Digital cross-border Wealth management

Inside magazine issue 12 | Part 01 - From a digital perspective

Digital cross-border Wealth managementWhen crossing borders, do you know and comply with all regulations, anytime and anywhere?

Given its size, its location at the heart of Europe and its multicultural workforce, Luxembourg’s financial center naturally relies on and promotes cross-border business. This is particularly true for the wealth management and private banking industries, which should now focus on rethinking their approach to cross-border opportunities.

Pascal MartinoPartnerStrategy, Regulatory & Corporate FinanceDeloitte

Said QacemeDirectorOperations Excellence & Human CapitalDeloitte

Virginie EtienneConsultantOperations Excellence & Human CapitalDeloitte



their assets to their country of residence to avoid any potential conflict with their local government. This significant shift from offshore to onshore wealth has already forced Luxembourg banks and family offices to rethink the way they serve clients. On the other hand, new wealth is emerging outside of the traditional markets, leading banks and wealth managers to rethink their geographic coverage and expand toward other jurisdictions in Asia or Eastern Europe. Finally, UHNWIs themselves are increasingly mobile and expecting to be served around the world.

Interestingly, observed approaches to cross-border servicing can widely vary. Some financial institutions have, for example, made the daring choice to set up a branch abroad in order to follow their clients to their country of residence rather than losing them to the local competition. On the other hand, other companies have chosen to become as mobile as their clients and not to set up a permanent establishment, but rather to serve them wherever and whenever they need it.

In Europe, the “Free Provision of Services” (FPS) principle applies to wealth managers and private bankers crossing borders to serve their clients abroad. This principle allows Customer Relationship Managers (CRMs) of a European entity to meet or serve their client in another country, even when the financial institution does not have a permanent establishment locally.

However, European governments are increasingly imposing stricter rules to the general European FPS principle, and this right is itself limited to the European market. CRMs should therefore be permanently aware of the latest regulatory and tax developments not only in their home country, but also in their clients’ country of residence. Therefore, private banks and wealth management firms should rethink their cross-border strategy and may now more than ever take advantage of digital and mobile solutions in order to avoid any non-compliance and reputational issues.

Increased regulatory requirementsIn the aftermath of the financial crisis, the regulatory pressure on the wealth management and private banking industries has increased all over the world. Regulatory frameworks such as national regulations on consumer protection, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and investor protection rules have an impact on the cross-border banking operating business model, affecting both its efficiency and profitability. In practice, however, observations show that the standard cross-border banking operating model remains unchanged despite the changes in the local and international regulatory frameworks. This approach can lead to significant non-compliance and reputational risks.

Partial harmonization within Europe Article 56 TFEU prohibits Member States from restricting the provision of services within the EU. This right has been implemented through various pieces of secondary EU legislation, the most important in terms of financial services today being Directive 2004/39/EC and Directive 2013/36/EU, which respectively define access to the “EU passport” for investment firms and credit institutions.

Current contextIt is no secret that financial institutions are facing a challenging environment. Compliance with new regulations is driving the CEO’s agenda in the present and affecting the traditional way of doing business. As a result, banks and wealth managers need to reassess what they do and how they do it.

Institutions are adapting to industry challenges in a variety of ways, for example by cutting costs, changing their operating model, seeking access to cross-border markets, undertaking digital transformation or focusing on new customer segments. In this context, a key topic to be addressed is how institutions can benefit from cross-border opportunities to expand beyond their current business model (regions, clients, products and services, interaction channels and pricing approach) while minimizing their expenditure.

On the one hand, new tax transparency and regulatory constraints—especially in Europe—are leading individuals to transfer


This EU passport grants credit institutions and investment firms established in a Member State the right to provide services within the EU either with the establishment of a branch or through the direct “Free Provision of Services” (FPS). This passport and the relevant directives significantly ease cross-border provision of services through a partial harmonization of the relevant legislation (standards fixed at the EU level) and the application of the legal framework of the home Member State in key areas (for example in terms of authorization), with the exclusion of the legislation in the host Member State. The scope of this home Member State control will typically be wider in the case of FPS, as there is no establishment in the host Member State.

In case the relevant rules have not yet been harmonized and the home country control principle does not apply, the directives require Member States to guarantee access to service activities and the freedom to exercise such activity throughout the territory.

