Improving client reporting capabilities is near the top of many wealth management firms’ to-do lists, and if it’s not, according to two recent reports by market research firm Aite Group, it should be.
The new reports “Client Reporting in Wealth Management: An Advisor Perspective” and “Client Reporting in Wealth Management: A Vendor Review,” indicate that wealth management firms should improve client reporting in several ways if they want to stay ahead of the competition.
Client portals that allow access to a holistic overview of investment performance in one centralized, online location are one feature investors are increasingly demanding, according to an Aite statement about the two reports.
“Firms without a client portal strategy need to develop [one] quickly or risk being left behind,” according to the statement.
Improving data aggregation techniques to provide information on a client’s entire portfolio in a single performance report is also a must, according to the statement. In the Aite surveys only half of the advisors surveyed reported having this capability.
Furthermore, simply giving clients reams and reams of detailed data is not enough. Investors want clarity, and according to the statement firms should invest in software “such as natural language technology that can digest and analyze data and produce a summary or story that brings the data to life.”
Such changes won’t happen overnight though.
The reports found that only “one third of wealth management firms currently offer access to dynamic performance reports through a client portal” and “the vast majority of end investors are still consuming performance reports in hard copy format on a monthly or quarterly basis.”
“Advances in general consumer technology have ushered in an era of obtaining on-demand information from almost anywhere, and these expectations have trickled down to retail investors desiring access to investment performance and account details from tablets and smartphones,” says Bill Butterfield, a wealth management analyst at Aite Group, in a written statement. “This has helped spur renewed interest in client reporting solutions at wealth management firms.”
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