Digital convenience has raised the bar in private banking, but trust is still won in the moments where a client needs calm, context, and judgement.
In this episode of Regulated Digital, Dominic Kohler, Head of Investment & Client Solutions at Brown Shipley, shares how a modern private bank can deliver faster, clearer digital experiences without losing the relationship-led model clients rely on.
Brown Shipley supports high net worth individuals across the UK with investment management, wealth planning, and lending, and it sits within the Quintet Private Bank group’s European network.
Clients in private banking judge both relationship depth and digital speed. Neither replaces the other.
In practice, most clients want a blend, and they want it to flex by moment, channel, and need.
Speed and Accessibility Are Now Baseline Expectations
Digital demand starts in simple terms: speed and accessibility.
Clients might want to check portfolio performance late in the evening, retrieve a document while travelling, or get a quick snapshot after a news cycle moves markets, and they shouldn't need a phone call to do that.
This is increasingly consistent with how banking capability is judged in market benchmarks such as the Deloitte benchmark.
Human Conversations Still Do the Heavy Lifting
Digital access solves for immediacy, but it does not replace reassurance.
When decisions are consequential, the adviser’s job is to bring clarity to what a client is seeing and feeling, and to connect day-to-day movement back to long-term objectives.
"As good as digital communications are, that human interaction in those times of volatility is definitely key."
Dom Kohler, Head of Investment & Client Solutions, Brown Shipley
This balance is echoed in reporting which explores how advice is shifting alongside technology, but remains rooted in trust, understanding, and behavioural support.
"When market conditions move quickly, clients judge the firm on how clearly information reaches them first, and how quickly a real person can add context. Firms that treat every channel as accountable to understanding will find that mix easier to sustain."
Paul Holland, Founder and CEO, Beyond Encryption (Mailock)
Channel Choice: Paper Has Not Disappeared
One assumption in digital transformation is that everything will become app-first, and physical artefacts will fade.
Dom’s view is more practical: clients are different, and paper still has a place when it helps someone feel confident and in control.
Flexibility Beats Stereotypes
High-net-worth clients are often stereotyped as phone-only and paper-only.
That stereotype misses how many clients like to hold a printed report, while others prefer to open an app at night and browse the same information on a screen - both preferences can exist within the same household.
Younger clients are not digital-only either. Across generations, there is still a consistent appetite for personal interaction when decisions carry emotion, complexity, or risk.
Digital Tools in Meetings: Making Advice More Immediate
Some of the most effective “digital communication” happens in person.
Instead of relying on meeting packs prepared days in advance, advisers can use live tools to show portfolio data, allocations, and planning information in real time, in-person.
Live Data Often Beats Stale Packs
Advisers are increasingly taking tablets into meetings to walk through up-to-date information with clients.
The benefit is convenience as well as confidence, because questions can be answered using the same data the client sees, without the time-lag and interpretation drift that can accompany printed packs.
Digital, used this way, supports the direct, human relationship rather than competing with it.
Personalisation Without Intrusion
In regulated financial services, “personalisation” can be a loaded term.
Here, the emphasis is on giving clients control over depth and detail.
The Helicopter View and the Drill Down
Many clients want a high-level overview, and others want to go all the way down to instrument-level performance.
That is a reporting design problem as much as it is an advice problem, and a well-designed experience makes both possible without forcing every client into the same default.
This aligns with the expectations on consumer understanding in FCA guidelines, which focus on whether communications support customer understanding, not merely whether information was provided.
Three Design Moves That Reduce Cognitive Load
Analysis paralysis is a real risk when market news is loud and reporting becomes overly technical.
For private banks, the goal is not to hide detail, but to make sure detail is available on demand, not forced on everyone at once.
Start with the point: lead with the few things a client needs to know today, then offer routes into deeper explanation.
Let clients choose depth: make “overview” and “detail” a conscious preference, not an accidental burden.
Separate signal from noise: explain what changed, why it matters, and what (if anything) the bank is doing about it.
The FCA explicitly warns that information overload can deter consumers from engaging and reduce understanding.
