Turning Direct Business into a Strategic Asset

About

In this webinar, we discuss both the advantages and challenges of the direct business model and, more importantly, explore ways to turn direct business into a strategic asset.

Getting direct business right is essential for bank-based wealth management firms, especially considering how material it is to these firms. Wealth management business directors often grapple with how much funding to invest in the technology to better support and manage direct business, recognizing that at many firms’ direct business is not a rapidly growing line of business. Leaders also must navigate the regulatory challenges and associated risks it can create for their compliance program.

Industry data shows that one-third of assets in bank-based investment services firms are direct business not held in the firm’s brokerage custody platforms. Because of certain advantages, broker-dealers and advisors commonly use direct business rather than a brokerage account on their custody platforms. In this webinar, we examine these advantages, the challenges associated with direct business, the solutions firms are deploying, and the ways a wealth management firm can use that solution as a foundation for improving other processes.