BaaS was made possible by technology. Today WealthTechs perform that role, providing services across the value chain of Wealth Management, and serving as a conducive ecosystem to implement the WaaS model. Firms such as Temenos and InvestCloud already offer platforms that can be modularly deployed across the entire WM value chain. These extended bank services foster the energies of institutions and third parties to better collaborate through a “Wealth Marketplace” that add value for end clients.

As with any other SaaS model, an ideal WaaS offering should leverage new technological paradigms to enable modularity and be adaptable to customer needs and ambitions. It should thus have the option to be offered either as a turnkey solution on a shared platform with low customization, or as a personalized platform that is custom-made for advanced client needs with extended bank capabilities. Offers could range from a full WaaS on a shared platform, a Hybrid WaaS that can be deployed modularly, to a private WaaS on a personalized platform. In any form, WaaS must have the necessary features to append to the capabilities of an FS provider:

  • Open: It should allowomni-channels to be easily plugged to third-party APIs
  • Modular: It should be built on new architectures that offer a modular approach – to deploy progressively, only the required components
  • Multi-tenant: It should be able to serve multi-entities in a vast array of geographical, legal, and financial combinations
  • Cloud-native: It should be designed to reside in the cloud, across any cloud service provider, and offering the benefits of microservices and auto scaling
  • Pay-as-you-use model: Pricing models should be evolutive – usage based, packages, subscriptions – to be able to serve the needs of every client firm​
  • Continuously enriching: To remain competitive, the WaaS ecosystem should be continuously enriching its service catalogue with best-of-breed solutions​

As many providers of WaaS models emerge in the market, banks have already started to join the trend and grab the early mover’s advantage. With the Wealth Management industry ripe for harnessing the benefits of a WaaS model, the success of BaaS models has already paved the way for its adoption. With the technology and a marketplace already established, it will be interesting to witness the trend unfold.