She’s interested in helping women take charge of their finances and advance in their careers, but her people skills have launched her into the digital side of transforming wealth management.
Casciato was able to wed both aspects in her last job. Given that women are expected to control 31% of the wealth in Canada by 2024, but the industry’s leaders and advisors still don’t represent gender or diversity equity, she was pleased to be able to increase the number of women leaders in BMO’s frontline contact centre roles from 20% to 45% They lead teams of 15 to 20 customer service – or investment – specialists and now are all women of color.
She’s also been the executive sponsor for BMO’s North American Customer Contact Centre’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council and a member of BMO’s employee-run diversity, equity, and inclusion board of directors. She’s pleased that they’ve started mentorship programs and done virtual events, and she often gets to speak to increase awareness about diversity, equity, and inclusion and getting more people engaged. “I get a lot of value in watching women succeed,” she said, “and truly feeling like I’ve helped them.”
Casciato now is head of the section that oversees customer service and sales, but is also driving BMO’s digital transformation across its wealth business. She said her role is “to meet the clients in the way that they want to be served – and, increasingly, they want to be served digitally. For my business, which is self-directed investing, they want to have the best possible platform and servicing that they can have because they are do-it-yourself investors.”
That also means providing them with the ability to connect with the help they require. “Increasingly, I see that as being more digital than phone,” she said. “My experience in the broader wealth business has taught me that for some pieces – particularly when you’re dealing with high-net worth individuals and family offices – there’s a relationship component that’s really hard to replicate digitally. So, we need to be prepared to meet our clients where they are, to have the digital capabilities and continue to have those – face-to-face virtually through technology – relationship pieces with another human because that’s important when you’re dealing with people and their money and advice.”
