BISA Magazine - Quarter 2, 2017 - 15

Boomers vs. millennials: "We ate time.
They eat data."

with things like administration and
documentation. Indeed, it might leave
advisors more "face time" with clients,
which is arguably a good thing. Companies like Charles Schwab are already
using robo-advisors extensively to
attract more self-directed investors.
What about the millennial generation?
Has an aging sales rep cohort come to
grips with the younger client generation - one that some say is fundamentally different from its predecessors?
Insana doesn't see enormous generational differences. Every generation
rebels in its youth and grows conservative with age, he said. Youth has
always been unfathomable to older
generations - just read the ancient
Greek dramatists. Sure, some adjustments will need to be made. Older
advisors are used to spending hours
on the phone with clients. The younger

generation tends to avoid phone calls;
they embrace more concise means of
communication like texting.
"We ate time," commented Insana, who
was born at the tail end of the baby
boom generation. "They eat data."

Stick with 'plain vanilla'
Overall, do banks have a future as
distributors of non-depository products? "They have a future, though I'm
not sure it will help them," Insana
said. Banks would do well to avoid the
more esoteric financial products. As
long as they stick with "plain vanilla
products," like mutual funds or simple
annuities, they will be seen as "revenue enhancers." But "if derivatives
get out of control again," then the
non-traditional products will prove to
be a trap.

"I have no inherent bias against the
one-stop shop" - e.g., banks offering
insurance and securities in addition to
traditional banking services, he said.
But some prudence is required. "When
banks go too far afield, they usually get
into trouble."
Overall, Insana urged perspective.
In his keynote address, he noted that
the U.S. remains politically stable
and demographically healthy (unlike
Japan, say, which is projected to lose
20 percent of its population in coming decades).
The European Union (EU), by comparison, is not so politically sound. A
rapid UK exit from the EU could be
economically disruptive for Europe. So
could the growth of nationalism and
populism in France and other European
nations. Russia has been allegedly meddling in U.S. politics, and potentially in
Europe's affairs as well. Putin's Russia,
for its part, is suffering from low oil
prices. Elsewhere, Japan is "moribund,"
Brazil is in the dumps, and on and on.
For decades, "The U.S. has been the
[world's] best bet," Insana told BISA
convention attendees. A change of
administrations in Washington, D.C.,
is unlikely to alter that. ▲

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15
BISA Magazine

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BISA Magazine - Quarter 2, 2017