Episode 109 - David Benskin

In this episode of The Cannon Curve, Phil talks with David Benskin, founder and CEO of Wealth Access, Inc. to explore how fragmentation across banking and wealth platforms undermines both client experience and long-term value creation. David traces the firm’s origins to a simple but critical problem: advisors lacking a complete financial picture. He expands that into a broader discussion on connected data, leadership-driven transformation, and the strategic importance of wealth management as banks face pressure on traditional fee income. The conversation highlights how breaking down silos, prioritizing client-centric digital experiences, and leveraging technology (including AI) to enhance productivity, not just efficiency, can materially improve outcomes for advisors, clients, and shareholders alike. Ultimately, the episode underscores that in today’s wealth industry, sustainable growth is less about new products and more about leadership, execution, and using data to support deeper, more holistic client relationships.

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Transcript

Phil: Well, greetings Cannon Nation. Phil Buchanan here again with The Cannon Curve, episode 109. You know, on The Cannon Curve, we spend time with thought leaders within the industry, digging into not only their business strategy and concepts, but the ideas and the inflection points in their career that catapulted them into their current role and responsibility.
Today, David Benskin, the founder and CEO of Wealth Access from Nashville, Tennessee, joins us. David, welcome to The Cannon Curve.
David: Glad to be here, Phil.
Phil: David, Wealth Access. For our listeners, that is a, a company that is in the, the, the stratosphere of financial services. Uh, most, uh, of our listeners will have heard of Wealth Access.
They may not know the full details. Give me your value prop. What is that? What is Wealth Access? What do you do, and, uh, why does it matter?
David: Certainly go there. I think it, I think it actually starts in, you know, the genesis of Wealth Access. I spent about 13 years in my previous life, was a part of a private bank investment group team, and one of the challenges that, that we had at, at the time, going back to the global financial crisis, is I'd get these phone calls from clients with a simple question, you know, "Am I okay?"
Really tough times, right? But it was, it was a, a question that I couldn't answer because we didn't really have their full, you know, financial picture. It was difficult to understand. So, so it wasn't, you know, necessarily a, an, an issue at the time that could be solved. And so really thought that we should start a company, so I convinced my wife that it made sense to leave a stable, recurring revenue business to get into financial technology.
That was about 13 years ago. And in terms of our value proposition, Wealth Access is a connected intelligence platform. So the challenge that we're solving is really around data and conversations, and, you know, connecting people with their data. And if you think about a bank today Where they have multiple business lines and wealth, right?
They have a brokerage business, they have trust business, maybe they have an RIA, a family office, private wealth. But at their core, they're a commercial bank, and clients, you know, operate as one, but banks operate in more silos and separated. So when we talk about a connected intelligence platform, we take fragmented data from trust, brokerage, core banking, held-away accounts, and we resolve that for these financial institutions and for their clients to really see as one.
You know, so really give the advisors or the bankers or executives the same picture, the same picture for their clients, same picture for them. So we work with over 60 financial institutions. We're very focused on community and regional banks that have a, a wealth business and, and trust companies and, and RIAs as well.
But basically, we want our clients to see as one. We want the people data connected, and if we can activate that data out of these silos and, and other core systems, it begins with that connection.
Phil: You know, you and I have had this conversation numerous times. If you were, i- if, if you were creating a brand-new bank today from scratch, I doubt you'd build it the way most banking institutions are, are, are built.
You know, they've got CNI, they got retail, they got wealth, they got brokerage, they've got all of these disparate units reporting up to different people. The technology doesn't talk to one another. At the end of the day, it, it really ... What, what you're doing simplifies the client experience and how the client interacts with their finances and their financial institution, right?
David: Absolutely. If I were to start a bank today, how would I do it? I mean, I, I think what's important to point out specifically about banks is their involvement and the relationships that they have in their communities I mean, banks power our, our economy, right? Enable people like me to start a business. They en-enable people to grow their wealth, to open their first checking account.
