The Future of Wealth Management: A Client-led Revolution

By Jean-François Lagassé, Global Wealth Management Leader and Patrik Spiller, Wealth Management Industry Leader Switzerland, Deloitte Switzerland

Technological advancements and demographic changes are unquestionably reshaping the landscape of wealth management. However, the pivotal force driving this evolution is increasingly becoming the clients themselves. Swiss banks, recognized for their tradition and innovation, are now at a crossroads, faced with the urgent need to pivot to align with these evolving client demands.

To adapt to a new era of wealth management, banks need to understand clients’ changing expectations and adapt their business models, products and services to meet them. A robust digital transformation strategy and a data and artificial intelligence (AI) strategy will be essential.

Clients in the Driving Seat

Above all, wealth managers must put clients at the center of their attention.

Today’s wealth management clients are more diverse, possess a higher level of financial sophistication and knowledge, and have broader and deeper access to information than ever before. Their attitudes, expectations, and behaviors are forcing wealth management banks to innovate about products, services, and client experience.

Next-generation wealth management clients, many of whom are digital natives, represent a broad, culturally diverse spectrum of society, including female entrepreneurs, social media influencers, and crypto-enthusiasts, each bringing their unique perspectives and financial needs and approaching banks with a different set of expectations and needs.

Recommendations From Global Insights

In addition, however, the generations that inherit wealth in the coming years will adopt a more demanding stance towards banks.

This is one of the main conclusions of the study «Building a Future-ready Investment Firm», conducted by the global think tank ESI ThoughtLab with Deloitte and other leading institutions. To be ready for the future, Swiss wealth managers should take proactive steps. Specifically, we recommend:

  • Offering clients a seamless hybrid advice experience and providing easy-to-use digital self-service channels and high-quality in-person consultations – either face-to-face or by video call.
  • Catering to a new and younger wealth management clientele from diverse backgrounds.
  • Leveraging new technologies such as AI to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of client advisors.
  • Enhancing business models by partnering with or acquiring specialized providers that offer differentiated products and services such as access to private markets or digital assets.

By 2028, The Wealth Industry Will Look Different

According to our study, clients across segments are open to new technologies: approximately 60 percent of Generation Y and Z clients state they will not need a personal advisor for many banking interactions by 2030. However, when it comes to making investment decisions, they still prefer human advice – preferably augmented by AI.

At the same time, it may become increasingly difficult for wealth management banks to attract motivated and qualified talent. With increasing client diversity, banks will need to diversify their workforces, which also provides an opportunity to attract new talent.

Crafting the Future of Advisory Services

To adapt to this changing, diverse, and digital client and talent environment, wealth management banks will need to develop a compelling hybrid advisory approach: presenting investment ideas on services such as Netflix, preparing highly customized portfolios in an automated way comparable to Google Maps calculating a complex route, using chatbots to answer contextual questions and providing access to a human advisor to discuss and explore the proposals seamlessly – thus blending the physical and digital client experience.

Despite these widely known megatrends, many Swiss wealth management banks have arguably not yet taken a proactive approach. The stakes are high, and banks should regard the ongoing digital transformation as an opportunity to unleash additional growth through new products and services and improve efficiency through increased automation and automated controls.

Transformation to Unleash New Sources of Growth

Thanks to our strategic recommendations, Switzerland’s wealth management banks, with their long and proud heritage and tradition, will continue to lead the field in this new environment. Our latest International Wealth Management Centre Ranking, to be published in late summer, will further examine how Swiss banks succeed in this transformation compared to their international peers.

The results of the Building a future-ready investment firm study are based on a global survey of 2,000 clients and 250 firms conducted at the end of 2023 in all major wealth management hubs around the world (Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America), across different wealth bands, age groups, lifestyles, professions, and genders.

  • To find out more about the development of the banking industry, please see our comprehensive TrendRadar study about the future of banking.