How Morgan Stanley Wows Its Ultra-Wealthy Clients

How do you think about and describe the role of your current team in the broader Morgan Stanley ecosystem?

The simple way to describe it is in two parts. First, we connect Morgan Stanley UHNW clients with a dedicated concierge, and second, this concierge helps them to access and use the services of a highly curated and tailored selection of third-party service providers across a number of different areas.

We often say that Signature Access serves as the connection between clients' financial plans and the challenges that touch every aspect of their day-to-day lives.

The services that we deliver are all delivered through more than 60 third parties that we have identified and brought together on our platform, and they are helping our clients lead happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives.

What types of services are some of these third parties providing?

We bucket them into five primary categories. These are travel and concierge services; health and security advisory services; tangible asset management services; household financial administration; and personal enrichment.

Let's say a client is interested in organizing a dream trip to Italy and taking their whole family along, but they just don't have the time or capacity to do all the planning that is entailed.

We can connect the client with a bespoke travel provider that can put together that elevated experience for the client and their family — everything from procuring a villa to bringing in chefs and curating different travel experiences along the way.

In terms of other cultural experiences, sometimes people might have a dream trip that would require some special access — perhaps to the Louvre Museum in Paris or the Vatican, for example. People have these dreams and bucket list items that they want to experience, and they come to us and see if we can be helpful in making that happen.

Can you tell us more about the security-focused services? Is cybersecurity growing in importance, for example?

Yes, I would say so. It's something that is important, but not often discussed — things like personal safety both at home and in terms of international travel. This is especially the case for some of our most prominent clients.

So yes, we have a curated selection of physical and cybersecurity solutions providers. As I said, these services are more important for anyone who has a big public profile or maybe suddenly finds themselves in the spotlight.

Maybe they won hundreds of millions of dollars in the lottery and it's a big national story. Now that people know you won the lottery, are you a target for a cybercrime that we could help you get ahead of?

What other services see a lot of interest and uptake?

I would say that the health advisory solutions are big, too. We can help clients answer some difficult questions, like what happens if you have an accident in a foreign country?

Closer to home, what if you are diagnosed with a rare disease or form of cancer, and you want to work with someone who can help you get connected to all the best resources and support?

We can connect them with help in managing treatments and finding the right specialists that they need. It can make a material impact on the quality of life, as you can imagine.

No client is going to use every provider, but we do have repeat customers. Maybe we helped them out with a specific challenge or opportunity in the past, and they were pleased with that, so they come back to us for support when something else comes up.

It can be simpler things too, like organizing trips to fun events like the Master's or a PGA tournament. Others are much more complex in nature, but the central idea is to deliver value added services to the UHNW clients.