And so I, I think it really starts with the importance of, of banking in, in general. But I think what's, what's evolved over time, and, uh, obviously M&A has picked up quite a bit, I, I guess more last year, which is kind of how that fracture additional system to products, uh, takes place. But the reality is that they've got amazing relationships and, and I think what we're seeing is that they wanna be able to support their clients through their entire journey, right?
Imagine you open your first checking account, you buy your first house, you need a mortgage, you start a business, you need a line of credit or treasury management. You sell your business, you need wealth management. Like, whatever part of the journey that, that they have, and I think where they sit today is because of the amazing relationships and the involvement that they have in their communities.
Uh, they just have so much more to offer, but it creates challenges as well with more systems and more data and, and just the challenge there.
Phil: Yeah. A-a-and again, we've talked about the research project that, uh, we completed last year, the paper that we put out, uh, banks leaving billions of dollars on the table.
And it, it really ties into this thesis that banks do a fantastic job, particularly with business owners, right? They do a fantastic job of helping these business owners to create and build their wealth. Business owners, you know, the majority of their wealth is, is typically tied up in their business.
Marketable securities represent 20, 22% of their overall net worth. And there's this, there's this friction That, that tends to occur in, in banking institutions. You know, the business banker, the commercial banker feels that, you know, they own the relationship. They, uh, you know, they, they got the, the loan that is outstanding, a line of credit or, you know, treasury management, whatever it is.
Then there's this other relationship that the business owner may have established with that same financial institution or some other financial intermediary for their, their, their personal wealth, and that creates actual friction for the client because they're getting multiple statements. They're, they're trying to assimilate their information.
They've got tax planning challenges and, and all the issues there. Um, I see many banks being more intentional about breaking down those, those walls, if you will. Your technology piece is a, is a large portion of that, but a lot of institutions still seem to be missing the boat on the, the full, a- a- as you referenced, the full life cycle of a client from wealth creation to perpetual generational wealth management.
Why do banks struggle with that so much?
David: Well, I think it's a lot more front and center now in terms of a, a priority. The struggle is because I think there are commercial banks at their core, right, in terms of the 30 million-plus small-medium business owners and, and, like, going back to their, their relationships that they have in the community.
That's, that's the core. But I, I think when you bring up wealth management and, you know, cross-selling, I think you, you mentioned the importance of, uh, the commercial banking relationship and, and how they, they work well together. You know, one of our presidents of one of our bank clients, I thought he said it really well.
He said, "We wanna be one bank with a team of experts." But we are the, the, you know, we are the financial institution. These are our clients, again, across all the, the segments that you mentioned. But, you know, your, your research report from, from last year, we're, we're actually also, uh, working on a, a, a report as well.
I, I think what's, what's happening that is specifically at banks is related to really the, the structural collapse of, of fee income, right? If you start to think about overdraft fees are basically gone. Mortgage fees are collapsing, and I don't know what the exact number is. I think it's north of, of, of 20% or so in terms of, of fee revenue, right?
And, and so if you start to look at that, you know, wealth, and there was a bank in the Midwest, their CEO came out and, and said with the biggest lever that they could pull to get their, their fee revenues back up was really within wealth. And I think- If you look at, you know, the various fee income categories, it's, it's really the most, you know, recurring, consistent, capital efficient part, part of that.
And so we're actually partnering with banks, and, and I think it's getting, you know, to the executive level and even to the board level to make sure that they're doing it. I mean, from a, a bank executive's perspective, it's more, "I want to diversify my balance sheet and increase shareholder value," right, in terms of how to do that, and so how do I get my house in order to be able to do that and to be able to support clients through their entire journey?
And I think, you know, wealth is a key driver, uh, to be able to, to do that.
Phil: When we were together at a conference recently, you shared a, uh, a statistic about banks and the contribution of fee revenue from wealth and how those banks were performing relative to, uh, popular bank index. Un- unpack that a little bit for, uh, for our listeners.
