Navigating wealth in uncertain times

0:00BNP Paribas Wealth Management is proud to partner with the entrepreneurs on Monocle Radio. Confronted by complexity, you need a financial partner you can trust that will protect your assets and strive to meet your expectations. BNP Paribas Wealth Management is the bank for entrepreneurs in a changing world. Head to wealthmanagement.bnpparibas now for guidance on starting your journey.

0:40Hello and welcome to The Entrepreneurs on Monocle Radio, the show all about inspiring people, innovative companies and fresh ideas in global business. On today's programme, we meet the CEO of the number one private bank in the Eurozone to hear how they help clients navigate uncertain and choppy waters in order to achieve their financial goals. There are a lot of similarities, in fact, with managing a company and sailing. You need to have a good boat, you need to have a good skipper, you need to know exactly where you want to go. And this is why I really also enjoy sailing, because I find a lot of similarities in my professional job.

1:15This is The Entrepreneurs, with me, Tom Edwards.

1:26You're listening to The Entrepreneurs. Vincent Lecomte is the CEO of BMP Paribas Wealth Management, a leading and trusted European financial institution providing tailored solutions to entrepreneurs, high net worth individuals and families in dozens of countries. Vincent Lecomte oversees an operation that's tasked with delivering innovation and great personalised service for clients, but perhaps more important is his and his team's focus on maintaining a human touch and understanding that working with clients to achieve something truly meaningful matters a whole lot more than just thinking about returns.

2:02Vincent Lecomte will tell us how everyone at BNP Paribas Wealth Management strives to do this with creativity, skill and spark. And he'll share with us how his own passion for sailing has shaped his journey. Monocle's Paris bureau chief Simon Bouvier caught up with Vincent Lecomte to discuss all that and more, including the game-changing impact of AI technology and the vital role that he sees BNP Parabelle Wealth Management playing as a connecting platform for entrepreneurs. Vincent Lecomte began by telling Simon Moore about how his love for life on the water has inspired his approach to work.

2:37I sail a 40-feet boat, which is an X-class 40, so it's a fast cruising boat, and I really enjoy sailing. I mean, it's a lot of fun. There are a lot of similarities, in fact, with the managing company and sailing. In fact, you need to have a good boat. You need to have a good skipper. You need to know exactly where you want to go. You need to have a good team as well. And this is why I really also enjoy sailing, because I find a lot of similarities with what I do in my professional job. And then you can have the best team, the best boat and everything. The weather can intervene and then you have to adapt as well, right?

3:17Absolutely. You need to adapt yourself because the weather conditions can really change. So you need to be very agile. You need to remain very humble as well. When you have to navigate through rough seas, who's the decision maker? You have to be the decision maker, but you have to adapt yourself to the weather conditions. And this is really close to what we have also in our business, right? Right. Great. So tell us a little bit about your personal trajectory as an entrepreneur, as a business leader. How did you come to lead BNP Paribas Wealth Management? What brought you to that point? Well, I started my career as a consultant.

4:01I started with Pete Marwick, and it was, in fact, indeed my first merger because Pete Marwick merged with KMG and became KPMG. A great experience. Then I joined another consulting firm, Accenture, and I was specialized in the asset management business and banking business, custody business. And I joined one of my clients. That was a starting point. So I joined Paribas at that time before we merged with BNP and Paribas. And I had the great opportunity to participate in the acquisition of Tepi Morgan's clear and custody business in Europe back in 1995. And that was really the starting point of BNP Paribas Security Services business, which is now one of the top leaders worldwide.

4:42I had the privilege to be part of this story. We like to be entrepreneurs as well, you know, in BNP Paribas. So I worked for this business during five years. I was appointed the head of our business in Germany. Germany has a special story for me. You know, I spent overall 10 years physically in Germany. So I can speak a little bit German. and I know quite well how the Mittelstand, the famous Mittelstand, is made of and it's very inspiring for the other economies as well. Back to my trajectory, so then I joined another business, the asset management business as chief operating officer. So being in charge of all the support functions and also part of the distribution.

5:24And then I joined another company which is called Kota Konzors, which is one of the top leaders in Germany in terms of online brokerage. So I discovered a totally different world. Internet driven, 99 % of the revenues generated through internet data. That was back in 2005 and quite inspiring as an experience. It's fascinating that in your journey so far, you've had this kind of conjunction of two expertises of being part of all of these mergers of these major international companies. And then you got in on the ground floor when all of these data-driven kind of internet-first economic models started to emerge.

6:11I feel like now in this space of wealth management, there is a bit of a confluence of these two factors as well, right? When I joined wealth management back in 2010, I remember I asked a few questions regarding digital. We were already providing digital solutions at that time. Since then, the world has changed totally. Digital is a clear enabler to support the relationship. Of course, the relationship manager remains at the very center of the client relationship. But all the client experience is being enriched with expertise, digital, to be even faster, more efficient, more time to market vis-a-vis the client.

