An interview with Bart Vanhaeren, Co-CEO of InvestSuite, on how AI is transforming wealth management, client reporting, and advisor communication.
Bart, could you walk us through your professional background and your journey to becoming Co-CEO of InvestSuite, and what shaped your perspective on wealth technology?
I started as a management consultant at Arthur D. Little, then moved further into roles at EHS at Levi Strauss and GE Capital across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Later, I joined KBC, where I spent nearly two decades, and in 2013 became CEO of Bolero which is KBC’s online brokerage. We rebuilt it from scratch and launched Bolero Crowdfunding on the side. In 2018 I left to co-found InvestSuite, where I have worked ever since.
You’ve spoken about client reporting becoming a competitive battleground. Why do you believe performance reporting is overdue for reinvention at this stage in the industry’s evolution?
For decades, reporting has been treated as a compliance task, something you do because you have to, not because it adds value. The result is that firms put enormous effort into their investment capabilities and then communicate the outcome through a static PDF most clients don’t read. That gap between what firms do and how they explain it has real consequences. Clients are paying fees. If they can’t understand what they’re getting for those fees, trust erodes. The tools to do this better now exist and the firms that move will build a communication advantage that compounds over time.
Traditional reporting is often static and backward-looking. What are the key limitations of today’s PDF-based performance reports in meeting modern investor expectations?
They tell clients what happened, but rarely why it mattered or what it means going forward. They’re generic. The same template goes to every client regardless of their situation, their goals, or how they prefer to communicate. And they’re static. Clients are checking their portfolios in real time on their phones. A document that arrives weeks after period-end, describing that same period, feels completely disconnected from the reality they’re already living.
You’ve described a shift toward more narrative-driven, AI-enabled communication. What does a “next-generation” client report look like in practice?
It delivers tailored explanations of portfolio performance, in formats the client actually wants to consume: video, podcast, PDF, mobile, and web. It shifts reporting from a backward-looking exercise to an ongoing dialogue. The advisor or asset manager stays in control, compliance teams validate the content, and the tone matches the firm’s voice. The technology handles the personalization and the automation. That’s exactly what StoryTeller does.
How do you define the concept of “communication alpha,” and why is it becoming an increasingly important differentiator for wealth and asset managers?
It’s the value created when a client understands what’s happening in their portfolio and stays the course instead of making a reactive decision. That value is real as it shows up in retention, in fewer redemptions at the wrong moment, in less time spent firefighting. Firms recognize that how they communicate performance is just as important as the performance itself, especially in the era of hyper-personalization. That’s the insight behind the concept. As fees compress and products converge, communication is one of the few remaining areas where you can genuinely differentiate.
AI enables personalization at scale, but financial communication must remain highly trusted. How can firms balance hyper-personalization with transparency and regulatory confidence?
You have to be clear about where AI operates. The underlying data, the calculations, the compliance-critical content — those have stayed deterministic and audited. It is crucial to have zero hallucinated data. Compliance teams validate what goes out. What AI does well is the interpretive layer: contextualizing results, adapting language, making the narrative relevant to that specific client with relevant examples. You don’t use a language model to compute returns. You use it to explain what those returns mean in terms a specific client will understand. The combination of automation, personalization, and control is what makes it work.
What role do you see formats like video, audio, and interactive dashboards playing in the future of client communication compared to traditional written reports?
Investors today, especially younger generations, want greater transparency, personalization, and a digital experience. Format follows that expectation. For some clients, a two-minute video explaining a difficult quarter does more for trust than any written report. For others, a podcast or an interactive mobile view is the right medium. The underlying data and narrative stay consistent, while the format adapts to what the client actually engages with. And in the U.S., there’s no direct equivalent that offers that variety of formats for conveying performance details
How can AI tools help advisors proactively anticipate client questions and reduce the reactive burden of explaining portfolio performance?
When creating StoryTeller for Advisors, we thought of the preparation process that happens before the client meeting. So we thought of a solution that puts the advisor in a position for success from the outset. Rather than waiting for the call to come in, the advisor receives a personalized talk track, with conversation starters, key themes, and contextual insights drawn directly from the client’s portfolio data. We also went a step further and conceptualized an integrated AI agent that works in real time during the conversation: surfacing relevant data points, anticipating follow-up questions, helping the advisor stay focused on what matters most to that client. That pays dividends in both the quality of the conversation and the strength of the relationship.
What does this shift mean for the role of advisors and asset managers?
To put it simply, it makes them even better at their job. The routine work of explaining what happened and why should increasingly be handled by intelligent systems. That frees advisors to focus on what they’re actually best at — understanding a client’s evolving situation, providing judgment in moments of uncertainty, building the kind of relationship that no technology can replicate. We’re moving toward a high-tech, high-touch model where digital tools enhance the advisor-client relationship rather than replace it. We believe that’s the right direction.
Finally, what advice would you give to wealth management leaders who are just beginning to rethink their client communication strategy in an AI-driven world?
Start by asking honestly whether your current reporting actually serves your clients, beyond compliance needs. Ask yourself if a client actually reads your reports and understands their situation better. For most firms, the honest answer is no. Then ask what’s stopping you from fixing it. Usually it’s legacy infrastructure, compliance caution, and inertia. None of those are good enough reasons to keep doing something that isn’t working. Firms that invest in better communication are best positioned to retain clients and differentiate in an increasingly competitive landscape. The tools are there. It’s just a matter of taking that next step.
Quote: “Investors today expect the same quality of experience from their wealth manager as they get from every other digital service in their life. AI now makes it possible to meet that expectation — delivering personalised, narrative-driven communication at scale. The firms that recognize communication as a strategic asset, not an operational task, will be the ones clients stick with.”