David: Yeah. So we have, uh, been studying this hard. Pa- part of it is just the, the growth of our, our client base and the growth of their wealth business. You know, if you, if you look at more growth-oriented banks, we actually started to look at it a, a, a couple of different ways. Back to the, the, the fee revenues and obviously wealth for some of the more well-established wealth businesses, uh, have done quite well.
I was speaking, uh, leading a panel discussion at a- an event earlier this year with two executives from, uh, two of our, our bank clients. And in, in preparation for that, did an analysis and, and they were regional banks, so compared against the, the KBW, uh, Regional Bank Index. And they'd, you know, over the last ten years combined, had outperformed the index by about sixty-five percent, uh, over that timeframe.
Now, there's a lot of, you know, what's the attribution to that? Sure. Is it just wealth? There's, there's so many different things that could happen there, but it was very intriguing to me and, and so started to unpack that a couple of different ways. So we started to, to analyze a broader, you know, than just those two clients, and it is pretty consistent that, you know, wealth as part of the diversification of your balance sheet, it's, it's not cyclical in nature, right?
As net interest margins are compressing or fee income, uh, is challenged, it's not cyclical, right? Obviously, there's market volatility, but even when that occurs, it's, it's, you know, still, uh, an opportunity to, to grow the business. And so the other interesting thing that we found, Phil, is, okay, so you look at RIA valuations that have gone through the roof, right?
Private equity money's coming in, paying them top valuations. But if you look at bank valuations, right, they're, they're trading price to book, right? So how does this wealth business contribute to that? So they do better, but they're not getting those types of valuations. And so what we decided to take a look at is, what if you just ripped wealth out of banks?
You know, what would, what would, what would it look like as far as a return on equity? And it's significant. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's over, ballpark, depending on the, the bank, at least where we are today, uh, is seeing it's around 300 basis points. So I think wealth is important. How you get there and what the leadership needs to do, um, how they prioritize it, how they cross-sell, how they organize their data, those are all, you know, things that they need to do.
But if you just look at from a, a, a shareholder's perspective, from a board's perspective, from a bank executive, uh, it starts to, to be a very important part of the overall business.
Phil: You, you used an important term right there. You said the leadership of the process. I go back to a prior conversation that you and I had.
You said it's really not a, a management issue, it's a leadership issue to get there. What did you mean by that?
David: It, it's hard, right? So just to, to unpack this a little bit. So you, you talked about, you know, the, the different lines of business, right? If you, it, you know, commercial represents commercial, retail represents retail.
Wealth, I mean, you even see wealth that may have, you know, a brokerage business, a trust business, private wealth business, maybe brokerage rolls up to the head of consumer. I mean, there's, there's, there's challenges there, right? And, and I actually think the leadership starts at the very top from a, from an executive perspective and understanding.
What we've seen do really well is when, you know, they're making investments in the business and understanding how they can support their clients in this entire journey, wherever they are with their, you know, team of experts. But I also think that the challenge is just prioritization. I mean, look, I mean, we've, we've talked about this a bunch, Bill, right?
It's like banks have data in silos. They, they have, you know, tight budgets, and they have limited resources. And then obviously with M&A, uh, happening as, as, you know, and, and as banks are getting bigger, that creates other challenges, right? It's, in terms of their prioritizing and how they're gonna go about doing things.
So in, in terms of understanding what the value of the wealth business is, but also being able to lead that to make some of these decisions, right? You know, you go to a, a bank website, they have 17 different logins. It's like they've got all these different products and solutions You know, what if you just, you know, put your client about, like where, where do you want your client to go?
How are they going to engage, uh, and, and buy all these products or engage your, your team? And then internally, you know, people are talking a lot about doing more with less, but, you know, how, how can you be efficient from a, from a business? But to answer the question directly, I- I think it's around culture.
