Addressing Reputation Management in the Digital Age at Citi’s Wealth Management Boot Camp

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: International business communications consultancy Instinctif Partners teamed up with Citi to address reputation management in the digital age at the global bank’s Wealth Management Boot Camp.

Instinctif Partners delivered a presentation titled: ‘Managing Reputation in the Digital Age’, which focused on the reputation risks facing high profile high net worth individuals (HNWI) in an increasingly interconnected world. Samantha Bartel Al Khalaf and Ben Curson took the audience through examples of individuals and companies suffering reputational as well as commercial loss as a result of rapidly spreading negative social media content, and gave guidance on how to prepare for crisis communications management.

Commenting on the Wealth Management Boot Camp, Money K., Managing Director & Global Head of Citi Private Bank’s next generation segment, said:
“The Next Generation Programme is an investment in the future of our clients and our business. We aim to make the next generation more financially savvy so that they can make informed decisions about their personal and family wealth and in their aspirations for the family business or entrepreneurial ventures. The reputation management presentation by Instinctif is a relevant topic particularly for succeeding generations of our clients as social media is a pervasive communications channel with considerable opportunities as well as risks when not utilized and managed properly.”

Samantha Bartel Al Khalaf, Managing Partner of Instinctif Partners in Dubai, commented:
“The digital age’s pervasive and invasive nature presents numerous risks to HNWI families in terms of compromises in security, privacy and confidentiality. The risk to their reputation, and their family business’s reputation, is therefore larger and long lasting because stories are not forgotten online. Our workshop focused on protecting an individual’s as well as business’ reputation, in an era where social media has eradicated geographical boundaries and news is instantaneous.”

Ben Curson, Managing Partner, Corporate Affairs, Instinctif Partners UK, added:
“Family businesses are especially affected by the actions and reputations of members of their family. This is particularly challenging as one cannot control the actions of every family member, nor can the responses to a particular incident be controlled or managed once the incident finds its way into the digital space. This is where crisis communications and education on the reputational threats that exist through the use of social media become a vitally important topic on the wealth management curriculum.”

The three-day Next Generation boot camp held in Dubai is part of a series of workshops for scions of Citi’s most significant wealth management clients around the world. The Boot Camp attracted individuals ranging in age from 21-30 years, who were taught the key principles of wealth management including: Investments, Markets & Finance; Entrepreneurship & Innovation; Family Legacy Planning, Art Investing, among other topics.

Since the Next Generation Programme’s inception in 2002, more than 1,000 scions of clients have taken part in the workshops worldwide.

The workshop took place from the 11th – 13th November in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.