Asian banking continues to fuel growth of HNWI

Over recent years Asian banking markets have grown accustomed to good news, even as the global financial sector struggled to regain peak performance and recover investor sentiment that, even now, often remains dampened by the 2008 crash.

Now, though, it seems that wealthy individuals throughout the globe are finding new reasons to be optimistic. The Capgemini-RBC Wealth Management World Wealth Report 2013, published this week, revealed that in the first quarter of 2013, around 61% of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) said they have trust and confidence in their wealth managers and firms – an increase of roughly four and three percentage points, respectively, from 2012.

That’s good news, but for wealth management firms targeting the Asian banking scene, there was perhaps just a hint that wealth managers might need to work hard to maintain their position of trust with Asian HNWI.

Whilst more HNWIs overall thought that their wealth management needs were “straightforward” (focused on investment, cash, and credit) investors in the Asia-Pacific market reported more “complex” needs, involving family, business ownership, or philanthropy.

In reality, that’s no surprise since the results reflect both the nature of how wealth is created in Asia-Pacific and cultural elements, but it does drive home the importance of tailoring wealth management propositions to specific markets and taking sufficient stock of what Asian investors want.

Increasingly, when it comes to Asian banking and financial needs, that means working harder to create digital gateways to wealth management.

Every five seconds, an Asia-based millionaire is online managing issues related to their finances and therefore interacting with the financial industry. China’s millionaires are the most digitally active, whilst Indonesia’s millionaires are the biggest users of Blackberrys.

When asked to pick their top three requirements from the web, Asian HNWI choose investment research, investment monitoring and active investment.

Finding ways to meet those needs through high quality digital channels will be paramount to success. Asia’s wealthiest investors expect more financial advice and they have signaled, loud and clear, that digital tools such as tablets will play an essential role in on-boarding, portfolio analysis, pitches and ongoing contact management and investment research.

Asia’s clients have spoken, now it’s time to see how the industry will respond.
 

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¹FutureAdvisor Asia Report: Embracing digital. A high stakes revolution in high net worth client management.
²FutureAdvisor Asia Report: Embracing digital. A high stakes revolution in high net worth client management.
³FutureAdvisor Asia Report: Embracing digital. A high stakes revolution in high net worth client management.