Wealth management is undergoing a profound transformation, shaped by emerging trends that are redefining the sector’s future. Capgemini’s new trends book highlights three core trends set to influence wealth management in 2025.
This year, wealth management firms will focus on enhancing customer experiences through evolved omnichannel interactions and improved value of products and services. They will also transform processes, teams, solutions, and operations to bring greater agility and operational efficiency. Finally, organizations will explore how new technologies and modern, end-to-end digital solutions will enable the development of intelligent products and services, transforming the entire value chain.
A customer-first approach
In 2025, the wealth management industry is expected to prioritize a customer-first approach, with a particular focus on transforming the customer experience through omnichannel interactions and enhanced digital platforms.
Firms will increasingly adopt digital tools to streamline services, improve satisfaction and boost referrals. These platforms, offering features like curated portfolios and personalized alerts, will empower advisors to provide clients with faster and more effective guidance. This will not only improve client retention but also drive profitability.
A prime example is UBS, which deployed its MyWay portfolio management platform to Credit Suisse clients in July 2024. The platform lets investors set goals and manage portfolios with expert help, using over 80 building blocks.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will also be used to revolutionize personalized advisory. The technology will enable tailored investment strategies, optimize tax planning, amplify returns, and foster client engagement through customized messaging and recommendations. According to Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2024, more than 64% of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) are concerned by the lack of personalized advice tailored to their financial situation, underscoring the need to address these gaps.
Generational shifts will also demand attention. With over 70% of heirs likely to change advisors post-inheritance, firms will need to adapt by building family-centric connections and employ diverse teams to engage the next generation.
Enterprise growth strategies
In 2025, wealth management firms will focus on enhancing agility and operational efficiency by revamping processes, solutions, and teams.
Wealth firms will embrace digital onboarding solutions, leveraging white-labelling and partnerships with innovative fintech startups to enhance client acquisition efficiency, reduce onboarding time, and minimize regulatory risks. A 2024 Avaloq survey found that 295 of wealth executives take three months or more to onboard ultra-wealthy clients, highlighting inefficiencies. Meanwhile, rising anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) penalties underscores the need for advanced regtech solutions.
2025 will also see wealth firms unifying operating models to deliver a consistent experience for HNWIs across geographies. By streamlining operations, wealth firms will be able to tailor services to regional trends, which will pave the way to bridge the gap between clients across wealth banks and geographies. With a customer-centric global operating model, interactions will be simplified, allowing clients to access services internationally through a single, unified touchpoint.
The year will also see wealth firms seeking external expansion to broaden services and boost revenues, exploring inorganic growth strategies including mergers, acquisitions and partnerships. As global interest rates stabilize and demand for alternative investments rises, these inorganic approaches will play a key role in the industry’s evolution.
Wealth firms will implement environmental, social and governance asset transparency metrics as regulators standardize sustainability reporting. Transparent data on sustainable investments will make portfolio performance monitoring and evaluation easier, boosting investor confidence and helping combat greenwashing.
In November 2023, UBS became the first major wealth firm to publish Swiss Climate Scores reports, meeting Switzerland’s transparency criteria for sustainable investments. The reports, initially covering 60 equity and bond funds, expanded to 136 funds by the end of 2023.
An end-to-end digital experience
2025 will see wealth firms leveraging modern solutions to deliver an end-to-end digital experience that transforms the value chain, from design to delivery of intelligent products and services.
Generative AI (genAI) will be used to boost relationship manager productivity, automating routine tasks such as drafting emails, conducting regulatory and market research, and summarizing reports or transcripts. This will free up relationship managers to focus on meaningful client interactions, building personal relationships, and fostering deeper connections.
The year will also see wealth firms increasingly explore tokenization. Tokenization enables faster liquidity for owners for real-world assets like real estate, and improves market accessibility by allowing investors to own fractional shares of high-value assets. According to global consulting firm the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and ADDX, blockchain-enabled asset tokenization will grow fiftyfold into a US$16.1 trillion business opportunity by 2030.
Finally, 2025 will see wealth firms adopt cloud computing. Cloud computing allows firms to scale workflows, reduce costs and implement AI strategies. These platforms offer seamless data integration, streamlined workflows and modular flexibility. According to Capgemini’s 2024 and 2025 World Cloud Reports – Financial Services, 91% of financial services organizations have already initiated cloud migration. However, only 11% have implemented highly-scalable cloud platforms, highlighting significant growth potential in this area.
Featured image credit: edited from freepik
