AI Revolutionizes Wealth Management: More Time for People

AI Redefines the Role of Wealth Advisor

For a long time, the profession of wealth advisor has been dominated by the search for information rather than direct advice. The introduction of artificial intelligence in this field promises to rebalance this dynamic, provided that its capabilities and limitations are well understood.

The Daily Life of a Wealth Advisor

The role of a private advisor is often perceived as a job focused on human relationships. However, in daily practice, it primarily involves an incessant quest for information. Advisors must monitor financial markets, analyze macroeconomic data related to each portfolio, identify which clients are affected by certain news, and meticulously prepare for meetings. This colossal work, often invisible, is humanly impossible to perform simultaneously for many clients.

What advisors have lacked is not competence, but time. This lack of time has long forced advisors to make difficult choices between thoroughness, objectivity, and proactivity. AI is the first technology that allows them to no longer have to choose between these criteria.

Artificial Intelligence and Human Judgment

It is crucial to define what AI truly brings to the advisory profession. At RockFi, a fundamental distinction is made between intelligence and judgment. Intelligence refers to AI's ability to continuously monitor markets, detect weak signals, cross-reference macroeconomic data with allocations, and quickly identify which clients are affected by news. In these tasks, AI surpasses humans in speed and efficiency.

Judgment, on the other hand, remains the exclusive domain of humans. Understanding a client's anxiety, knowing when it is inappropriate to suggest a change, or deciphering the unspoken aspects of a family situation are skills that machines do not possess and likely never will. The complementarity between AI and the advisor lies in this division of roles: AI provides intelligence, while the advisor applies their judgment.

The Value of Data Foundations

When asked about the AI model used, the response is often that the model itself is of little importance. Models like Claude, Chat GPT, or Gemini evolve rapidly and are interchangeable. What is crucial is the context and the data that AI utilizes. At RockFi, the true value lies in a robust data infrastructure, built over two years, that feeds AI agents. This infrastructure includes real-time connections to over thirty custodians, valuations, underlying asset prices, and each client's history. It is this data foundation that transforms a generic model into an enhanced advisor.

The Adoption of AI: A Paradigm Shift

It is illusory to believe that simply installing an AI tool is enough to transform an organization. The introduction of AI requires a shift in mindset from advisors, moving from an active search logic to a logic of delegation and supervision. This involves transitioning from an independent working model to a collaborative project management role, where AI agents become collaborators.

The real obstacle to AI adoption is not technological but lies in habits. An advisor accustomed to preparing their meetings in a certain way does not change overnight, even if the alternative is much faster. Adoption is built gradually, client by client, until the old way of working becomes the exception. Success is measured by the irreversibility of this adoption, when the advisor can no longer imagine working without AI.

AI and In-Depth Client Knowledge

Contrary to popular belief, the more an AI knows, the less it threatens humans. In the field of wealth advisory, the value of AI is proportional to the depth of its insight. An AI with limited information produces generic analyses, while a well-informed AI offers contextualized intelligence, making it more useful.

AI allows for the cross-referencing of expressed desires by a client with the actual evolution of their wealth, thus providing a vivid and continuous representation of their situation. It is often in the gap between declared intentions and wealth reality that the true subjects of discussion lie. AI makes this gap visible, but it is up to the advisor to interpret it and decide on the actions to take.

The Limits of AI in Advisory

AI will never be able to grasp the unspoken aspects of a conversation, understand the family dynamics behind a decision, or comprehend the facets of a client's life that escape a database. It is precisely on this ground that the strength of a wealth recommendation rests, and it is what the advisor masters.

At RockFi, we have bet on this complementarity between AI and the advisor. In two and a half years, 60 private advisors have left their banks to join us, and 1,200 client families have followed them. All were attracted by the prospect of regaining the time to truly advise their clients. Our latest NPS score, reaching 67, reflects the value perceived by clients in this regained time.

In the past, the value of large banks relied on their equity and history. Today, competition in the wealth management sector is a talent war, and the best advisors will go where the best tools are available to serve their clients. At RockFi, we are committed to building these tools.