The treaty also generally forbids Member States from restricting free movement by imposing their national requirements on cross-border service providers unless the Member State can demonstrate that the measure is necessary to ensure the respect of one of the limited justifications allowed and that the measure is proportionate. In 2013, the ECJ stated that combating money laundering and terrorist financing constitutes a mandatory requirement justifying restrictions on free movement of services.

Private banks and wealth management firms should rethink their cross-border strategy and may now more than ever take advantage of digital and mobile solutions in order to avoid any non-compliance and reputational issues.

Looking beyond traditional borders allows banks and wealth managers to have access to larger pools of clients as well as retain and serve existing clients better.



Outside of the EU—coping with disparate local rulesSuch harmonization is even more limited, if not non-existent, when looking at markets abroad. The servicing of clients in Dubai, Sao Paulo or Shanghai therefore requires compliance with disparate regulatory and tax schemes, increasing the risk for daily business activities.

Risks and opportunities from cross-border business Looking beyond traditional borders allows banks and wealth managers to have access to larger pools of clients as well as retain and serve existing clients better. They are, however, facing several challenges inhibiting the development of a real cross-border strategy:

• Difficulty of assessing and comparing thereal cost of compliance when defining thefirm’s cross-border strategy

• Identification and mitigation of thepotential risks arising from the client’slocation

• Monitoring of the increased regulatory(and reputational) risks associatedwith the dependence on RelationshipManagers’ knowledge of the cross-borderrules while they increasingly travel withinand outside of Europe

• Compliance with strengthened anti-money laundering (AML), investorprotection and tax requirements in termsof information sharing and cooperation

This complex regulatory environment and the differences between countries mean that banks have to adapt their products

and customer due diligence frameworks, which should take into account the specific regulatory requirements of the client’s country of residence. These changes in operations are often quite burdensome as the regulatory information is spread over many directives, laws and regulations, which deal with many different subjects. This causes a further increase in operating costs, and has a direct impact on the industry’s profitability.

Coping with the new challengesIdentifying the regulatory, compliance and tax risks associated with cross-border banking services is complex but essential for players to remain competitive. The complexity of cross-border business activities stems from the individual country requirements concerning investment

suitability, cross-border regulation and tax transparency: a country-specific solution is therefore necessary. Only then can a bank or a private wealth management firm decide how to structure their cross-border strategy, allowing them to identify which country to target and what level of compliance effort will be required.

Moving to the daily provision of daily business activities, customer-facing employees need to be properly equipped to ensure compliance with multiple local rules when servicing clients abroad. One solution is to increase the awareness of CRMs in this specific field, as they are the ones who cross the borders and who put their bank’s image and reputation forward on a daily basis. However, as CRMs are highly mobile, the regulatory compliance should be as well.

Digitization of such country-specific information appears to be the most appropriate solution, allowing both a quick access to and easy comparison of local rules applicable to a particular service or financial product. A regulatory-compliance tool reunites key features allowing financial institutions to cope with cross-border challenges. First, it allows for the gathering of a large quantity of information in a single database. Second, it returns only the necessary information in a user-friendly way resulting in increased flexibility. Finally, it allows clients to be followed to their residence country without taking the risk of missing regulatory or tax requirements.

The digitization of country-specific knowledge should summarize regulatory, compliance and tax information about permissible activities, products or services under national and international regulations. It should allow private bankers to challenge their strategy by comparing countries’ local requirements, by identifying which country allows a particular service or activity or by ranking countries’ openness to banking services or activities. The digital solution should be as flexible as possible covering every possible cross-border situation, independent of whether the client travels to the bank, the CRM flies to the client’s location, or the service is provided remotely.

In short, the cross-border business regulatory and tax awareness solution should ideally be digital and easily portable, as CRMs do not always have the opportunity to prepare for a client meeting from their office’s desktop but rather prepare “on the go.” While digital often refers to connectivity, the solution should allow databases to be used offline as CRMs may attend a meeting where no internet connection is possible.

The complexity of cross-border business activities stems from the individual country requirements concerning investment suitability, cross-border regulation and tax transparency: a country-specific solution is therefore necessary.

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Digital cross-border Wealth management