4 ways fintech can build more inclusive tools for advisors and why it's good for business

September 30, 2022 2:04 PM

Annie Jean-Baptiste, Google's head of product inclusion and author of "Building For Everyone," speaks about creating inclusive tech at Future Proof 2022 in Huntington Beach, California.

For Annie Jean-Baptiste, "being seen" is not a buzzword or throwaway phrase to be leveraged by corporations eager to prove that they get it.

The desire to be seen is real and far-reaching. Whether you're part of the population traditionally catered to or one of the millions of marginalized Amercans, Jean-Baptiste, head of product inclusion at Google, said feeling like someone cares has a powerful impact.

"We all want to be seen ‚— by our pets, our partners and definitely our products," Jean-Baptiste said. "It's really about allowing everyone when they use a product or service to feel like they were thought of in the moment, and throughout the product design and development process."

That impact is even bigger when applied to the world of financial services. If fintech can extend access to the overlooked while making them feel included, there is an opportunity to transform people's lives and shift the balance of power, Jean-Baptiste said.

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New research on the topic of inclusive design from non-profit financial innovation lab Commonwealth and investing platform Public came to a similar conclusion. The two entities partnered for a seven-month pilot program to study the effects and impacts of inclusive technology design on investing outcomes for underrepresented populations.

The program gave 241 women of color with little to no investing experience $250 in seed funding to build a portfolio on the Public.com platform, and Commonwealth's research team tracked the behaviors and attitudes of the cohort with the goal of understanding how investing platforms can provide opportunities for advancement for market participants at all stages.

What they found was that when engaged with intention, the women gained confidence. The number of participants who reported that they were more comfortable making investing decisions grew from 25% at the beginning of the pilot to 65% by the end.

The mindful engagement also created a new crop of potential wealth management clients as 88% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that they plan to continue investing after the pilot.nd 82% said they planned to contribute more funds to their investing accounts.

"Perceptions of who is a typical investor and the level of resources necessary to participate in

capital markets remain significant barriers to participation for women of color," the study reported. "By creating a community investing experience that allows them to see that others like them are both participating and making progress learning about investing, they are able to see investing as something that is for everyone, including beginners and people without large amounts of capital."

Jean-Baptiste shared her expertise with crafting DEI-focused technology while delivering a keynote address at the Future Proof 2022 festival earlier this month.

Future Proof, organized by Advisor Circle and Ritholtz Wealth Management, attracted more than 2,200 people to Huntington Beach, California, for its inaugural event. Officials said the guest list included more than 1,000 financial advisors, 220 speakers and nearly 100 sponsors. Financial Planning was a sponsor of the event.

Dates for Future Proof 2023 have already been announced. The event is slated to return to the beach Sept. 10-13, 2023.

Called "Building for Billions," Jean-Baptiste's Future Proof presentation broke down how a more inclusive approach to tech is good for the soul, and the bottom line. Here are four ways she believes fintech and wealth management can bring more people to the table.

Build for the margins

To illustrate how inclusive design benefits everyone, Jean-Baptiste explained the curb-cut effect — a concept few of the financial services professionals in the crowd were familiar with based on the single-digit show of hands that went up when asked about it.

With origins in California in the 1970s, the curb-cut effect is named after the cut made in the sidewalk to accommodate people with disabilities. But Jean-Baptiste pointed out that when you think of who benefits from that cut in the sidewalk today, the list is much longer.

"Skateboards, strollers, shopping carts, rolling suitcases … we all use that cut in the sidewalk. So the curb-cut effect means that when you build for the margins, you get the center for free," she said. "So when you build for those who have historically been marginalized, the outcome is better for everyone, not just that historically marginalized group you're building for."

Another more tech-focused example she gave was closed captioning. Created for the hearing impaired, it is now also a boon to people who want to quietly watch TV without disturbing a sleeping baby, or to help viewers decipher what's being said by characters with thick accents different than their own.

Ask "who else?" Then, ask again

Jean-Baptiste also discussed what she calls the dimensions of identity. Those are all the ways that an individual may identify themselves or be categorized, including race, gender, geography and the ability to interact with products or services.

To use herself as an example, she said that some of her dimensions are being a Black woman who is left-handed.

"That is who I am all the time. It's not like I'm Black one day or I'm left-handed another day. So for example if I'm using scissors … only being left handed is what's important. Hopefully being Black and a woman aren't coming into play when using scissors," she said. "But, if I'm trying to use a phone to unlock for security, being Black and a woman are going to intersect. So, it's really important we think really holistically about our consumers and our customers when we're building products and services."

That process should start at the beginning and be maintained throughout development. When working on the next big fintech idea, scan the room and ask "who else" should be in there, Jean-Baptiste said.

"Who else's perspective do we need? (Because) we're going to unintentionally exclude," she said. "We all have biases. That's OK. We all have to make mental shortcuts to move through the world. But what you want to do is make sure that you're intentional about understanding the naming in your biases and figuring out how in critical points of the product development and design process, you can bring those perspectives that have historically been at the margins into the center."

Know the difference between equality and equity

For people new to the DEI or product development space, Jean-Baptiste said they've likely heard the words equality and equity thrown around. But the vital part is understanding how very different those two words are.

To show that, she shared an image of four very different people trying to ride the same kind of bike. One person was very tall, one very short, one average height and one in a wheelchair.

While it is equal that everyone in the image has a bike, only the average height person could comfortably ride it while the others were either uncomfortable or completely disregarded.

In another image that highlights equality, each person had a bike designed with them in mind, allowing them to all enjoy a ride.

"We want equity, not equality," she said. "So when we're thinking about inclusive product design, we really want to meet people where they are."

Understand the money being left on the table

Jean-Baptiste said when talking about DEI, the moral or human case often takes center stage. But there is also a strong business case for inclusion.

She shared stats such as 69% percent of Black consumers saying they are more likely to seek out brands that positively reflect their ethnicity; 71% of LGBTQ+ consumers saying they're more likely to interact with ads that accurately represent their sexual orientation; the $1.6 trillion dollars of spending power in the U.S. Latinx community; and the 1 billion people in the world with a disability.

These numbers represent the massive client base that exists for wealth managers and fintech firms who get it right. And getting it right starts with team composition.

"If you look around your team in your office and everyone is very similar, you're more likely going to get more homogenous results and very homogenous ideas. If I have a team that all comes from Boston like me … we're all going to be thinking pretty similarly," she said. "If you start to bring different perspectives into your team composition, there may be more friction when you're trying to get to an end goal. But what happens is you start to reimagine all of the possibilities and get a better outcome."