There was a time when robo-advisory represented the peak of fintech’s contribution to the wealth management industry. And these services continue to be popular options for a new generation of savers and investors. The Statista Market Forecast indicates that the robo-advisor market worldwide is expected to grow by more than 6% by 2028, with more than 34 million investors relying on robo-advisors.
At the same time, enabling technologies like machine learning and AI are generating new ways for fintechs to bring the benefits of technological innovation to the wealth management industry. But it is important for fintechs to avoid building solutions in search of problems. What are some of the real trends and true pain points in the industry that fintechs may be able to help solve?
Democratization
One major theme in wealth management is democratization. For generations, wealth management has been the province of, to put it bluntly, the wealthy. Services were often expensive and opaque for the growing number of upper-middle class and middle-class investors of the 1980s and 1990s.
There is still a healthy market for high net worth investors, of course. But we have seen a major trend toward leveraging technology to make some wealth management services that were previously available only to the elites accessible to investors of lesser means.
There is also another way of looking at democratization in wealth management. In the same way that technology is enabling average investors to access increasingly sophisticated wealth management services, so is technology making it possible for smaller providers to compete with larger wealth management rivals. Fintechs that can help smaller firms and family offices do more with less may find significant opportunities among the growing group of wealth management entrepreneurs.
Personalization
Personalization has increasingly been seen as table stakes in financial services, and with good reason. Whether you are involved in payments or lending or ecommerce, the ability to get relevant products and services in front of your customers is paramount. Not just knowing what customers might want but also being able to deliver is what separates those businesses that gain new customers and keep the ones they’ve got, from those who struggle to do so.
Fintechs can enhance the customer experience by, for example, ensuring that wealth managers can communicate with clients in their channels of choice – and are able to bring significant functionality to those interactions in those channels with video or co-browsing. Knowing which customers are more likely to respond positively to new or alternative investment strategies, for example, or to other complementary products or services can go a long way toward building better engagement and loyalty.
Operations
One of the less flashy areas where fintech technologies can help drive innovation in wealth management is in back-office operations. This is also where enabling technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are delivering Automation 2.0 to intelligently streamline manual tasks and complex procedures. This trend, which has brought speed, accuracy, and cost-cutting to industries throughout financial services, is one that will benefit wealth management service providers significantly.
Moreover, many of the other trends in wealth management – such as the challenges of managing (and securing) ever-growing volumes of data, keeping up with evolving regulatory changes – are made possible by operations teams that have these powerful, enabling technologies at their disposal. For wealth management service providers who are not yet maximizing their teams or these technologies, fintechs can help them close the gap.
Decisioning
From buy-and-sell decisions to strategic portfolio allocations, wealth management is about making good, consistent decisions. Not only do wealth management service providers constantly seek to improve their investing strategies – one area where fintechs can provide specific expertise – but also these firms need to think about more than just maximizing returns. Keeping portfolio volatility at an acceptable level based on the risk tolerance and profile of the individual investor is just one example of another important function of the successful wealth manager.
Making good decisions is also about accountability. Having systems in place that ensure that processes are explainable and auditable is critical to accountability. It is also vital to an institution’s ability to learn, adapt, grow, and improve.
Compliance
Keeping up with the latest regulations is important for all financial service providers – and wealth management companies are no different.
As mentioned previously, one of the biggest benefits of enabling technologies like machine learning, AI, and Automation 2.0 is the ability for firms to track regulatory changes and ensure that their operations are able to meet new standards. An article earlier this year in Financial Planning listed 10 separate regulatory issues that wealth management firms are likely to face this year, from regulations on marketing language to rules governing digital assets. Moreover, many wealth management firms have internal rules and mandates based on the type of investments they offer and to whom. As such, remaining compliant with an institution’s own governing policies is also a challenge for which regtechs in our industry can provide assistance.
Growth
One of the most exciting ways that fintechs can bring innovation to wealth management services providers is to enable them to grow and expand their businesses by offering services that, while complementary, could be difficult to offer (much less integrate) without technology partners.
Whether through APIs or embedded finance, there are a range of complementary services that fintechs can provide to wealth managers. From insurance to estate planning to secure document digitization and storage, fintechs are able to provide services that wealth management customers often need, but are inclined to get elsewhere. By adding these solutions and services to their product mix, wealth managers can dramatically increase their capacity to grow.
Photo by Charles DeLoye on Unsplash