6:56So that's a true revolution that we've been experiencing for the past 15 years. And of course, the COVID has played a major role to further accelerate this trend. But digital is really essential in our business. And taking a step back from these kind of more recent advances in technology and how they tie into your core activity, activity, if we kind of zoom back out to the fundamentals, how would you describe kind of the core of what it means to do what you do every day? Number one mission is really to preserve clients' wealth. That's our first job, which means, you know, you need to be built on robust foundations.

7:35And that's, I would say, one of the top quality of B &P Paribas franchise. You know, we've been existing for more than 150 years. Our business is well diversified in terms of business mix, clientele, geographies, and that helps to go through the various economic cycles. So that's the number one. Number two is, of course, to help our clients to transfer their wealth. And you know, there will be a massive intergenerational transmission in the years to come. I think the figure is around 20 trillion US dollar that is going to be transmitted in the years to come. And so that's really our second job.

8:10And our third job, of course, is to help accounts to achieve their goals. They are entrepreneurs, they are families, so you need to understand their objectives, how they are structured themselves, the goals they want to achieve. And then, of course, you need to bring all the expertise, and not only from the wealth management business, but from the bank. Because, you know, they are entrepreneurs, and they have only one life. They have one personal life, and one professional life, but it's the same one. and you need to be able to meet all their goals. And that's what we do by leveraging the expertise that we have within Wealth Management, but also the expertise from the group.

8:52Just to give a few examples, I mean, in terms of investment banking, in terms of financing, in terms of real estate expertise, we do have all this expertise within the group. So the job, back to the job of the relationship manager is a little bit kind of chevlocest, you know, to mobilize all the resources that we have within wealth management, but also from the group. And to your point, this dual mission of helping your clients achieve their goals, but also help with this massive kind of transfer of wealth from one generation to the next, the next generation might not have the same objectives of what they want their money to do than the previous generation.

9:37And so how are you thinking about this? not just the kind of macro trend, but also on the micro level? How do you manage these transitions within specific, you know, obviously without going into particular clients, but how do you think about that? I mean, first of all, I would like to maybe step back a little bit because we serve entrepreneurs across the world and the wealth pool is getting bigger everywhere. In the US, which is still the largest pool, but also in Asia, which is even growing at a faster pace, and Europe, Europe being for us our home country. That's very important to have that in mind, because as you said, I mean, the next geners are also to ensure sustainability for all the wealth that has been created for quite some time.

10:30And we consider ourselves not only as a pure wealth manager, but as a connecting platform among generations, and among various communities. So we started, for instance, our NextGeners sessions back 20 years ago. We have three global sessions, one in Hong Kong, one in Paris, one in Roma with specific objectives to help NextGeners, and usually there are 50 or 60 NextGeners who attend this type of session, first of all to get connected among themselves, but also to share expertise with ourselves, with their peers, on specific items. For instance, in Roma, we partner with Villa Medici and we have a specific theme, which is how can we generate impact through art.

11:23So during this session, the 50 next geners are going to work together on this specific thing. so we reconsider ourselves as i said as a true enabler to support next geners and then you can of course discuss about wealth transmission you can depending on the objectives you said the objectives can be or the expectations can be different yes and no because some of them have i would say quite traditional aspiration some others have totally different aspirations so number one objectives for us is to listen to them. Of course, impact or sustainability have been of a greater importance, but it's not the only one.

12:05At the end, they want to, you know, they are entrepreneurs themselves and they want to create wealth, I would say, not only for themselves, but first of all, for the society. And that's what we see more and more across the board. And it's fascinating that you're holding these kind of series of events to bring these clients together. What is it like for you witnessing these interactions? First of all, it's always very refreshing and I personally spend time with them, you know, to interact and to listen to them. I really got a lot of great stories about how they themselves created their own company.

12:43So even if they have potential huge wealth and really consider themselves, oh, let's, you know, move ahead and bring new ideas, bring new people in order to move ahead. This connecting platform is obviously very important that we have now more than 2 ,000 alumni. And I'm always surprised to see that they are still connected. And then after 15 years, you know, a month. All of these, this kind of petri dish of ideas and inspiration. So, you know, going back to what we were discussing earlier on technology, given this landscape that you described, you're differentiating yourself by offering all of the different elements that BNP as a whole, not just BNP, Baribas Wealth Management has to offer.

13:31What about this technology piece now that we've set the tone, the foundation being these relationships, how does this kind of increasingly shifting technological landscape tie into your activity? And what do you see kind of over the horizon for how it's going to affect your business? We need to process a lot of data. We have, I would say, processes, end-to-end processes that need to be the most efficient in order to provide the best quality at the cheapest cost. That's our number one objective and you need technology to support that this is why we are massively investing we are also investing in the you know the core features also all the cloud experience features how we can have a better use of data to improve the cloud experience what is i would say not really new but really of a great importance at the group level and at the bnp paribas wealth management level is artificial intelligence.

