Abbove is expanding its footprint in the European private banking industry, now reaching over 1,100 wealth advisors who use the platform to support more than 37,000 families and nearly 200,000 family members in their wealth strategy.
We thought it was the perfect time to sit down with Guillaume Desclée, CEO and founder of Abbove, to explore how his company is helping financial institutions lead their transformation.
In this interview, Guillaume shares his vision, explains how Abbove works, and outlines why now is the time to rethink the client relationship in the private banking industry.
Guillaume, thank you for joining us. Let’s start with the big picture — what is Abbove, and what inspired its creation?
Abbove is a wealth planning orchestration platform. What inspired us was a simple truth: wealth is not just about money or financial products. It’s about families, values, and life goals. We wanted to create a solution that brings this broader perspective back to the center of the client relationship — particularly in private banking.
That’s a powerful mission. So how exactly does Abbove support that vision?
Abbove helps financial institutions move from a product-centric approach to one based on long-term trust — at the level of the entire family. No one wakes up thinking, “Today I’ll open a life insurance policy.” People think about retiring well, helping their children, giving meaning to their wealth. Abbove gives banks the tools to guide their clients through these life goals in a structured, human, and collaborative way.
Can you walk us through the core features of the platform?
Absolutely. Abbove is a complete, collaborative, and actionable wealth planning platform. It offers:
- A 360° consolidated view of family wealth
- Tools to define goals and life projects
- Personalized recommendations
- Continuous monitoring and dynamic reporting
And all of this is designed to integrate lightly with existing bank systems.
Let’s talk about the industry. What challenges do banks face today that Abbove is helping to solve?
There are four key challenges:
- Strengthening client relationships — especially with a long-term, multi-generational view.
- Delivering more value — going beyond pure asset management.
- Digitalizing effectively — without creating operational chaos.
- Ensuring compliance — KYC, auditability, and responding to frameworks like FIDA.
Abbove is designed to address each of these challenges in a simple, coherent way.
And how does the platform actually support the wealth planning process?
We structure it in four steps:
- Centralize and harmonize all wealth-related data — family, legal, financial, documentary.
- Clarify objectives — inheritance, income needs, retirement, investment goals.
- Propose recommendations — tailored to the bank’s own products and services.
- Monitor everything continuously — using dynamic reports, alerts, and simulations.
It’s a seamless journey from understanding to action.
You’ve referred to Abbove as an “orchestration platform.” What does that mean?
It means Abbove serves as the bridge between the client’s personal needs and the bank’s internal expertise. Whether it’s private banking, lending, tax, or legal services — Abbove connects those needs to the right services at the right time, creating a coherent experience for the client and the bank.
Many banks are wary of complex integrations. How easy is it to implement Abbove?
We’ve built Abbove to be fast and modular. We offer open APIs that connect to CRM, PMS, DMS, and core banking systems. Most institutions can go live in under six months, with a joint team from business and IT. And the impact — on both the client experience and advisor productivity — is immediate.
Do you have results to share?
Absolutely. Among banks that use Abbove, we’ve seen:
- An average +18% increase in client NPS
- A significant boost in off-bank asset visibility. Wealth owners start disclosing their full financial picture once they engage with the platform. Today, 50% of the financial assets declared on Abbove are held outside the bank, giving institutions a much broader and more accurate view of their clients’ wealth.
- A +65 NPS among advisors
- And direct engagement with the Next Generation
Sounds like this is the right time for Abbove.
Exactly. The context is ideal:
- Regulation is pushing for more transparency.
- Clients expect more personalization and relevance.
- Technology now enables scalable, yet human, wealth planning.
Abbove is the catalyst for banks to embrace this shift.
What are the next steps for banks interested in working with you?
We typically start with a personalized demo. Then we run a use-case workshop to align with their client journey, followed by a tailored integration roadmap.
As we like to say: Technology won’t replace the human touch — but it can amplify it.
