The Evolving Wealth Management Client Base and Delivery of Advice

I recently attended the “Robo Investing Europe 2018” conference in London – their 3^rd annual conference devoted to digital investment and advice across wealth management. Of particular interest was the panel discussion between Joe Parkin (iShares, BlackRock) and Dr Ella Rabener (Scalable Capital), moderated by Celent’s Will Trout. They discussed the trajectory of digital advice, the evolving client base and delivery of financial advice. Their conversation is relevant to some of my research, which has looked at the impact that millennials, nextgen, mass affluent and digital savvy investors have on the traditional wealth management industry.

I have found that the industry continues to search for the right balance between high touch and high tech wealth management, particularly as we are in an era of digitalisation whilst facing stringent industry regulations and a significant shift in client base. The industry continues to combat the social stigmas among most individuals that saving is “uncool” and that the wealth management industry lags behind in digital innovation compared to client experiences in adjacent industries. Traditional wealth managers have made progress incorporating robo and digital advice platforms into their offering. They increasingly recognise that the technology is an enabler and a necessity to attract and retain both nextgen and current clients. However, there is a mismatch between the customer experience outside of the financial services industry and the services offered within the wealth management industry; this has led to a client engagement gap.

The client engagement gap is explored further in my recent report, Designing the Digital Wealth Management Client Experience: Emerging Technologies and Client Expectations.