The latest tech news in global wealth management.

Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered is bringing out new instant messaging and file-sharing features for mobiles, tablets and laptops, which will be available to private banking and priority clients.

For private banking clients, these features will be rolled out in Singapore, Hong Kong and the UK in the first quarter of 2019. The Priority Banking ‘Click2RM’ application will be available to priority clients in the UAE and Hong Kong from early 2019 and additional markets will follow.

Customers can share banking-related and personal information with advisers and relationship managers by using the bank’s mobile apps, while viewing their portfolios and the bank’s market insights.

The changes are taking place at a time when a number of firms such as OCBC, DBS and Credit Suisse are introducing apps, "chatbot" channels and other ideas to make it easier for customers to interact with firms on the go.

Standard Chartered said that clients will also be able to make video, voice and conference calls with their bankers and RMs, and invite additional investment advisers or specialists as needed.

The UK-listed bank said that about half of its priority banking clients use digital channels, and almost 40 per cent of private banking customers do so. It expects these percentages to increase.

A report last June by MyPrivateBanking Research, the Switzerland-based firm, identified the most popular “chat” facilities used by wealth management firms. The study, Digital Wealth Management in Asia: Focus on China and India, analysed the strengths and weaknesses of the digital wealth management of the ten largest wealth managers in China and India. It focuses on firms' offerings to their high net worth clients and how these compare with the market’s needs and expectations.