Truist's Jacinda Norvell and Huntington's Mike Miroballi, BISA president, join host Jeff Hartney, BISA executive director, to discuss how the typical wealth client is evolving and changing. Here are a few highlights you won't want to miss in this episode of the BISA Portfolio Podcast:
- How the needs and expectations of the wealth client have changed
- Effective strategies to meet clients at different life stages
- Ensuring clients receive tailored financial solutions
- How to leverage technology to enhance the client experience
- Ensuring inclusivity and accessibility
- Providing value-added services to address client life goals
- Wealth transfer and intergenerational planning for high-net-worth families
About Jacinda Norvell
Jacinda Norvell is a senior managing director and the wealth brokerage sales execution director for Truist Wealth and Trust Investment Services, Inc. offering over 25 years of financial services experience. Prior to joining SunTrust, now Truist, in 1997, Jacinda obtained both retail brokerage and institutional investment experience at The Robinson Humphrey Company and Invesco. Having worked in various management roles at SunTrust, now Truist, Jacinda currently leads sales enablement efforts for their broker/dealer focused on advisor recruiting and retention, business planning and execution for managers and advisors, and development and DEI initiatives.
About Mike Miroballi
As president of the Huntington Investment Company, Michael Miroballi is responsible for leading the strategic direction, overseeing regulatory governance and setting priorities for the business.
Michael joined Huntington in February of 2017 after spending nearly 16 years at BMO Financial Group. He has over 30 years of experience in financial services. Michael spent the early part of his career with Merrill Lynch and Citigroup as a financial advisor. He obtained his CFA designation in 2000 and transitioned to portfolio management and trust investment management with Harris Private Bank, now known as BMO Private Bank, where among his accomplishments he led the creation of BMO’s open architecture outside manager and mutual fund platform. In 2007, Michael was appointed president of the bank’s retail broker-dealer, BMO Harris Financial Advisors. As president of BMO Harris Financial Advisors, Mike led the transformation of the business to become a leader among peers in the growth of investment advisory assets under management. Likewise, as president of Huntington Investment Company, he has led the transformation of the business to become a planning-based advisory firm with advisory assets growing more than five-fold in just over five years.
BISA is the leading financial services industry association dedicated to serving those responsible for the marketing, sales and distribution of securities, insurance and other financial products and advisory services through the bank channel.
Jeff Hartney
Welcome to the BISA Portfolio Podcast, a podcast elevating voices of members of BISA, the leading financial services industry association. I'm Jeff Hartney, BISA Executive Director and guest host for today's podcast highlighting the evolving journey of the wealth client. Today I'm joined by Mike Miroballi, Huntington Investment Company president as well as the BISA president. We're also joined by Jacinda Norvell, senior managing director of wealth broker sales at Truist Wealth. She also sits on the BISA board of directors. Together, they'll be sharing their experiences navigating the evolving wealth management world, particularly as it affects clients. Before we get started, can you both tell me a little bit about yourselves? Mike?
Mike Miroballi
Great. Thanks, Jeff. Hi, everyone. I'm Mike Miroballi, and I lead Huntington's brokerage and advisory business. I've been in the industry for over 30 years and I've spent the last six and a half with Huntington.
Jeff Hartney
Jacinda?
Jacinda Norvell
Hello, I'm just going to normal happy to be here. Wealth brokers sales execution director at Truist Investment Services and Truist Wealth, nearly 30 years in the industry and 26 at Truist glad to be here today.
Jeff Hartney
Thank you both for joining us. So before we get started, though, I thought it'd be helpful to share a little bit of background on BISA's continued exploration into the world of wealth. Our focus in BISA is to expand partnerships across the various wealth segments. As we've seen, wealth management firms across the industry are becoming more integrated, and seeking a unified customer experiences across all wealth areas. To address this BISA is creating a comprehensive platform that brings together leaders from the full spectrum of US financial institutions to discuss the topic of integrating wealth and brokerage. Our vision is to be the go-to resource for industry participants across these lines of business. Now with that being said, let's dive into today's conversation. So for our first question, I'd like to ask "How have the needs and expectations of wealth clients evolved over time? And what key factors have influenced this evolution?" Mike, we'll start with you.
Mike Miroballi
Sure, Jeff? Well, as you know, I believe like many professional services, wealth clients have access to more information at their fingertips. And we live in a world of immediacy. And so whether you're talking products or services, so the expectations are high in terms of how we provide our transactional services to our clients. However, what I think hasn't changed is for wealth clients particularly is to build a genuine connection with your advisor and for that advisor to become a trusted advisor. So how firms are addressing these needs is evolving as we maintain contact with clients through digital and in-person means and with an estimated $84 trillion of wealth transferring between generations over the next 22 years, becomes even more important to fully know your customers and their family dynamics. For financial institutions to really remain relevant. We have to evolve our client experience and being able to work with those next generations.
