Latest Wealth Management Report from Refinitiv. Getting Personal: How wealth firms can attract and retain the modern investor

Refinitiv’s latest Wealth Management report is entitled ‘Getting Personal: How wealth firms can attract and retain the modern investor’.

The report is based on research commissioned by Refinitiv that surveyed more than 1,500 self-directed and advised mass affluent and high-net-worth investors, located across 13 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France/Monaco, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and U.S.

The study highlights the need for wealth managers to personalise the client experience through a combination of digital offerings and high-touch service, ensuring existing clients stay engaged and prospective clients feel that their money and their future will be cared for over the long-term. The study found that to build client-centric solutions that attract and retain investors, wealth management firms need to understand what sets their investors apart and what similarities they share. The study discusses: what investment opportunities clients want, how they want to interact with those opportunities and why they are investing in the first place.

Key findings of the study include:

• 51% of investors globally are familiar with sustainable investments
• 32% of millennials believe tokenised assets will have the biggest positive impact on financial markets, followed by 23% for non-fungible tokens (NFT)
• 58% of advisor-led investors and 62% of hybrid advisor and self-directed clients state ‘advisor recommendations’ as the most reliable source of information
• 64% of millennials and 51% in the 35-54 age bracket are willing to pay more for personalised investing products and services: Latin America stood at 70%, Asia Pacific 47%, Europe 33%, and North America 22

Sabrina Bailey, Global Head of Wealth, Data & Analytics, LSEG said: “As investor needs continue to change and reflect new ways of investing and doing business, so too must those of financial advisors to retain clients and grow their business. Our report makes clear what those key investor expectations are and what financial advisors need to do to inspire confidence: provide a broader range of digital capabilities, personalised products and services, and alternative investment opportunities.”

William Trout, Director of Wealth Management, Javelin Strategy & Research said: “The rise of next-best-action and direct-indexing tools point to investor yearning for personalized service and proactive engagement from the financial advisor. The Refinitiv Wealth Management report both highlights the role of the advisor as a catalyst for decision-making and underscores the contribution of digital technology in shattering trade-offs between customization and scale.”

April Rudin, CEO, The Rudin Group said: “Today’s consumers have grown not only to appreciate, but to expect the ‘know me’ experience from the companies with whom they choose to interact. It’s no surprise they would expect the same level of personalization when it comes to their investments. Financial advisors are waking up to this notion and actively evolving their offer, but as this study underscores, there is lots of work – and opportunity – still ahead.”

Key takeaways from the study include five steps for advisors to personalise their client experience:

• Choose your alternatives: Ensure you can meet the growing need for alternative investment data gaining popularity among investors, including cryptocurrencies, NFTs and tokenised assets
• Get social: Develop your social media presence to increase engagement and exposure of your service
• Enhance mobile: Enhance mobile access to your investors’ portfolio, including real-time data, trading tools and tax documents, to increase collaboration and effectiveness
• Keep it simple: Build a single view of your client’s investment portfolio, increasing efficiency and streamlining the client experience
• Humans drive loyalty: Leverage technology to enhance and improve the human touch, not replace it

For a copy of the Refinitiv wealth management report titled ‘Getting Personal: How wealth firms can attract and retain the modern investor’, please visit: https://www.refinitiv.com/en_us/resources/special-report/getting-personal-in-wealth-management