For all the uncertainty surrounding how financial services will operate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, one area that is guaranteed to change is stakeholder engagement. 通过面对面的交谈, on-site meetings and large gathering likely to be significantly scaled back or eliminated in the future, leaders of 存’s main external-facing functions are focused on how engagement and collaboration would evolve in the “new” business as usual environment.
During 存’s live-streamed 2020 客户端 Forum, titled “Business as Unusual - Defining the New Normal,蒂莫西·基迪, Chief 客户端 Officer and Head of 存的解决方案, 解释了过去的危机事件, 包括9/11, the 2008 financial crisis and Superstorm Sandy, provided lessons that laid the groundwork for the industry to maintain a high level of engagement throughout the early days of the crisis.
适应不断变化的客户需求
玛丽Chinnici-Everitt, 存首席营销官, commented that providing stakeholders and client-facing staff with timely information was essential, particularly early on as clients requested information on 存’s resilience plans. 沟通必须直接, 透明和频繁, particularly as events were fast-moving. 她说. “We needed to be able to experiment with new communications approaches and adapt quickly in order to provide information in a way our clients felt was working best for them.”
马克Vercruysse, 存 Head of Global Relationship Management, emphasized how past events helped shape the firm’s response., including the use of extensive planning and testing, early and frequent communications and flexibility and adaptability by both 存 and the industry.
沟通与协作
安·舒曼, 存总法律顾问, who served as point person overseeing 存’s outreach to the regulatory community said the firm hosted daily calls with supervisors to provide transparency into a wide range of risk issues and proactively shared information to maintain market stability. 监管机构, 反过来, made themselves readily available and fostered an atmosphere of partnership that was critical as extreme volatility endured for several weeks.
While 存 and the industry continue to address the immediate impacts of the crisis, they have also begun considering the most effective engagement approaches for the future. All agreed that virtual meetings provide an alternate way to interact with clients and key stakeholders and have proven so far to allow for more spontaneous and frequent collaboration and information sharing. Chinnici-Everitt noted that as firms settle into the new normal, technology will create opportunities to redefine the engagement model and make it nimbler and more responsive to stakeholder needs.
危机带来机遇
Shuman and Vercruysse said the ability to create more immediate feedback loops will benefit their constituencies in the future. 存 has already gained insight into which channels are proving to be most effective and will continue to communicate with stakeholders in a targeted way. As the focus changes from emergency communications to future strategic planning, 存 is working on understanding clients’ shifting priorities.
例如, Vercruysse noted that a top concern during the crisis has been operational and reconciliation issues, as well as excessive numbers of uncleared margin calls. Based on that feedback, he has worked with his counterparts in Marketing & Communications and Sales to provide information on 存’s Margin Transit Utility (MTU), which improves settlement efficiency and reduces operational complexity and risk for collateral call processing. Additionally, he took a similar approach to sharing information about 存’s Risk Management as a Service API, which allows firms to gain greater insight into their current and historical unsettled positions, letting clients analyze and manage risk and liquidity across functions efficiently.
While the “new normal" may remain somewhat undefined at the moment, how business is conducted will undoubtedly evolve as a result of the crisis. 然而, 根据三位小组成员的说法, that creates opportunity to experiment with new tools, approaches and channels to develop unique engagement models that serve the best interests of the firm’s diverse group of stakeholders.