Europeans adopting apps to service high net worths
The Eurozone crisis appears to have prompted high net worth clients to want more contact with their financial advisers around risk management, and many of those advisers are turning to smart phones and tablet applications to keep communications open, according to new research.
The new research, conducted by specialist research and advisory firm Celent, said that on the basis of this increased demand from clients it is expecting accelerated development of applications specifically aimed at high net worth clients.
The Celent analysis says that European wealth management are facing an extremely challenging environment, with consumers putting less faith in their banks and advisers to manage their wealth, while regulators have been ramping up compliance requirements around the selection of products and transparency of fees and commissions.
"Additionally, the European sovereign debt crisis, subsequent credit downgrades of several European banks and the second Eurozone recession in less than five years has reignited investors' fears regarding the safe-keeping of their assets," the analysis said.
"More than ever, customers have been demanding more active communication and risk management," it said.
The Celent research said firms had responded to the demands by turning to front office technology to improve adviser workflows and communications, and that in the midst of these technology considerations smart phones and tables continued to dominate technology and business headlines.
It said that although wealth managers might instinctively want to reduce budgets in such challenging times, high net worth investor demand for consistent monitoring of portfolios and continued communication would prevent such belt-tightening.
"Technology, and specifically mobile technology, will empower clients to monitor account performance and their holdings but also to contact advisers," the Celent research said.
Co-author of the research, Celent research director Isabella Fonesca, said the results suggested mobile app development among wealth managers had not yet reached a strong level of maturity.
However she said wealth managers were accelerating the development because they realised it was unwise to lag the expectations of clients.
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