What is digital wealth management? Digital wealth management refers to the use of digital tools and solutions by financial advisors to provide financial and investment services to a wide range of customers. This enables financial firms and investors to manage their wealth and grow it for the future. Digital wealth management platforms include appointment scheduling, portfolio construction, tax services, client reporting, etc. These tools help financial advisors offer the best financial advice to their clients.
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Benefits of Digital Wealth Management
Digital wealth management platforms provide several services to clients including asset allocation, online risk assessments, portfolio selection, and banking and account aggregation. The benefits of digital wealth management include the following:
- Frees up time for value-creating activities in a firm. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning technologies automate and speed up repetitive processes and transactions. This gets tasks done in very little time and allows employees to engage in more value-creating activities.
- Enhances task efficiency. Wealth managers are leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to automate tasks such as document verification and storage, client communication, and financial background checks. This reduces the time taken to complete these tasks and they are usually done almost perfectly.
- Streamline data storage, retrieval, and security. Normally, financial institutions engage in countless transactions characterized with huge paperwork. Incorporating digital tools in these processes makes it easier to store, retrieve and share data across departments and organizations. Storing data in digital format also enhances its security.
- Improves client engagement. This is done through self-service and automation. Clients can use available digital chatbots in finding answers to questions they may have concerning their accounts and to keep track of their funds.
Digital Wealth Managers
The rise of digital wealth management firms/companies has made wealth management and investing more affordable and accessible to all demographics and all budgets. Wealth managers are financial experts or advisors that usually provide financial services in any financial field or they may specialize in specific areas of finance. Wealth managers can work as a single person or as part of a small scale business, or as part a larger firm. Examples of digital wealth managers include the Oxford Financial Group, Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk, UBS, Mercer Global Advisors, Wealthfront, and more.
Digital Wealth Management Platforms
A digital wealth management platform provides financial firms/companies with the necessary integrated tools and data driven analytics to help better understand client’s needs and recommend suitable solutions. An increase in wealth management platforms brings about high competition. As such, platforms seeking to acquire and keep clients need to invest heavily in their digital infrastructure and offerings. Some have designed websites and/or apps to streamline the whole wealth management process. The following are some of the top digital wealth management platforms available;
Refinitiv
Refinitiv is an American-British wealth management platform that provides digital tools, information, and insights to clients enabling them to execute critical investing, trading, and risk decisions with confidence. Refinitiv has a set of features designed to provide enhanced flexibility, advanced charting and analytical tools, streaming content, and a ‘plug and play’ range of components.
Avaloq
Avaloq is a wealth management platform that gives financial advisors the right tools to deliver highly personalized wealth management services to clients, while reducing the time spent on preparing and analyzing investment proposals. This eventually helps clients reach their financial goals.
Additiv Hybrid Wealth
The Additiv Hybrid Wealth is a fully integrated cloud-based wealth management platform that is designed for the creation and operation of digital offerings. This includes services and products for different investment target groups. Additiv Hybrid Wealth solutions range from onboarding management, advisory, portfolio management, sales and marketing, touchpoint management, analytics, etc.
Moneyfarm
Moneyfarm operates in Italy and the United Kingdom. Moneyfarm conducts research on its client’s needs and then invest money according to the client’s personal needs.
Comarch Wealth Management Platform
Comarch is a platform that guides advisors and clients on the right investment decisions. The platform supports different recipients including wealth managers, relationship managers, analysts, and end-clients. The platforms digital approach towards wealth management services and offerings streamlines the whole wealth management process.
Nucoro
Nucoro is a digital wealth management platform that is highly configurable, cloud-based, and supports customers globally. The Nucoro platform employs the highest standards of security and it offers endless possibilities such as self-directed investing, automated investing, hybrid advisory, and more.
The Delio Platform
The Delio wealth management platform offers digital tools that help to transform how financial institutions and their clients engage in private market investments. The platform also works with banks, family offices, angel networks, and investment funds.
Trends in Wealth Management
The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic affected so many things, including wealth management. However, the wealth management sector was already facing challenges even before the pandemic hit the world. The following are some trends that present opportunities to build new service delivery models, create communication strategies, and differentiate offerings to help financial advisors and investors make informed decisions.
Self-Service
Previously, there has been a direct personal connection between advisor and client but today, with different generations coming in with different financial needs, there is need to use a different wealth management approach. Most clients want fast and convenient self-service options. This is made possible through the use of digital wealth management tools.
Hybrid Advice
Most investors are currently embracing both in-person and digital wealth management advice and it is slowly becoming the new normal.
Hyper Personalization
Some customer aspects need specialized and personalized advice to meet their financial goals. Investing into technology solutions such as artificial intelligence and data analytics gives financial advisors opportunities to utilize customer data and spend more time enhancing the overall client service.
Paperless Onboarding
The previous client onboarding process took weeks or even months because it was paper-based and manual. Thanks to technology, the process has now been automated; from client identity verification, KYC, automated data capture and document archival, AML and due diligence checks, to digital signature with enhanced accuracy and security.
Next-Generation Reporting
Different customers have different financial goals, different ways through which they prefer to access their investment portfolio information online, different preferences and needs, and different reporting requirements. As such, financial advisory firms need to focus on delivering a customized interface perfectly responsive and ideal to each customer.
Final Thoughts
Digital wealth management streamlines wealth management processes and creates workflow efficiencies that help financial firms to enhance their productivity and eventually provide better financial and investment services to a wide range of customers.
