1) What does trust look like in a custodian-client relationship today, and how have clients’ expectations changed as more of the service becomes digital?
Trust in a custodian-client relationship begins with the fundamentals. We need to safeguard assets accurately and transparently, while maintaining operational resilience.
What has changed is not those fundamentals, but how clients expect trust to be delivered and what that experience looks like in a digital era. As services becomes more digital, clients will expect real-time visibility of information, a seamless access to digital, and strong cyber and data protection. They also expect custodians to identify issues early, be transparent about them and resolve them quickly.
In the past, trust was defined by institutional strength and operational history. Today, however, trust must be earned through every digital interaction, backed by clear human accountability when clients need advice or support.
2) As technology automates more processes and interactions, how important is the human relationship in building and maintaining trust with clients?
Technology can streamline processes, making them faster, more efficient and more accurate. However, it can never replace the human element.
Automation enhances the client experience by providing speed, accuracy and visibility. People, on the other hand, bring judgement, context and accountability, especially in complex markets or when challenges arise.
Technology should deepen relationships, not replace them. The strongest model combines seamless technology with trusted human advice. Technology delivers efficiency, while people deliver trust.
3) When adopting emerging technologies, how do organisations balance innovation with governance, security and resilience to ensure trust is strengthened rather than compromised?
The key is to build governance, security and resilience into innovation from the start, rather than treating them as hurdles at the end of the process.
This principle needs to be embedded from day one. That means testing in a controlled environment, learning quickly, and scaling only when the technology is secure, resilient and delivering clear value. When done well, innovation strengthens trust rather than putting it at risk.
Technology sets the pace of innovation, but trust sets the pace of adoption. Governance and resilience do not slow innovation; they provide the confidence to scale.