Wealth managers need to disrupt themselves

On the face of it, wealth managers ought to be full of confidence. An ageing population is about to bequeath its accumulated wealth to a younger generation still at work. The tax system is designed to encourage saving but also sufficiently complex to create the appetite for technical advice. Digital technology is cutting the cost of acquiring and servicing customers. Stock markets buoyed by extraordinary monetary policies mean revenues based on ad valorem fees increase effortlessly. Capital requirements are lower than in banking. Yet wealth managers nevertheless find themselves under margin pressure. Clients are less willing to pay fees, especially for active asset management, but are demanding better digital services, access to environmental social and governance (ESG), social impact, crypto-currency, digital asset and other alternative asset classes. They also want increasingly detailed tax and investment advice. A range of new entrants, armed with new technologies and rich customer data, are taking the next generation business the incumbents once took for granted. And clients, who remain more loyal to their advisers than the firms the advisers represent, are more willing to move than ever before. The burden of regulatory compliance is getting heavier. As a result, wealth managers find their revenues under pressure from the shift to passive investing while investment in new technology, compliance and a different type of talent is driving up their costs. As firms struggle to bring revenue into better alignment with costs, the wealth management industry is consolidating, placing further pressure on the cost structures of the firms that remain independent. This webinar, hosted in conjunction with FinTech Wales, will explore how wealth managers are adapting their businesses to margin pressure, mutating competitive threats, rising demands to invest in new technology and data and the difficulty of combining personal relationships with digitised offerings.

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