Javier FerrerDirector of the Financial Communication Department of the PROA Comunicación agency.The report explains who it is aimed at, what it brings and what the challenges of financial communication are.
To whom is financial communication addressed?
Financial communication is a business support tool for companies in the world of finance: banks, insurance companies, fund managers, portfolio managers, financial intermediaries, investment services companies, family offices.
What does financial communication bring to them?
It helps them to position their brand as a differential with respect to their competitors, conveying the qualities of each particular business model to the market and to different audiences - the media, social networks, consumers, institutions -. And it serves to manage the reputation of companies, providing transparency when they are experiencing difficulties and specialisation when it comes to reporting business results.
What does a financial communication service need to be effective?
It requires highly specialised teams in the activities that generate revenue for financial institutions: investment advice and management, financial planning, transaction banking and financing. And it requires extensive knowledge of both the value proposition in products and services and the distribution channels through which each company delivers its offering to customers.
What are the challenges for financial communication in the current scenario?
Digitalisation, because it leads to significant savings in distribution costs, brings operational and consultative advantages for customers, thereby forcing a transformation of business models. Tighter regulation, in the case of Spain's Mifid II, because it requires distributors and product manufacturers to change their revenue model, as well as greater effective protection of customer interests. And, in the specific case of banking, the management of its reputation, to improve an image damaged by the inefficiencies caused by the 2008 crisis and the subsequent restructuring in the sector.