Wealth management survey highlights digital strategy key to client engagement

Saxo Markets, the Institutional Division of Saxo Bank Group, has today published research in partnership with Compeer, a specialist in business performance benchmarking, competitor analysis and research services for wealth managers, which highlights that the majority of wealth managers surveyed believe that a coherent digital strategy is vital to client engagement. 

Over 86% of wealth managers surveyed cited a digital strategy as critical to client relations; however, despite this, only 43% of survey respondents are able to provide clients with digital monitoring of their portfolios. Survey participants also recognise the emphasis which younger investors place on digital platforms.

On the wider topic of outsourcing, this is mainly driven by the need for firms to increase scalability (71%) or in order to meet increasing regulatory change (57%).  Firms were also asked how they rated the current level of automation within their business on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being ‘very high’ and 5 being ‘non-existent’. 43% of firms gave 4 on the scale, indicating that whilst there are some areas of automation, these are somewhat limited.

Matteo Cassina, Global Head of Sales, Saxo said: “This research shows that there is recognition amongst wealth managers that digital channels have a key role to play in engaging clients and growing businesses but they do not currently have the requisite technology or platforms to maximise these opportunities.”

"Banks and asset managers should seek to enhance their client relationships with a digital strategy which can be achieved through outsourcing their technology to third party providers. The challenge is to ensure that the digital strategy covers the full value chain and is omni-channel - channel and device independent.”

Other findings of the survey include views on the role which technology plays in maintaining a competitive edge. 71% of respondents believe the superior technology of competitors is a threat to attracting new clients – although only 43% think that competitor technology will impinge on their ability to retain existing business.

All firms sampled in the survey are aiming to grow their current assets under management by between 20% and 120%. The majority of firms interviewed implied that organic methods of growth held the greatest opportunities as part of their overall business strategy, yet when asked whether their businesses were sufficiently scalable in order to achieve their stated growth objectives, only 43% of firms answered yes.

Profile of survey respondents:

• The size of firm by assets under management ranged from £433m to £6.57bn.
• The number of full-time employees ranged from 41 to 785.
• All of the firms interviewed offer wealth management services to private clients.