Meet the Member - Etcho

Tell us a little about Etcho 

Charlie and I founded Etcho in 2020, at the time the world of ESG was taking off, and we saw a gap in the market as the majority of work was being carried out for compliance, consultants, and data providers but little for private wealth advisors working with individual investors. We wanted to provide hyper-engaging sustainability insights into people’s portfolios using the most innovative data out there and inspire them to understand how they can potentially improve the sustainability of those portfolios over time while keeping with their financial goals. The company started as a mobile app for the mass market before pivoting to a B2B SaaS platform.

The entire process ultimately deepens the adviser-client relationship with both current and potential clients and helps to drive business and move capital toward the most sustainable themes.

The team is constantly growing with deep experience in the private wealth, sustainable finance, and tech world.

Where does the name come from? 

The name Etcho stems from the Ewe language of Ghana. While we’ve changed the spelling and pronunciation a little, it translates as ‘tomorrow’, with the idea that we are creating a brighter tomorrow.

 
What does Etcho do? 

At the moment, we largely operate within the private wealth world, specifically working with trust companies in the Channel Islands and London. As the product continues to develop, we’re starting to partner with multi-family offices and private banks across jurisdictions. 2025 will see us explore the US and Singapore.

At the top level, we’re helping to align wealth management to what drives clients. At the client-specific level, we have a distinct set of real pain points that we’re solving.

Why should people be excited about what you do? 

We’re redefining the adviser-client relationship and bringing the industry into the 21st century. Wealth creators are getting younger and more entrepreneurial. They expect the latest in technology and are more conscious of what they can invest in. Firms need to differentiate if they are to win beauty parades. The current product iteration is in its simplest form and just the beginning. Some of the partnerships in the pipeline and product updates will give us monumental scope and I’m confident we will create a huge impact within the space.

Talk us through how you help specific financial sectors. 

Trust Companies 
For trust companies our focus is on helping

– Drive revenues
– Reduce client attrition
– Differentiate
– Fiduciary duties

There is a lot of pressure on trust companies to differentiate and keep revenues continually growing, especially as more and more become private equity backed. We offer an opt-out service for trust companies to roll out with all their clients and help monetise their book, which instantly generates revenue and also helps trustees reconnect with clients and understand what’s in their portfolios, which also helps towards fiduciary duty, which is great. Fiduciary duty is evolving, and the role of trustees and advisors, being one step ahead, is crucial in a fast-changing landscape.

Separately, by advisers sitting down with their clients and their families and understanding their values and how they relate to their trusts it helps stop client attrition rates. With Etcho, we often get pigeonholed into sustainability experts for a small subset of end clients and benefactors; however, what we’re offering is more about values and helping to start the conversation – it’s not just about climate crisis! Everyone has values, and for the modern-day adviser, understanding these is fundamental. Therefore, we want advisers to use it with all their clients, not just those who are ‘sustainably focussed’.

Multi-family office (MFOs)
For MFOs our focus is on helping

– Differentiate
– Build deeper intergenerational client relationships
– Increase AUM
– Towards fiduciary duty

Our tool is well set up for the family office space, particularly multi-family offices. In the multi-family office space, what we’re trying to do is help deepen client relationships, which may, in turn, ultimately increase their book of business. Advisers in the multi-family office space should have good, holistic oversight of a family’s wealth for current and future generations. Our tool can kick off that process by understanding the values alignment across all portfolios, even if they’re with different custodians. We can then provide some insight into potential next steps. This is becoming more apparent as clients who are starting to inherit money or become involved in family wealth are more conscious when it comes to where their money is invested. The key here, though, is that every client is different, with different levels of commitments and values, and that’s a key point for us; our tech offers a bespoke experience at scale and is often used in tandem with a consultant or adviser to take it further.

Private Banking 
The world of private banking is something we’re now starting to enter and, ultimately, it’s part of our longer-term vision as our product evolves and becomes more sophisticated. It’s not miles away from the multi-family office use case but revolves more around portfolio creation rather than engagement. We’re constantly working with bankers at leading firms to mold the product, and many of our investors and team come from that world. Mike, our CIO, was CEO of the Asia private wealth business at RBC in Singapore. Private banks all share a common goal of creating sticky relationships and ultimately managing as much wealth for that client as possible. How can we differentiate from the other custodians and gain wallet share? Again, for us at Etcho, it’s about really understanding the client beyond just their financial goals and helping create a portfolio that’s truly aligned with these and in line with the bank’s parameters. This is a really exciting part of the product and has the potential to be quite a powerful tool in helping shift billions towards a more sustainable future, which, of course, is our original vision.

Describe what working with Etcho is like, in three words: 

Working at Etcho is
– Innovative
– Satisfying
– Challenging