14:33We see artificial intelligence everywhere to improve commercial efficiency, to improve risk management as well. And this is why we have already at the group level more than 800 use cases that are being rolled out everywhere. And ourselves as wealth management, we have a significant number of use cases which are being rolled out. For instance, clients want to have even more personalized offering, hyper-personalized solutions. What does that look like, for example? First of all, you need to have a really segmented approach and to be able to design the best solutions to them. And artificial intelligence really helps you to design the best solutions.

15:17For instance, you need to prepare a pitch to a client. He wants to have a good view on the luxury sector where he's already heavily invested as an entrepreneur, you need to compile a lot of documents, the internal documents, the financial analysis, the marketing brochures that we have. And artificial intelligence helps you to design very quickly a presentation for the client, which is really tailor-made according to his or her needs. And that can be done in a fraction of seconds, right? So compiling let-up documents in a fraction of a second. So of course, it helps to better respond to the client's needs at a cheaper cost.

16:02And are you thinking about also creating a tool that your clients will be able to interact with directly? That's kind of how a lot of businesses are thinking about artificial intelligence. But seeing as relationships are at the core of what you do, I think for some people, they might think, OK, well, which is it? Is it the relationship with the relationship manager or do I have a chat bot that I can ask my questions to that's tied into all of the expertise of the bank? Is it both at the same time? How do you see that? Again, the relationship manager is at the very center of the client relationship.

16:41Yes, we are rolling out chatbots for simple questions to help the client to get even quicker answers. But at the end, in our business, in the wealth management business, the human touch remains essential. It's all about trust. You need to know the family. You know, we've been serving families for more than three or four generations. That cannot be translated into a digital tool, you know. I personally spend a lot of time in Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, or everywhere where we have our presence to listen to clients. And that's the very first thing that we have to do. Of course, artificial intelligence can help and will be a clear game changer in the years to come.

17:25But that will never replace the human touch. Of course. And you mentioned all of these conversations that you've had with your clients and that sustainability over the past few years has grown into something that is a priority for investment. What is your approach at BNP Paribas Wealth Management when it comes to assessing what is truly sustainable? Because everybody, of course, claims to be, but then actually doing the legwork to find out this is the best option for what you're looking for is a huge endeavor. How do you kind of break it down? Right. Well, first of all, at the group level, we have taken a really strong commitment to support sustainability.

18:13That's a very strong commitment that we have. And of course, all the businesses across the board have implemented a strategy to support the global commitment that we have. We've been developing sustainability for more than 10 years. We have developed our own methodology for more than 10 years based on internal covers. Of course, now regulation has taken a greater role, especially in the EU. with clear guidelines that you need to, of course, to meet. But in addition to what you have to do from a, I would say, a regulatory perspective, we help our clients to better, first of all, to understand really what they want to achieve.

18:58That's what really their sustainable profile, if I may say so. That's the very first step. And then we have all the components in terms of solutions to meet what they expect based on this robust methodology that we have been developing for 10 years. And then you have also to report in a very transparent, in a very efficient manner to the client what you've been doing. I think transparency is absolutely key and it's a never-ending story. And so, you know, we're at the start of 2025. When it comes to new products, when it comes to what you're thinking about your big launches in the year ahead and what you're keeping an eye on?

19:45What can you tell us about what's in store? Well, number one, we need to keep on capturing growth. Globally, I said earlier that this market is growing. We are taking market shares in Europe and in Asia. Europe, again, is our home country. We have very strong positions in Germany, where we just announced the acquisition of HSBC private banking business. And we're going to join the first league with this acquisition in Germany, France, of course, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands. They are very important to us. And Asia, of course, is very important in our strategy, Hong Kong. We have been in Asia for more than 150 years.

20:29I said earlier that we have been serving these clients for three or four generations. It's very inspiring, by the way, to listen to them when you meet them, to get their own stories, right? So number one objective is to keep on capturing growth, knowing that all these clients, they want stability. They expect from us to provide this sustainability and stability in the long run. Long-term commitment is absolutely key in our business. The bank has been very stable. Our teams are very stable. The management of our business has been very stable as well. You've been in charge for over 10 years, right?

21:12More than 10 years, right? And it really matters because, first of all, I've known a lot of clients since I joined and keep on meeting them on a regular basis. Of course, you cannot meet all the clients across the board, but it's very important to always be in contact with them because they are the real bosses. So yes, number one is to keep on growing in a very disciplined and in a very rigorous manner. We don't want to buy market shares. We want to, first of all, to be seen in all markets we will operate, to be seen as the reference player for our clients. That they believe that our expertise is strong, our teams are strong, they are reliable based on robust foundations and true compliant foundations.

