Thanks to technology, more and more people are accessing private banking. But what constitutes ‘good’ wealth management in this changing climate?

The Banker’s Private Banking Awards, published in association with our specialist sister publication PWM, offer a valuable opportunity to reflect on what constitutes a good wealth management business. Beyond the risky investment structures that were the hallmark of the financial crisis and after the low interest rate slump and emerging market troubles that have defined the past year, which providers are doing best to serve clients? See this month’s special supplement to find out.

In the current environment, regulation and innovation are playing crucial roles. New rules are being introduced in a number of markets to protect investors. The second iteration of Europe’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II, is one such example, demanding greater fee transparency and accuracy in dealing with client communication and risk profiles.

At the same time, fresh ideas and technology are being deployed to serve more of society, capturing less affluent clients who might previously have been served by retail banks rather than wealth managers. This is particularly relevant for younger generations: the millennials who share their lives online, along with their personal and financial data. They are the wealth management clients of the future.

The application of artificial intelligence to the provision of investment advice has given birth to a number of so-called robo-advisers in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific, promising to serve less affluent clients just as they would high-net-worth individuals, for a fraction of the price and in a seamless and simpler manner. This advance is a relatively early stage – robo-advice 1.0, as some in the sector call it – but if the technology, data analysis and regulation are fine-tuned to allow robots to flourish and keep investors safe, in the future they will influence the concept of what a good wealth management business should be. Maybe they will even begin entering our Private Banking Awards.

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