HONG KONG, 28 November, 2001 - PwC Consulting(superscript: TM), a business of PricewaterhouseCoopers; Fincentric; Microsoft Hong Kong and Firium have launched a new wealth management solution in Hong Kong. The solution will help financial institutions service a new segment of customers, the "mass affluent".

To serve this new segment of customers, financial institutions need a different approach, says Arvind Mathur, a partner with PwC Consulting who leads the wealth management practice in East Asia.

"By our definition, the mass affluent have between US$200,000 to US$1million in free assets," says Arvind. "Our analysis shows that they are technology savvy and demand financial services that reflect the way they manage their professional and personal lives. They expect high levels of personalised service wherever they are, whenever they want, from their financial services providers. Their needs are different from those of the mass retail and high net worth segments which financial institutions have been serving."

According to Arvind, there is a gap in the financial services market between the totally personalised services for the high net worth customers offered by private banking and mass-market services for the mass retail segment. "Financial institutions need to move fast to develop the infrastructure, services and products to meet the needs of this fast-growing mass affluent segment. They also need to understand the motivation of these customers, the technologies they use and how their needs differ from traditional customer profiles."

A recent study published jointly by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Economist Intelligence Unit reports that wealth management service providers are caught between the new and the old. They are serving a customer base which demands new technologies, new products and new relationship models, but also wants the old - the traditional privatebanking strengths of personal service and advice.

In view of the above, Arvind says that financial institutions should think about three things. First,what customers they are trying to serve. Second, what part of the wealth management value chain to be in. Third, whether they want to develop their own solution end to end, or work together with other financial institutions. Once they develop strategies on these points, financial institutions will need strong implementation providers to deliver the business and operational changes required. PwC Consulting, Fincentric, Microsoft Hong Kong and Firium have come together to provide the tools and solutions required to address this.

PwC Consulting has proven experience in wealth management, with a track record in providing strategic change, operations improvement and technology solutions to financial institutions. Together with Fincentric's flagship wealth management solution i-Wealthview(superscript: TM), Microsoft (superscript: ®) .NET enterprise software platform, and Firium's financial planning solution iPlan, the wealth management solution aims to give financial institutions the competitive edge of increased flexibility and speed to market.

Mike Cardiff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fincentric Corporation, says: "Our i-Wealthview(superscript: TM) Wealth Management System is at the core of this solution, and is key to driving business
strategies for increasing customer acquisition, retention and profitability. Asian financial institutions see the lucrative opportunity in offering wealth management services to the mass affluent consumer sector. We were the first wealth management software provider to focus on financial institutions that targeted this sector, and will continue to work with PwC Consulting, Microsoft Hong Kong and other parties to deliver wealth management software solutions that allow institutions to manage their customers' total net worth."

Mimi Ho, Senior Director, Enterprise Partner Group, Microsoft HK Ltd says:"Through our .NET initiative, we have been driving the adoption of a new Internet standard which will offer new levels of interoperability across all kinds of web-based systems. This Microsoft .NET based wealth management solution is a highly reliable and scaleable enterprise solution which offers financial customers the agility required by this digital economy."

Jusuf Sjariffudin, President and Chief Executive Officer, says that with Firium's financial planning solution iPlan, "consumers will be able to monitor and manage their investments with different financial institutions from one self-service wealth management point".