Wealth Management Newsletter

April is a month to spring forward, and not just in terms of the clock

Those of you who attended our Innovation and Insight Day in New York last month got to see the future up close, both in the general session and in our dedicated wealth and asset management stream. Model Wealth Manager Award winners included Deutsche Bank Spain in the Client Experience category for digitizing the investments reporting process, and BNY Mellon Pershing, which won the Innovation category for its use of biometrics in payments authentication. In the Products and Platforms area, Fidelity Investments was recognized for its advisor-facing digital advice platform, Fidelity AMP. Model Asset Manager winners included Legg Mason in the Distribution category for invigorating the wholesaling function via analytics, benefitRFP in the Innovation in Risk category for their interactive diagnostic risk tool, and ODDO BHF Asset Management for the Core Transformation category for achievements in streamlining their internal processes into one single operating model.

More excitement is to be expected in May, as my London-based colleague Ashley Longabaugh and I provide a detailed perspective on the future of the online brokerage business. Nowhere is the pressure on the transaction-based model more evident; at the same time, the ascendance of Millennial and female investors and the launch of AI-assisted investor tools are helping to fuel new interest in trading. Firms facing margin pressure will have to balance incorporating this technology with embracing new areas of activity altogether. Efforts by online brokers to add checking and other banking services to their propositions underscore the speed at which activities of financial services industry verticals are converging.

This phenomenon is perhaps even more pronounced in the vendor landscape. I recently teamed up with my Banking colleague Joan McGowan on a report to study the extent to which the data preparation tools I profiled in my February study, The Citizen Data Scientist: Data Preparation, AI, and Self-Serve Analytics in Wealth Management, are being deployed in the banking space. The smart use of data is a key focus of our practice, with Ashley’s recent webinar on the data-driven client experience , reports like ePrivacy Regulation: Taking GDPR One Step Further, and an upcoming study on client reporting casting a critical eye on how information is gathered and shared. We trust that you will find these and other reports planned for the second quarter to be of interest and value.

As always, feel free to reach out to us with question or any suggestions for upcoming research.

Will Trout
Head of Wealth Management