3 Predictions For The Future Of Wealth Tech
Wealth management is in the process of undergoing accelerated digitisation. A great deal of change means a great deal of opportunity – and the need to stay one step ahead of the game when it comes to the tools that can help you succeed as a wealth manager.
Technological advancement is something of a double edged sword. As technology improves experience and capacities, client expectations increase in parallel. A healthy acknowledgement of the rising standards the industry is being held to should serve as ample motivation to keep ahead of the times when it comes to the latest developments in the field.
In this article, we’ll explore three of the key areas that wealth management teams should be aware of and actively preparing for – with regard to the latest wealth tech and the trends that this is inspiring.
The Rise (And Rise) Of AI In Wealth Technologies
Wealth management, as an industry, has always been on the cutting edge of AI. From product and pricing through to client prospecting and experience, intelligence leveraged in this fashion has helped firms keep a data-driven hand on the tiller for many years.
Today (and in the future) AI is being applied in an expanding number of situations within the field of wealth management, to increase efficiency and actively expand revenue streams. AI is being used to interpret a wider range of data streams and, increasingly, to free wealth managers from time consuming or repetitive tasks. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2024, 75% of enterprises will have shifted from piloting to operationalising AI. The scope for improvements within risk and compliance functions for wealth management feels significant.
AI is playing an increasingly prominent role when it comes to creating better transparency and collaboration within wealth management firms. Commonly made up of several teams of niche specialists, wealth management firms run the risk of information and context becoming siloed within individual teams. AI helps “join the dots” within by deploying process mining, robotic process automation (RPA), conversational AI, and automated decision-making to deliver real outcome improvements here.
AI also has a growing role to play within the onboarding of wealth management clients. Slow, manual onboarding processes can represent a huge drain on time when it comes to easily-derailed email exchanges and ongoing IT support requests. AI-informed onboarding flows that help to automate the process, such as those provided by MyDocSafe have a lot to offer here – and can reasonably be expected to become the norm, as more firms move towards full digital transformation.
What does this all add up to? Ultimately – a better experience for clients, a more responsive and informed service, and closer adherence to service agreements – saving reputations, as well as untold financial penalties.
A Need To Service New / Emerging Client Profiles
Barriers to investment are changing and becoming more permeable. This is impacting the expectations of a new kind of (younger) digitally native client profile, which is, in turn, impacting the expectations and demands placed upon the technologies used to deliver services to them.
Those coming into the wealth management space as the result of the upsurge in crypto will expect their equity portfolios to be managed in a way that leverages a high tech user experience. These expectations will extend to the way that they interact with both wealth tech applications and their dedicated managers.
These emerging client profiles can be characterised by a heightened demand for transparency, a need for instant answers and more intuitive interfaces. The precedence and importance of face to face meetings will most likely decline, but this shouldn’t be interpreted as a reduced desire for communication. If anything, an increase in the cadence here should be expected.
Technical solutions deployed to manage these clients will need to meet these evolving expectations. Trust, security and “self service” access to information will all be highly prized, and as a result, working with software that leverages client portals will carry significant advantages.
The fully branded, dedicated client portals provided by MyDocSafe offer granular access, swift and secure document sharing, seamless transition through departments and optimised authorisation flows – more than meeting the expectations of the modern wealth management client.
Response To Increasingly Decentralised Finance / Blockchain
“There is an agreement that Blockchain and DLT as an infrastructure will enable us to reach a more data-driven investment strategy with creative and innovative investment products that are truly alternative.” (Source)
The rise of blockchain technology cannot be ignored when it comes to the evolution of the wealth management industry. Its impact is undeniable, and there’s an inescapable need to be up to speed when it comes to changes blockchain will bring to the way wealth managers work, especially with regard to daily “back office” operations.
One of the impacts that seems likely here centres around speeding up “know your client” standards via onboarding, as well as streamlining settlements. This is well illustrated by the Australian Stock Exchange, which plans to adopt a blockchain solution developed by Digital Asset Holdings to take care of all the bookkeeping, clearance, and settlements involved in trading shares by 2023.
As with any new technology, there are pros and cons to weigh up with blockchain. On one hand, its high carbon footprint and an efficiency of modus operandi that leaves plenty to be desired suggest a problematic future. On the other hand, ‘closed blockchains’ with ‘efficient proof of work’ can unquestionably speed up communications between industry actors.
As blockchain technology continues to evolve and reveal its impact upon the future of wealth management, solutions like MyDocSafe already help you leverage some of the key benefits such as smart contracts and time stamping via Ethereum.
Prepare For Tomorrow’s Wealth Tech, Today
With so much at stake, technology associated with wealth management will always evolve under accelerated conditions. What trends and common themes can we expect to see emerging in the near future? Increased digitisation of the sector, increased focus on efficiency and client experience and an increased focus on decentralisation and the benefits offered by blockchain all seem inevitable.
MyDocSafe helps bring your Wealth Management firm up to speed in all three spheres – meeting client expectations with a secure, speedy and automated onboarding process, automating flows in an informed, data-driven way and offering blockchain-backed protection of valuable, sensitive information.
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