21:59that's very important. Of course there is a lot of uncertainty in this world geopolitics markets, interest rates we need to help our clients to navigate through these sharpy waters you know, back to the comparison with the sailing and yes, the weather conditions are very uncertain as we do have a very robust boat, we believe that we can support our clients in the long run to help them achieving their goals. That's our primary mission. So that's our number two objective, you know, to help our clients achieving their goals in this very uncertain environment. And third, of course, is to keep on investing in our people.

22:46And, you know, we set up our wealth management university internally to make sure that all the people have always the best skills, knowing that, you know, it's changing. What's the most in-demand course at this wealth management university? Artificial intelligence. Surprise, surprise. How is it going to help them? Sometimes it can be a little bit frightening, you know, but we need to, you know, to remain very humble, you know, because you need to know really the potential of all these tools. Yes, keep on investing in technology with one goal to improve client satisfaction. That's, you know, my barometer, if I can use this comparison again with the weather conditions, right?

23:29It's really what drives us. This is why we've been quite successful for the past 10 years, growing our franchise in all the regions where we're in. You mentioned bringing together these NextGener events. What else are you working on to foster these relationships? We consider ourselves as a true connecting platform. I mentioned the NextGeners but I could mention also what we do for family offices they have the same objectives and the same challenge and they want to share experiences among themselves and this is why we have global editions where we gather a lot of family offices and we have also some regional editions in Asia, in Europe, in some countries to enable them to connect and also to share inspiring stories with entrepreneurs or private equity firms or artists as well.

24:22That's what we do. And it's amazing to see how they can also afterwards develop business among themselves using our platform again. Another example, you know that BNP Paribas is very famous for tennis. And we have a lot of events across the board. And one of them, probably not only the most famous one, is the French Open. During the French Open, we welcomed more than 1 ,000 clients. They come from all over the world. And the opportunity is not only to watch tennis, but also to gather in small groups, to exchange ideas. Again, it's always the same concept, you know, to help clients who are entrepreneurs to get also stories from others and to develop or to enable them to develop their own business.

25:13Another, that's our recent baby, I always say the last baby that we have, that's the Woman of Influence that we launched in Brussels back in October 2024, where we gathered roughly 100 women entrepreneurs coming from all over Europe. Again, same concept, to share ideas with also some leaders. There was, for instance, top experts such as Sarah Ramon, who's a boxing Olympic champion and also entrepreneur in Amodja, who's an artist and UN ambassador. It was fantastic, really, to get all the feedback from these entrepreneurs, from these women entrepreneurs. And we really consider ourselves that we have a true role to play to facilitate women entrepreneurship.

26:00And it's so fascinating across the board from the Next Geners to the family offices to Roland Garros to all these communities. there's this appetite, it seems, for connection and for events. Was this something that you were always thinking about, this kind of hospitality aspect of it, or is this newer for you? It's not new. We've been doing that for years. What is new is really the role we want to play to facilitate these connections. It's really how can we help our clients to do more business. I remember some, back eight years ago, as many other firms, we worked on our purpose. But the starting point, I had a small incident when I was sailing.

26:47I was sailing at that time a catamaran which goes up to 20, 25 knots. Were you alone on the boat? No, I was with my son and it was really windy. And for these type of boats, you better stay at home rather than going for sailing. We capsized and unfortunately I couldn't go back to the boat because the sea was really rough, it was very windy. So during more than one hour and 30 minutes, I stayed alone, you know, in the sea, right? I said, well, I hope that they will find me again. And of course, if I'm here today, I've been rescued. The end of the story is a happy one. Yeah, of course, of course.

27:32I had to go to the hospital, and I really asked the people, all the… The first responders. Yes, exactly. Why are you doing your job? What's your purpose? Well, they said, my only objective is to save lives. When I came back from vacation and I shared this experience with my executive committee, I said, what's really our purpose? I mean, our job is not to save lives, obviously, but it's really to help our clients to do something meaningful for the society, for their business, for the people that they employ. and that was really the starting point of this purpose story that we launched some years ago.

28:13And you said your son was on the boat as well. Yes. Was he all right? Yeah, he was all right, of course. Yes, by the way, I have four children, two girls, two boys. All sailors. All sailors. Of course. It's a nice asset allocation, you know, two girls, two boys. So, no, they really enjoy sailing and we do that. well don't forget to invite Monocle if you ever do a sailing experience with pleasure if you enjoy speed, if you enjoy choppy waters I mean we'd be very happy to share this experience because I enjoy when there is a lot of wind and when you can reach high speed within the limits we'll have to rely on your expertise on that one thank you, this was a great conversation it's been a great experience, thank you That was Vincent Lecomte, CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, in conversation with Monocle's Simon Bouvier in Paris.