I mean, technology decisions are important, uh, but I think it really starts with who do you wanna be? Where do you wanna be, right? What is... as, as a company and a culture a- and leading that, uh, to get the right people to, to make the decisions. And then the other aspect of that is, as a leader, having the courage, uh, to determine here's the business case, here's the ROI, here's the solution to be able to, to take advantage of that.
I, I wanna say one thing. I know I'm rambling about this one a, a bit, but I've, I've been spending a lot of time over the last few years, you know, we have really... our, our client... well- wealth access is a very client-centric company. A lot of our integrations, a lot of things that we've done, we've learned a ton, you know, over the last decade about challenges that they have, right?
But I think one of those is, you know, what's included in the board discussion. And, you know, when the board gets together, what-- how are they thinking about it? And so I actually attended, uh, an event earlier this week in, in Nashville that a bank director put on, and it was, uh, their C-suite, so it was CEOs, presidents, heads of, of banks, as well as boards.
And I had an opportunity to meet several board members of banks, and the question that I was asking them is, is wealth on the agenda at the board meeting? And it was a little-- it, it was a mixed bag, right? Some, some said, "Absolutely, and, and, you know, we're, we're looking at the business and, and, and supporting to invest in that."
And others, it just-- it, it doesn't. Yeah. And so I think from a leadership perspective, being able to communicate internally within the organization, to be able to speak to the commercial banking head, to be able to speak to the CFO, to be able to speak to the CEO, but to rise all the way to the board level and get stuff done, right?
Phil: Well, it is all about execution, not, not concepts and, and ideas, but, but execution. One of my favorite movies that I think I've ever, ever watched was Jerry Maguire. It, it's a combination of, uh, a lot of different themes. Um, they're, they're from the business side, there's, there's a lot to learn, but, uh, also on the personal side, there was the, the moment, uh, when, uh, you know, he sees, he sees his wife and, uh, he, he starts explaining things and he loves her, et cetera.
So she said, "Just stop it. You had me at hello." Uh, and I just, I, I love that line. Well, you had me with a slightly different statement. You, you, you uttered a phrase one time. You said, "Technology is really a mirror." For these organizations. And you went on to talk about that, uh, in a lot of instances with organizations you've worked with that there's...
I, I, I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but either there was not an awareness of the, the robustness of the technology and information that, that the, the banks had, uh, or an understanding of how they utilize that information to, to make decisions. Unpack that, that theme a little bit for us.
David: Yeah. You know, I, I think it's a great question.
You know, the... I mean, and, and we see it consistently, right? Uh, if you... A, a, a bank that had a platform for a couple of years, you know, hasn't turned on half the features, you know, is that a, is that a vendor problem? Uh, is, you know, is that a leadership ownership problem? I, I think, you know, in terms of a lot of the technology decisions, sometimes they're driven by IT, you've got procurement, you have operations.
I- is it driven by the business leader who uses the output, right? So a tool, tool gets deployed and 30 to 40% adoption, and it's, it's forgotten. Two years later, I see a, a, a demo of it and says like, "We actually own that? Like, we, we have that?" Um, so I, I think it's a mirror showing how much curiosity when I was thinking about that to the room when the, the decision was actually made, like, the, the reaction there.
Uh, so leaders who really use technology will stay genuinely uncomfortable with it, and keep asking, you know, "What can it do now that it couldn't do six months ago?" The ones that, that we see that may fall behind treat it as it solved the day, you know, it, it deployed. But I think that's part of, part of technology, right?
And, and I was, again, at this event earlier, uh, this week, and one of the things that we were talking about in terms of, you know, technology, uh, decisions, I think part of that, you know, that decision process that as a leader, it's important to ask, "Is this solving our problem or somebody else's problem?"
Right? When you're evaluating what, what you may do. And so, and then even evaluating that in, in terms of what they, they already own. I think that there's a lot of technology that may be somewhat of a point solution or a core system that you've had for 30-plus years. Uh, maybe it, it does have more functionality, uh, as well, and the other- The other thing we see is, like, it's hard to, it's hard to make changes, you know, from, from different platforms.
