Charles Smith has taken up a new role as head of digital wealth management solutions, the company announced today.
He will be responsible for building out and advancing Refinitiv's digital and mobile distribution, advanced Analytics , and artificial intelligence capabilities to meet the needs of wealth management firms and their advisors.
Refinitiv's wealth management business supports a significant number of established and emerging wealth customers providing global, regional, and emerging market wealth platforms across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
Smith's appointment comes at a time when wealth management firms and their advisors are forced to adjust to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis.
Due to the exceptional circumstances, the financial services industry will depend more on digital solutions to enable an evolving engagement model that meets client needs, according to Refinitiv.
"As the world around us shifts to remote work, Refinitiv remains evermore committed to providing customers with the transformative digital solutions and insight needed to succeed," said Joseph Mrak, global head of wealth management at the firm.
"And as our customers adjust to increased digital client demands, our systems are there to support such efforts accordingly. For instance, our brokerage transactions and operations service, BETA Systems, has been processing record transactions per day: up 129% on average for the month of March. This record surpasses February as the previously recorded highest month for BETA," he added.
Extensive industry experience
"We welcome Charles to Refinitiv during this unprecedented period of need. His industry experience will help us to provide our customers with the future-focused insight and solutions needed to navigate today's rapidly changing wealth management industry," Mrak says.
Prior to joining Refinitiv, Smith spent eight years as a managing director in Ernst&Young's Wealth and Asset Management practice, where he worked extensively with many of the top 10 US financial services institutions on key wealth management areas such as product strategy, client and advisor experience design and development, retirement, operating model development, process improvement, platform implementation and service delivery strategy.
Before joining Ernst&Young, Smith held senior leadership roles at Fiserv/CheckFree, Misys (now Finastra), and Thomson Financial (now Refinitiv).
He led product management and marketing teams, focused on delivering wealth management technology solutions designed to enable financial services clients.
Smith has managed relationship management teams focused on working with C-level executives on utilizing technology solutions to grow and streamline their businesses.
Over the last year, Refinitiv has invested heavily in the business and is committed to bringing the most advanced solutions to the market, the firm noted.
"The ongoing transformation includes building out the firm's digital solutions by strengthening its wealth portal with widget capabilities and through strategic partnerships such as NRI, SigFig, MarketPsych, Appway, StoneCastle and Sberbank to add Digital Advice Technology, MarketPsych Indices, Automated and Customized Advisory and End-Client Workflows, and Enhanced Cash Management Solutions to Clearing and self-clearing broker-dealer clients," Refinitiv said.
"I am excited to join Refinitiv at an important moment in the transformation of the wealth management industry. As new technologies evolve to enhance the way wealth clients and financial advisors interact, we plan to be at the forefront of that change, and I am looking forward to assisting our wealth management customers in meeting the rapidly evolving digital needs of today and tomorrow," Smith comments on his appointment.
