This is not a gadget show but an opportunity for firms to demonstrate their latest software and business applications to fellow industry enthusiasts, potential partners, clients or investors, and competitors. You may well ask, as I am not a technology guru, what I was I doing there? The simple answer is that I am a firm believer of the benefits of technology – indeed my early career successes were largely due to the harnessing of technology. However my attendance at Finovate was more to do with my search for the ‘Holy Grail’, but more of this later.
As readers know I frequently speak at, or chair, industry conferences so it was fun to be able to sit in the audience and see others work and notice how well the conference ran. I must say that I was very impressed by both the format and the organisation. Typically a financial services conference will see speaker sessions of between 20 and 60 minutes, with an occasional presentation lasting longer. Even panel sessions tend to give each speaker five to 10 minutes to make opening remarks but in the knowledge that they will be called upon, as part of the panel, to say more later. At Finovate Europe each firm was allowed a maximum of seven minutes to make its pitch. Often there were two presenters from the firm as an extra person was needed to operate the technology, mainly iPads and iPhone or Samsung Galaxy smartphones. Some even had video links to colleagues abroad and many had instantaneous live online demonstrations, which included moving money through accounts around the globe.
During the two days of the conference there were 64 presentations and they all went remarkably well with no serious communications problems, as all of the presentations were in English. This last fact made me feel particularly humble. The vast majority of presenters were either the founder, chief executive or senior vice-president of their respective organisations and were all clearly specialists in their field. Yet for most English was not their native language. I sat there in awe. How could they all deliver a polished presentation in under seven minutes, using live technology and while communicating in a second language?
In total speakers and delegates at the conference came from 36 countries including most of central Europe, Scandinavia, India, Australia, the US, Germany, France, Spain, South America and of course the UK.
The main theme of the conference was tools to help banks. In the UK we tend to have a jaundiced view of banks, especially in regard to their financial planning activities, and this opinion was reinforced by the FSA review of bank-based advice that was released while I was at the conference. (I read the story, using my Samsung Galaxy phone, on the Financial Adviser website.)
Yet despite the UK experience, in most of the world, and especially Europe, the banks are the dominant provider of financial advice and planning. I have often said that the same should be true of banks in the UK and I sincerely hope that they will now learn from the errors of the past and that going forward UK banks can take their rightful place as a potential supplier of trusted financial advice.
Whatever the past failings, banks do have contact with the wider population and in the post-retail distribution review world we have too few advisers servicing too few clients so we need them. We also need new blood and new ways of delivering cost-effective and good-quality advice to the mass market. In my opinion banks will need to be part of the solution, but I was also hoping that technology could also play a significant part going forward – hence my attendance at Finovate Europe.
Overall I certainly enjoyed conference. It was incredibly well organised and orchestrated. The catering was excellent – the best I have experienced in many years – and I thought that the conference chairman was a first-class anchorman. But the real winners were the presenters and their ideas.
Did I find the ‘Holy Grail’ that would deliver good-quality, low-cost advice to the mass market? In one word no, but I did discover a number of new ideas that, when added to some developments that are already underway in the US and UK, may give a glimmer of hope and I will explain more next month.
Dr Peter Williams is an independent industry consultant and chartered financial planner
Finovate is a unique conference that showcases software companies and their latest offering.
During the two days of the conference there were 64 presentations and they all went remarkably well with no serious communications problems.
Whatever the past failings, banks do have contact with the wider population and in the post-RDR world we have too few advisers servicing too few clients so we need them.