There's a user, there's a subject matter expert, there's somebody that's been there for 30 years that understands exactly how it works. But I think, you know, the, the challenge there with all of these different point solutions or these core systems that we see in terms of adoption, and they're just not really designed to work together, right?
There's not the... I don't think the technology, a lot of the, the technology that's used by bank and wealth management firms today was designed to necessarily work with other systems. It was designed for trading. It was designed for trust accounting. It was designed for, you know, digital banking. Um, and really how you can orchestrate that and to be able to make sure that it's solving your problems based off of what you're trying to do with your business and your clients, I think is, is, is really important.
Phil: You know, a quarter of a century ago when you got in the, the, the business, it was, it was an absolute requirement that you be part of, you know, a, a somewhat scaled organization if you wanted to, you know, deliver a full suite of services to, uh, affluent, wealthy, ultra high net worth individuals. Today, you and I have many friends who have gone out and created their own small boutique firm, and they have, they, they, they basically outsource almost everything that they do.
Uh, and they utilize technology to deliver a, a very branded, very simplified client experience. And they have access to, to banking solutions. They have access to insurance solutions, wealth solutions. And, and these individuals spend their time on the phone and in the face of their clients, their potential clients, and, and their broader community of practice.
What's, what's a key lesson that, that banks need to take away from that type of flexibility, scalability, efficiency? A-a-again, thinking carrot and stick right here. Um, you know, what, uh, w- what are things that they need to consider about where technology has empowered, uh, small boutique practices to compete and, and fight well above their weight class?
David: I, I think it's a great question. I, I would reframe it a bit. Um, and part of reframing the... Y-you know, I, we ask our clients and, and other, other financial services professionals. I mean, I, I think if you actually start with if you were to not be a wealth advisor or not be a banker, and just think about it from, you know, your own experience, like what is the best technology, right?
What's the best, what's the best client? What's the best technology that you've used? And, and usually it's, you know- You hear like an Amazon come up or, you know, you know, Apple, whatever the, the technology may be. And if you think about Apple for-- I mean, excuse me, Amazon, for, for example, you, you log in, you've got one login.
It knows who you are. It's gonna tell you what you wanna buy because you've already bought it, or it's gonna tell you something that you haven't bought before that you need to. And you like click a button, and it's like there same day or the next day. Like, it's, it's so easy, right? If you think about the client experience.
And so I, I, I definitely think this ties into banks and wealth management in general. But I, I would challenge, you know, the financial institution and thinking about what their experience actually is, right? And it's not just the digital experience. It's what, what happens when they come to your branch, right?
What happens when you're s- you know, sponsoring an event and your people are, you know, at a local, you know, foundation event? Like, what is, what is that experience like? Um, how-- who are you rep-- Like, how are you representing your firm, and, and what is the, the experience there as well? And I think it's really across the board.
Uh, what we've seen that's re- been very interesting is, you know, if you go to a typical, you know, community regional bank website, and you click on the login screen, and you see a dropdown. You know, some of them have at least three, right? I'm going to retail banking, commercial banking or wealth. A lot of them may have ten or even more than that.
So that means that the client is logging in. They have to go find where they should log in. Then they have to go look at, okay, these are these accounts with this financial institution. Now I'm gonna log out and go somewhere else. Or they're logging into digital banking, and they click a link that takes them, you know, from ABC Bank to their broker-dealer's website or something like that, right?
I, I think if you think about it, just focusing on the, the technology and the digital experience, that's really where I would focus. You know, thinking about here's what consumers expect today and how can you simplify that experience and, and, and the why. The easier that it is to access their information and engage, it's gonna improve the experience.
It's probably going to improve, you know, the conversation that your bankers or your advisors are going to have, or trust officers, whomever they are, with the clients. And what happens with that? They're gonna do more business, right? So I, I think a lot of the technology that is available today, you can start to commu- you know, orchestrate that where you're connecting these various systems.