Jeff Hartney
Absolutely, absolutely. Thanks Mike. Jacinda, what are your thoughts?
Jacinda Norvell
Well, how have needs change and not changed? Wealth clients still want to grow and protect their wealth and tend to have more complex financial situations. But like Mike mentioned, what I believe has changed is the client service needs. Well, they still expect a high level of service, they now want instant access via high quality digital solutions. And they want their advisors to be able to simplify the complex. Another change that comes to mind is what a wealth client looks like. We have more women, diversity, and next gen with wealth. So traditional approaches and solutions are likely not the best way to attract and retain these clients.
Jeff Hartney
Yeah, it's an interesting time, that's for sure a lot is changing and a lot of needs that need to be addressed. So as wealth management firms are trying to provide a more holistic approach, what strategies have been effective or are effective and aligning resources to meet clients at different stages of their life journey and backgrounds? Jacinda, we'll start with you this time.
Jacinda Norvell
Well, we focus on listening to our clients' needs. When you listen, you see the world through their eyes. And then we take the time to build a team to meet their needs, pulling in internal partners and resources to provide the full spectrum of wealth solutions and even non investment solutions. You also need to be prepared to deliver on multiple platforms and bring flexibility in your delivery model.
Jeff Hartney
Mike?
Mike Miroballi
Yeah, Jeff, I agree with Jacinda, we need to place the client at the center, and that departmentalize how we deliver advice to our clients. In a new dimension to my role at Huntington is to be not only run the broker dealer RIA, but I'm also the National Practice Lead for our private bank and client advisors. Our objective in doing this was to create a more consistent approach to client discovery. So we truly get to know our clients and what's important to them, and then deliver advice across the wealth spectrum. And make sure we don't limit ourselves based on which department we're from, or what our licensing is, but really have a full understanding of what the products and services that are available to our clients, whether they're delivered through a Bank Trust department or through a broker dealer RIA type of platform. So that as Jacinda said, you have to be able to be nimble and have the ability to deliver services across multiple platforms.
Jeff Hartney
Well, that's actually a great lead into our next question. In the context of integrated wealth management, how can firms ensure that clients receive personalized and tailored financial solutions? Trust, as we know, is essential to this. How do wealth management firms build and maintain trust with their clients, especially given the high stakes involved? Mike?
Mike Miroballi
Well, Jeff, we believe that starts with gaining a genuine understanding of our clients through conversational discovery, connecting with clients and learning about them in a natural way. It's an art and the best advisors have really mastered that.
Jeff Hartney
Absolutely, absolutely. Jacinda,your turn.
Jacinda Norvell
Well, I believe that is spot on, I believe that truly at Truist we lead with listening, and let the listening first lead to planning to get that deep understanding. So we train our advisors to listen first, in order to understand the client's needs before presenting a solution for an immediate need, which would have been you know, how we would have delivered transactional services in the past.
Jeff Hartney
Yeah, that makes sense. So I'm gonna turn to a topic that I think is also really critical in all of this. And that's technology. So in your minds, how can businesses leverage technology to enhance the client experience? So this one Jacinda will start.
Jacinda Norvell
Well, technology has made a lot of things easier for advisors and clients. We remember the days when someone had to manually key in data for financial plans from paper statements that a client or prospect had to provide. Now accounts can be aggregated digitally, and can update instantly. So this allows the advisor to have up to date data to use for holistic advice and planning and also allows clients to readily access to financial account data via an app on their phone. So I think it's helped us come a long way.
Jeff Hartney
Oh, for sure, for sure, Mike?
Mike Miroballi
Well technology is just it's a significant enabler to delivering a great client experience. You know, we use technology to provide advisors valuable information to better serve our clients' needs. Jacinda already mentioned the power of aggregation to give an advisor a broad view of a client's financial picture. But also think about the ability of an advisor to kind of tailor their communication frequency and the content they deliver to meet a client's preferences and interests. We retain so much information, whether it's qualitative or quantitative on our clients. So how we use that information is so key to delivering a great client experience.
Jeff Hartney
Moving beyond technology, let's talk about obviously, the changing demographics of the country. And as we think about how that affects your wealth clients, from a diverse standpoint, what steps can wealth manager firms take to ensure inclusivity and accessibility for your services? And, Mike, we'll start with you on this.
Mike Miroballi
Sure, Jeff. Well, as we all know, this has been a long standing challenge for our industry. And there's no quick fix. Financial Institutions must invest meaningful resources to affect change in the diversity of the profession and understand and serve our communities. Being an inclusive and diverse culture is reflected in our actions, not in what we say. So it starts with leadership. If we don't have a diverse leadership team, it's very hard to build a corporate culture that embraces and promotes diversity, then you must be intentional and driving the desire change. That won't happen just because we want to, we have to make those changes happen.
