M&T Bank has launched a new service to provide its customers with digital advice and planning.
Called Wilmington Advisors @ M&T, the advice comes from Wilmington Advisors through a technology platform provided through LPL Financial, says Matt McAfee, senior vice president and head of affluent markets at M&T Bank.
He says that over the past several years, M&T Bank had been looking at ways to upgrade the experience for its clients and advisors.
The bank had been retooling its business for a number of years, while still trying to serve their clients better.
“It's not only about better technology; it's about listening more,” McAfee says. “We spent a lot of time on their goals, and we really challenged clients in fundamental ways to understand where their current financial plan is set up for success.”
Mac Gardner, founder of FinLit Tech, says Wilmington Advisors @ M&T is a “great” idea.
“Technology is what's going to be the democratizer of financial planning and financial advice if we can give advisors better tools to scale their business and deliver advice when it comes to investments,” Gardner says.
McAfee says the new service targets affluent consumers, or clients who have more than $100,000 of investable assets.
He says these clients, who are usually well-educated and sophisticated individuals in their 30s and 40s, are attractive because they have upwardly mobile and tend to have good, high earning jobs.
“Over the arc of their careers might actually end up being high net worth individuals, and so wherever they're at on that journey, the firm stands ready and willing to help them,” he says.
McAfee says these clients sometimes feel overlooked, not believing themselves to be “wealthy” enough. Oftentimes, he says, they shy away from some of these bigger firms that cater to a high-end clientele.
“We want to be a preferred provider for that kind of client who wants to talk with a human being, who doesn't want to be talked down to and doesn't want to be gauged from a PC perspective,” he says.
Recent findings from a M&T Bank consumer survey supported McAfee’s assertions.
The survey of 500-plus consumers with over $125,000 in household income and more than $100,000 in investable assets found that these clients want to increase spending on lifestyle upgrades previously put on hold due to the pandemic and expand investments in retirement and college planning.
Gardner agrees that affluent consumers can be overlooked, saying financial advisors make money based upon an asset under management model, and typically, the more money a client has, the more revenue an advisor can derive.
He says some wirehouses and banks have raised account minimums to $250,000 to $500,000, meaning the mass-affluent consumer base can get left behind, unable to get a financial advisor to return their calls or schedule an in-person meeting.
McAfee says M&T likes to meet with a client and understand what their priorities are, but they typically find that not many people have written down and documented what they're trying to accomplish with their lives.
They have a vague notion of saving for college or planning for retirement but nothing concrete beyond that, he says.
“So our process starts with being very clear and prescriptive on their goals, and then potentially, and how close we think they are in terms of the trajectory to achieving those goals and workforce corrections are needed. At the heart of our model is the guidance and advice,” he says.
McAfee says the new service launched last week. The initial feedback, mostly from advisors, is that Wilmington Advisors @ M&T is a much better platform to do business.
“Advisors are finding more capacity throughout the day to work with more clients, have conversations with the client, lessen the administrative load. Every part of the advisor’s job is reduced,” he says.