But just think about the client experience first, right, in terms of what the ease should be. We had a, uh, we were, I was at a, a digital banking conference and, uh, I thought this was interesting. I'll, I'll share this with you as well. So we were in a room and there were 20 heads of digital banking and, you know, we're wealth access.
Where, where does that rank? I've always said that like wealth sometimes it's like the Rodney Dangerfield of the bank. It's like sixth on the list. But here's what was fascinating. We, you know, we asked them that same question about the digital experience and, you know, one of the challenges that they, they have is they were saying, "Okay, you know what?
Our clients can see all of their information on our digital banking website." And they're like, "Well, how do they do that?" "Well, they use aggregation." So they log into the bank website, and you know what I'm talking about, like the self-directed, here's your username, your password, your mother's maiden name, you go find the institution.
And so the data that came out of that was fascinating. The, the demographics of the actual users of that, I mean, in the, in the industry sense, like a, a PFM, a personal financial management type tool that provides aggregation. And I think it's amazing. We've-- we, we have that, that functionality at Wealth Access as well.
But it tends to be, you know, more Gen X looking at savings and budgeting and, and wants to aggregate their, their data. If you look at... We've talked about this numerous times. What, what's the number, Phil, in terms of the wealth transfer? It's like a hundred and five trillion dollars from baby boomers to next generation.
Yeah. With
Phil: a, with a T. That's right.
David: With, with a T. And so I think like that's not necessarily that generation. So people talk about connecting with next generation. What about what's in your own four walls? You know, you've got these wealth customers that are probably baby boomers that represent the bulk of the wealth, which obviously could drive deposits, could drive wealth, but they've got to go through that process.
And so why can't you, as a financial institution, back to your question, have an experience to where at least clients can log in and they can see their trust account, their brokerage account. You know, they can see their accounts, they can see their mortgage, their credit card, their bank account, see all that information in, in one digital experience without having to go through the various logins or having to do the work, um, where links can break at times.
And so I think it drives adoption, it drives experience, and I think that's something from a, a banking perspective and how we were talking about the different silos, they can kind of come together and really, you know, work with what's in their own four walls and deliver an experience to their clients, uh, really that they expect
Phil: Yep.
I, I, I, I totally get it. And you're right, um, you know, a lot of, a lot of financial institutions don't understand that some of their greatest competitors, maybe not for financial services, but some of their greatest competitors are the Amazons of the world. They are the Starbucks of the world, where you literally can, you know, touch a button on your app and drive through and pick up a cup of coffee, and you've, you- you- you've had no exchange of cash.
It's a good morning, and, and you're gone. Well, that, that is an experience that, that people value and appreciate, and then they interact with their financial institution, and it's not a seamless experience. They, they have all these machinations that you describe that they go through, and that leaves them frustrated.
It leaves them not... They're not mad at the institution, but they are not delighted by the institution. So I think that is, um, I think that's a great framework. David, you're one of the most affable individuals that I've had the opportunity to know in my career. You're, you're, you're hale-hearty, well-met, all those kind of fun things, but you've got a rule, and I, I, I love this rule.
It's called the no whiners rule, okay? Um, unpack your no whiners rule. What, what does that, what does that mean to you? Where did it come from, and how do you apply it in business?
David: Yeah, I, I mean, I think it's more of just getting stuff done, figuring out what the solution is, not the, not the problem. I mean, you've, you've heard that, right?
We've, we've talked about that. You know, I've watched, you know, talented people that have shrunk their careers by really narrating their constraints versus really solving them, right? And, and at whatever, whatever company, whatever role, whatever, whatever that is. Um, and so I, I think it's focusing on the solution and, and then working through the, the, the problems.
Uh, it's a lot about, like, not we can't do this or, uh, we, we see it at, at financial institutions, not necessarily the, the whining aspect, but it's hard, right? You've got priorities, and, uh, other lines of business have their priorities, uh, in terms of what, what they're representing as well. And I, I think part of that is just foundationally the, the culture, right?