Communicating Through Market Volatility
Times of market volatility are when the human-digital hybrid model is most tested.
Tone, sequencing, and channel choice can be critical during uncertainty.
Digital First, Then Human Follow-Up
When market-moving events land, firms need to communicate quickly through digital channels, then follow those messages with calls.
Digital gets the initial message out fast, while human conversation allows advisers to handle nuance, questions, and emotional temperature.
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This maps well to broader customer experience research that links trust to how firms manage expectations, reduce friction, and resolve uncertainty.
Clarity Beats “Impressive” Information
There is a difference between data that demonstrates capability, and data that helps a client make a decision.
Advisers have always had to separate what is useful from what merely looks sophisticated, and the best communications reinforce the long-term plan, what risk controls are in place, and why the strategy still makes sense.
Consumer Duty: From Disclosure to Understanding
Consumer Duty is reshaping how firms think about whether communications are received and understood, not only whether they were sent.
Plain English as a Repeatable Discipline
One practical change is more rigorously enforced "plain English checks", including a deliberate reduction of acronyms and insider language.
“Clear” is not the same as “technically correct”, and it is easy for regulated professionals to write for internal comfort rather than customer understanding.
Evidence and Feedback Loops Matter More
Management information (MI) is also playing a larger role, including client feedback, survey data, and Net Promoter Scores, to inform decisions and demonstrate better outcomes.
This is consistent with the direction in the FCA’s support review, which focuses on whether customers can get the support they need, through channels that work for them.
Vulnerability Is Not a Separate Workstream
Market volatility is a good reminder that vulnerability is often situational.
The FCA’s vulnerability guide reinforces the need to monitor outcomes and identify friction, rather than publishing policies alone.
In practice, good digital comms can be the same thing as good consumer support: clear language, appropriate timing, and easy routes to a human when the customer needs one.
AI as an Enabler, Not a Replacement
The most credible role for AI in a relationship-led model is not to impersonate people, but to give people more time.
The focus for AI and other types of automation is on removing low-value administration so advisers can spend more of their week doing the work clients actually pay for.
Automation That Buys Back Human Time
Client-facing advice requires judgement, empathy, and the ability to explain trade-offs.
Back-office work still needs to happen, but if it can be streamlined safely, it buys back time for higher-value client conversations.
"If we can speed that up and free up time to spend with our clients and add more value, that's what we want to be doing."
Dom Kohler, Head of Investment & Client Solutions, Brown Shipley
This theme appears across wealth management research on GenAI and operating models, including BCG reporting.
Staying Close to Core Competence
Digital investment can become expensive when it is used to chase someone else’s business model.
Private banks should be wary of competing head-on with mass-market fintechs, or going “full robo” in categories they are not built to serve.
A Practical Guardrail for Digital Strategy
The safer approach is to invest in digital experiences that strengthen what the bank is already good at: relationship depth, tailored advice, and confidence during complex decisions.
"Put clients and your core competencies first" says Dom, and your digital communications strategy can be built around that.
FAQs
Do High Net Worth Clients Really Want Digital Access?
Yes, for speed and convenience, especially for checking information outside office hours.
They still tend to prefer human advice when decisions are complex, emotional, or time-sensitive.
What Does “Personalisation” Mean in a Regulated Wealth Context?
Often, it means letting clients choose the level of detail they see.
A good experience supports both a high-level view and a drill-down when the client wants it.
How Has Consumer Duty Changed Client Communications?
It has increased scrutiny on clarity, plain English, and evidence of customer understanding, beyond disclosure alone.
It also pushes firms to use feedback and outcomes data to improve how support and communications work.
What Role Should Digital Play During Market Volatility?
Digital should move quickly to reduce uncertainty, then make it easy for clients to speak to someone who can provide context and reassurance.
Sam Kendall works on digital marketing at Beyond Encryption, helping build B2B marketing activity around research, first principles, and sustainable growth. He writes about marketing effectiveness, positioning, customer communications, and digital culture, with longer-form work published at ATNL.
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Sam Kendall
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