Trends in the European Wealth Management Technology Market

The European wealth management landscape remains particularly challenging. The ability for firms to change their business models, customer segmentation strategies, and service proposition will strongly contribute to their success in retaining clients and expanding relationships. Despite a difficult environment, European wealth managers are keeping their technology budgets steady, and several are modestly increasing them.

The first of several reports on the European market, Trends in the European Wealth Management Technology Market, describes how wealth managers continue to contend with several restructuring and integration projects as a result of mergers and consolidation. Wealth managers are also facing an increasingly demanding client base, new service channels, and wealth transfer to a younger, tech-savvy generation.

“Firms are addressing front and back office technology requirements to become more agile in delivering advice. There are a number of in-house and third party systems running at firms today that require integration to provide a seamless experience to home office, advisor, and end customers,” says Isabella Fonseca, Research Director in Celent’s Securities & Investments group and coauthor of the report. “The desire for greater efficiency and seamless operations puts increasing demands on technology infrastructure, particularly as it relates to integration across front, middle, and back offices.”

“The wealth management vendor market in Europe is crowded and mature. In an effort to differentiate, vendors are focusing not only on functional support but also on geographic coverage and local regulatory expertise,” adds Alexander Camargo, Celent Analyst and coauthor of the report. “Wealth managers have a long list of choices, but should consider their long-term needs and map those needs to vendors appropriately. For example, wealth managers need to consider whether they are looking for a front office provider or a front-to-back office provider. Additionally, they need to consider whether they plan to enter new markets, or whether they need deep expertise in a given market. This will allow wealth managers to shortlist providers appropriately.”

This report begins with an overview of the drivers of technology adoption in the European market and follows with a look at market and technology trends. The study describes investor product preferences and channel preferences. This is followed by a technology preview, where Celent lists and briefly illustrates the vendors that will be profiled in subsequent reports. Finally the report provides a vendor positioning based on geographic coverage and functional breadth.

Three additional studies will look at front office vendors, front-to-back office providers, and core banking providers active in the private banking industry.