Jeff Hartney
Jacinda, what do you think?
Jacinda Norvell
Well, I agree it starts by building a strong culture grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion. When we embrace our differences, we can make a difference. Having diverse representation around the table allows us to put ourselves in our clients' shoes. When you understand different perspectives, you can ensure everything from your financial planning strategies to how you communicate are inclusive, and really help drive some meaningful change.
Jeff Hartney
Thank you. So thinking about, you know, the core services that you provide for financial planning, but want to move beyond that a little bit. And really think about more wealth management firms can provide value added services or beyond financial planning that addresses client's broader life goals and aspirations. For this one, we'll begin with Jacinda.
Jacinda Norvell
Great, thanks. When I think about this, that can mean a lot of things. But there is one thing that immediately comes to mind, and that's purpose. We're deeply focused on getting to know our clients' hopes and dreams, we want to help them make the right decisions at those pivotal moments that will help determine their long term success. When you help your clients take a step back and find their purpose, you're then able to provide them with the advice and solutions to help them achieve their goals and aspirations.
Jeff Hartney
Really getting to know your clients beyond their financial needs is important. Mike, what would you add to that?
Mike Miroballi
Well, yeah, I mean, first of all, I agree with Jacinda, this comments 100%. You know, what I'd add is really focusing on family. Each family dynamic is so different from the next, thinking about multi generations and passing wealth on to the next generation. One aspect could be helping to educate the next generation about money management, particularly when they stand to inherit significant wealth. Another thing could be helping provide for a special needs child. Now there's a potential that you could have a special needs child that lives with their parents, and having the right kind of structure set up to be able to provide for them is critically important. It could be caring for an aging parent, there's just so many things that impact families. As a trusted adviser, it's our job to gain our clients' trust so that they can feel like they can be vulnerable with us and share these potential what could be unspoken concerns, and then provide the advice that can give them peace of mind.
Jeff Hartney
Now, Mike, you bring up a really important topic regarding wealth transfer and intergenerational planning. And it's really important for certainly for high net worth families. So kind of continue on that theme. How can wealth management firms facilitate smooth transitions and ensure continuity for future generations? Mike, since we left off with you, we'll continue that conversation.
Mike Miroballi
Sounds good, Jeff. Well, that question can have a lot of answers. And I'll stick to a few examples. So Huntington has a large client base of small to medium sized businesses. And one major challenge for small business owners is the continuity of the business to the next generations that follow. And oftentimes there may not be a next generation willing to continue in the business. Or if there are, you know, how do you affect that financial transfer to the next generation. So for families, it's about preserving assets through estate planning, and then helping to pass those assets on to the next generation in a way that reflects the wishes of the grantor. So the important thing is for the advisor to understand these family dynamics, and to bring the expertise to the table that can help them through these complex situations.
Jeff Hartney
Thanks, Mike. Jacinda tell us about what you do at Truist.
Jacinda Norvell
Well, I think wealth transfer is a very important topic, especially for the ultra high net worth. And Mike referenced several great examples and earlier about just the complex needs of families. At Truist, we have specialty teams that help with business transition planning and services that assist with family governance and education. Because we believe that focusing on education about the strategies for transition and education for the next generation on inheriting wealth are the best ways to ensure a family legacy lives on.
Jeff Hartney
And that's a good segue into our next question. So thank you. So why do you think wealth clients and their experiences will continue to evolve and grow in the next few years? Because we know it's changing and it's going to continue to change. So Mike?
Mike Miroballi
Okay, well, Jeff, you know, firms will need to be nimble to adjust to clients changing needs. transactions need to be done seamlessly and advisors need to be able to deliver and rice across multiple channels and multiple ways. Clients have little patience for firms trying to figure it out and how to serve them because they have many options to receive their services. What will not change though, is the need for human led advice for complex financial and non financial issues. To be most effective firms have to overcome and I mentioned this before the self imposed barriers and departments in order to deliver holistic advice to their clients.
Jacinda Norvell
I agree with Mike. But as data has become so readily available, clients will expect fast, easy access for updates, and we'll evaluate firms based on digital capability. They will also want to continue to have simplicity. So they will need advisors who can make the complex simple and can seamlessly coordinate with all of their partners and resources to really deliver full relationship management experience.
Jeff Hartney
Well, this has been really informational. I want to thank you both so much for participating and being here today. As we know, Wealth Management is a major priority for BISA's future efforts, and hearing the perspectives of industry experts, such as yourselves, is really incredibly valuable for all of our members. So thank you again, we really appreciate your time.
Mike Miroballi
Thank you. Thanks, Jeff. My pleasure.
Jeff Hartney
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