Charles Smith

The wealth management industry is changing and the shift to more digitally focused relationships can make it difficult to personalise and differentiate the client experience.

In this paper, we look at how wealth firms can address the growing need for personalisation by using new techniques and developing strategies to better understand and serve their customers.

By leveraging differentiated data such as demographic, psychographic, transactional and behavioural, providers can… Show more

The wealth management industry is changing and the shift to more digitally focused relationships can make it difficult to personalise and differentiate the client experience.

In this paper, we look at how wealth firms can address the growing need for personalisation by using new techniques and developing strategies to better understand and serve their customers.

By leveraging differentiated data such as demographic, psychographic, transactional and behavioural, providers can create unique personas that, combined with digital tools and communication channels, can help attract and retain more customers. Show less

Digital transformation and the buy vs build decision is one that all financial institutions face. Refinitiv explores a new hybrid strategy to lower total cost of ownership, bring digital strategies to market quickly and improve the client experience.

Modern Wealth: The Roadmap to Improved Investor and Advisor Outcomes highlights the distinct shift taking place across the advisory industry from discrete products, accounts, and technology tools to integrated, household-level solutions.

The report finds that optimized, household-level wealth management has moved from the realm of "the next big thing" in advice to the new standard. This shift is bringing about new complexities and opportunities for financial services firms as they seek… Show more

Modern Wealth: The Roadmap to Improved Investor and Advisor Outcomes highlights the distinct shift taking place across the advisory industry from discrete products, accounts, and technology tools to integrated, household-level solutions.

The report finds that optimized, household-level wealth management has moved from the realm of "the next big thing" in advice to the new standard. This shift is bringing about new complexities and opportunities for financial services firms as they seek to connect multiple technologies and data sources to better enable advisors to help investors achieve their financial goals.

The report includes quotes from industry-leading platform builders and defines the building-block-dots that wealth management firms must connect to create an integrated platform ecosystem capable of delivering a frictionless experience and improved outcomes for both investors and financial advisors. Show less

Gender lens investing (GLI) is an opportunity for wealth and asset management firms to promote gender equality on a global scale. Right now, its full potential is far from being realized. For wealth and asset managers to maximize GLI’s potential, a broader and more modern approach to this form of investing needs to be defined.

The investing landscape is evolving, and asset managers must adapt their practices in response to a general trend toward passive management. There’s more than one way to integrate sustainable investing into a portfolio. Active managers may benefit from greater flexibility in meeting individual investment goals.

Blockchain, the underlying technology of bitcoin, is drawing significant focus and investments from many financial institutions in the industry. Given the technology’s potential to both disrupt and enhance processes and systems, many wealth and asset management firms have recently dedicated resources to understand and integrate blockchain into their businesses.

It is crucial for wealth management firms to identify, incentivize and support optimal client service models among their financial advisors. Many firms agree on the potential benefits of advisor teaming, but they face challenges shifting mindsets away from the traditional individual advisor model. The question remains, how do firms implement new advisor teaming models in a fair, consistent and effective way that doesn’t alienate top-producing advisors?

To develop a solid understanding of a client’s needs, an advisor must take a holistic view of the client’s goals throughout his or her lifetime.The concept of product allocation can help address those needs: advisors can use allocation and product selection tools to select optimal insurance, income and investment products to help clients successfully reach their goals. In many cases, advisors must look beyond traditional investment options to deliver the best solution for their clients.

As clients and advisors continue to work together to adjust to the world after the financial crisis, a frequent discussion is whether investors have the appropriate asset allocation to account for market movements or risk profiles. However people often overlook whether they have an intelligent tax strategy and whether tax impacts are being minimized within the portfolio. Spending the time to make sure your accounts and holdings are established in a tax-efficient manner can enhance returns and… Show more

As clients and advisors continue to work together to adjust to the world after the financial crisis, a frequent discussion is whether investors have the appropriate asset allocation to account for market movements or risk profiles. However people often overlook whether they have an intelligent tax strategy and whether tax impacts are being minimized within the portfolio. Spending the time to make sure your accounts and holdings are established in a tax-efficient manner can enhance returns and does not require an increased ability to select investments. Firms and clients are starting to realize that there is a systematic method for increasing returns without changing out any assets. It is the concept of asset location, or the logical distribution of investments to the most tax-efficient account type based on the tax impacts of each investment. Firms that take advantage of technology that can optimize the location of clients’ assets can drive a meaningful increase in after-tax returns — improving client satisfaction and retention. Show less

The wealth management (WM) industry is facing a strategic shift in how it approaches compensation. As the independent registered investment advisor (RIA) channel grows and the current generation of financial advisors (FAs) retires, firms have been forced to re-evaluate how they attract and retain top talent. Questions around the right balance of fee-based, salary and commission-based compensation are at the forefront of the discussion, even as new strategic and behavioral incentives are gaining… Show more

The wealth management (WM) industry is facing a strategic shift in how it approaches compensation. As the independent registered investment advisor (RIA) channel grows and the current generation of financial advisors (FAs) retires, firms have been forced to re-evaluate how they attract and retain top talent. Questions around the right balance of fee-based, salary and commission-based compensation are at the forefront of the discussion, even as new strategic and behavioral incentives are gaining momentum. Similarly, unprecedented access to industry information has given FAs and clients new insight into how firms are compensating advisors and has raised questions regarding whether their current approach should be updated. Show less