How can you connect... I mean, I think earlier you were talking about- You know, commercial bankers. And, you know, I've-- when, when I was at Merrill, I was there for two years and two months after the Bank of America acquisition. But I mean, part of it is, you know, they're, they're really important. They're supporting, you know, the small media business.
But, you know, connecting those, being able to have a conversation, right? Can, can you, can you take a commercial banker out for a beer or coffee and, and have a conversation and try to figure out how to work together and determine what the solution is? And it can be done, and, and we work with over sixty banks today that are getting it done.
And so I think it's, you know, putting the plan together, understanding from a, a... What, what is the problem that you're trying to solve. And I think sometimes you just have to break it down more first principles. Like, if you were to start fresh and, like, how would we get this done? Um, because it is... It- it-- No question there's, there's, there's a lot of challenges, particularly in the bank space, uh, of being able to navigate that.
And I... An idea of the, the bank leaders that, that I've talked to, I would absolutely say that they are not whiners. They are, they are really leading initiatives within their organization to, to get things done. But it's, it's not easy, right? I mean, I think part of it, you know, we think about the, the sh- the shareholder value aspect we were talking about and, you know, non-def-deposit fee revenues.
It's like, let's say the board or the executives are obviously focused on, you know, being risk adverse, but also increasing shareholder value. You know, what is your contribution to that, right? It's not another point solution or another product. It's, it's how do you do that. And I think where we've seen those leaders have the most success is when they have a plan, they have conviction in their plan, and they go execute it, right?
Get the things out of the way that are, that are the problems that drive the solution, which, I mean, the results are, are, are real. I mean, I think from a, from an ROI and a business case, seeing wealth leaders within banks and what they've been able to do is, is really impressive. And I think it's more figuring out the solution, leading that and, and, you know, really making sure that, you know, it's not necessarily about the, the positivity or the culture slogans, uh, it's really about the agency.
Phil: Love it. Penultimate question and, uh, short question, short, uh, short answer right here. AI in banks and, and financial services firms, a tremendously transformational issue or simply an issue that'll be accretive to efficiency and workflow?
David: That's a really good question. So what's, what's interesting about...
I, I, I call it bank pace, right? Sometimes when we talk about banks, it's like the race to second. And I would say, you know, going back to late 24, you know, uh, as we'll see you, uh, soon in Nashville at our annual event. If you were to go back to the event in 2024 when AI was brought up, and, and it's a peer-to-peer discussion.
It's typically about 25 leaders. They all get in the room and, and, you know, there's, there's no vendors. It's about them really talking about challenges. And so AI, you know, came up, and I would say that, that it, it was not really being considered at, at that point. And I don't know exactly the point in time last year that that changed, but, uh, we had our event last year, uh, in September, and about a third of the group was, "We're not there yet."
A third of the group was basically saying, "Yes, we're using AI. You know, our firm is... You know, we've licensed C- Copilot, right? Microsoft Copilot." So it's kind of the, the note taker. Now every- everybody's got a note taker and, and email and recording and all, all of that stuff. And then a third of that group was, "We're all in."
Right? The, the CEO just came back drinking the Kool-Aid, ready to go. And, and I would ask them the next question is, "Okay, how are you gonna do it?" And the first thing was, "Well, we're gonna go hire an AI person." That's not the easiest thing to do, right? Um, and the second is, "We're gonna get our data, you know, together.
We're gonna, we're gonna get our data right, and we're gonna hire a person." And then the sec- the, the question after the data set is like, "How long has your data project been going on?" It's like, "Well, it's a five-year project." You're like, "Well, what year are you in right now?" And it's like, "We're in year 13."
Right? Trying to figure that out. And I, and I share that with you because I do think that we're seeing... I mean, most technology companies have AI that they're offering in some way, right? I think that creates a significant challenge. I mean, the bank executives that I'm talking to, it's AI from every different direction.
