Financial services has no shortage of expertise, but does the industry do enough to make its experts heard? For Eduard Lewis, Senior Consultant at The Agency Partnership, the answer is no.
After a decade directing theatre productions, including work with the Old Vic and Shakespeare’s Globe, Lewis moved into financial services communications, bringing with him a passion for storytelling and audience engagement.
“Financial services communications has become very good at being safe. I’m less convinced it’s still good at being heard,” he says.
For Lewis, the challenge is helping financial brands communicate with greater personality without compromising the regulatory standards and credibility the sector demands.
From theatre to financial services
Lewis’s career change was driven by a desire to apply his creative skills in a new environment. But his decision to specialise in financial services was also personal.
After losing his father at a young age, he saw how a financial adviser helped his mother maintain stability for their family.
“I’ve seen first-hand the difference good financial advice can make to people’s lives,” he explains.
“I think financial services could do far more to tell those kinds of stories. We spend an awful lot of time talking about products, technical details and market performance, and not nearly enough about what good financial planning actually gives people: freedom, security and greater control over their lives.”
This experience shaped his belief that effective financial communications must connect technical expertise with the real-world outcomes that matter to audiences.
Giving spokespeople a voice
One of the biggest lessons Lewis took from theatre was the importance of understanding an audience.
“In theatre, you can’t assume people will find something interesting just because you do. You need to understand who you’re speaking to, what they expect from you and how to engage them,” he says.
“The same is true in communications, although I think we sometimes forget it.”
He believes financial services firms can become too cautious about putting individual experts forward, favouring tightly controlled corporate messaging over distinctive voices.
The growing popularity of financial influencers highlights the opportunity for established firms to make their expertise more accessible.
“I think the rise of finfluencers should be a wake-up call for the wider industry,” Lewis says.
“Financial services firms have an enormous advantage here. They employ people with genuine expertise, experience and an understanding of the responsibilities that come with discussing people’s finances. But that expertise is of limited value if those people aren’t visible, accessible or engaging.”
For Lewis, the answer is not to turn every executive into a social media personality, but to identify the right people and platforms for each audience.
“That doesn’t mean every bank needs to launch a TikTok account. And I’m certainly not suggesting we need to get spokespeople doing TikTok dances!”
Balancing personality with compliance
Developing confident spokespeople requires more than traditional media training. Lewis believes communications teams must provide strong editorial support, identify relevant opportunities and help experts develop something meaningful to say.
He also argues that approval processes can sometimes dilute an individual’s voice before it reaches an audience.
“You can have an incredibly capable, engaging expert, but if every comment has to go through multiple layers of approval, each making it slightly more cautious, you’re going to struggle to develop a recognisable voice,” he explains.
His recommendation is to involve compliance teams early, establish clear boundaries and build approval processes that allow firms to respond effectively to the news cycle.
“None of that means compromising regulatory standards. Those requirements exist for good reason, and spokespeople need to understand and respect them. But we should be finding ways to work effectively within those parameters, rather than treating them as a reason not to communicate.”
Ultimately, he believes firms must trust their experts while giving them the support to communicate responsibly and confidently.
Authenticity cannot be manufactured
So what makes an effective financial services spokesperson?
For Lewis, expertise and communication skills are essential, but genuine conviction is equally important.
“You can train someone to be more comfortable in front of a camera or to structure their answers more effectively. It’s much harder to manufacture genuine interest or passion,” he says.
He points to Susan Hope at Scottish Widows and her work on the gender pension gap as an example of how subject knowledge and personal commitment can combine to create compelling communications.
The same principle applies to thought leadership. Simply appearing regularly in the media or posting on LinkedIn is not enough to establish credibility.
“You don’t become a thought leader simply by appearing regularly in the media or posting on LinkedIn,” Lewis says.
“You become one by having something useful or interesting to say, developing the conversations people care about and giving them a reason to pay attention when you speak.”
The future of financial communications
As consolidation, digital assets and artificial intelligence reshape financial services, Lewis believes clear, credible communication will become increasingly important.
Firms must explain complex developments, demonstrate their value and help audiences understand why they should be trusted.
As information becomes easier to produce and distribute, he expects genuine expertise and distinctive perspectives to become even more valuable.
His advice to financial services brands is to start with their audiences, identify the people best placed to engage them and invest in developing those voices.
“You have to contribute something worthwhile,” he says.
For Lewis, the opportunity is clear: financial services already has the expertise. Now, it needs to give its people the confidence and freedom to make that expertise heard.