Every vendor has some solution. What's active and what's not. Uh, but the part of that, that, that, that is really important is I think data is important. I, I mean, you've used ChatGPT or, or, uh, where AI starts to hallucinate, you know, at times. And so it's as accurate as the data, uh, that you have. So I, I, I think that's really important in terms of the, the, the, the, the data aspect and then obviously the security.
When you're dealing with PII and thinking about information and, you know, I- Security is, is really critical in terms of what's happening with that data. And so to answer your question directly, our approach with AI has been more focused on productivity, right? We actually when we, we brought it up, we didn't use the word...
Like we didn't say AI. We talked about productivity- And we talked to the, this peer-to-peer group, and we identified five specific use cases. One of them that was really interesting to touch on in terms of productivity, it takes banks a really long time, multi, multi-business line, you know, trust, brokerage, commercial retail bank.
It takes them a long time to put together like a client review, right? In terms of understanding what that is. And so we started to try to quantify that, uh, for them, and being able to put structured and unstructured data together to be able to automate that. And so I think there's a huge opportunity from a productivity perspective.
We hear a lot from banks in terms of do more with less, right? So what are the thing... What are the tasks, what are the things that you could, uh, leverage AI, uh, to do? The other aspect of it, and I think this is in Wealth Access in my company's wheelhouse, is, you know, part of the genesis of Wealth Access, going back to the Merrill Lynch days, is like building spreadsheets and trying to gather data simply to have a conversation with clients.
It's always, you wanna be able to have a conversation. You know, advisors wanna be able to say to their clients, "You know, is your family still intact? Are you selling your business? Are you more risky? Like, what, what's going on?" And it's hard to do that when you're gathering data and they're gathering data as well.
Um, and so I think being able to access significant amounts of data, have you updated your wills? Like, do you have a loss carry-forward from '25 that we should be considering? Like, starting to think about the actual use of that data for, for advisors. I, I, I think it's significant, uh, in terms of, of, of what tools that, uh, that you can use, but I, I can't overemphasize enough security is, is really critical, uh, to, to consider in the data aspect.
But I think the productivity and the ability to have conversations and to be able to have the human element, which is really important, but can you enable these, you know, superpower advisors to, to have a real understanding of what's going on, to have a conversation? I think that's a really good use case that, you know, we'll start to see over the next year or so.
Phil: Okay. All right, great. Well, David, we always ask our guests on The Cannon Curve, uh, the same final question. You have, uh, no doubt reflected on it, uh, just a little bit, but the question's very simple. If you, David Benskin, at this stage in your career, uh, with all the knowledge and experiences and, uh, insights that you've gained, if you had an opportunity to go back and have a little counseling, a little coaching session with 22-year-old David Benskin, uh, what bit of wisdom, wit, or insight would you offer that young man?
David: It's a good question. Going back to, uh, to that- point in time, I would say that never underestimate the value of your network. You know, and I, I think part of that is I, you know, I still have, you know, mentors of mine from when I was in my early 20s that still stay in touch with, different businesses, different people.
Uh, I, I would say, you know, always continue to learn, but never underestimate the value of your network. And as you're building relationships, make sure that, you know, you're being thoughtful and, and continuing to, uh, uh, to value those relationships.
Phil: That is tremendous insight because, uh, at the end of the day, regardless if we, uh, run, you know, banks, wealth management firms, technology firms, consulting education firms, uh, we are still people doing business with people.
And, uh, those relationships, uh, you know, at the end of the day, uh, they really, really matter. So great, uh, great insight. David Benskin, the founder and CEO of Wealth Access Incorporated, thank you for being part of the Cannon Curve.
David: Thanks, Phil. Enjoyed it.
Phil: The Cannon Curve is a production of Cannon Financial Institute.
Executive producer of the Cannon Curve is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner. Production assistant is Kiran Abbott. I'm Phil Buchanan, and on behalf of my guest, David Benskin, we're thanking you for staying ahead of the curve