Are you taking advantage of today’s technology to support your clients, empower your team, and grow your business? Stay up to date with the latest innovations and insights to ensure you’re ahead of the curve. These fintech trends are shaping the way asset management firms do business.
Keep reading to find out what we see coming down the pike for 2023.
Wealth management fintech is the subset of fintech dedicated to wealth management functions—like financial planning, investment, or asset management. Fintech includes any digital form, including mobile applications, software, online web apps, or platforms. Financial advisors rely on fintech for service automation, increased client data visibility, and enhanced personalized services for clients.
Modern technology has greatly changed the landscape of the financial sector in a very short period of time. Today’s financial advisors can use fintech to accomplish more and grow their businesses. Understanding fintech trends in asset management helps advisors stay on the cutting edge and make informed decisions for their clients.
The large number of available tech solutions catering to the financial sector can be overwhelming. Here are five examples of fintech solutions in action.
With wealth-building tools to help reduce investment research and portals to support increased visibility, fintech tools are changing how people approach their financial planning. Advisors can help clients gain more control over their assets, estate planning, and reporting.
One changing trend we’ve seen for advisors is how clients are now looking for more than just an investment advisor. Trends in fintech allow advisors to do more and offer a wider range of services surrounding family wealth planning and management.
Adding financial planning services expands an advisor’s overall service model providing a non-market correlated avenue for revenue. The financial planning tools are part of that value-add for clients.
Increasing concerns for security and changes to compliance — like the SEC marketing rule amendments — make it increasingly important for advisors to have technology in place that protects their business. The right tech stack will make it easier for advisors to meet regulatory expectations surrounding transparent business practices, client privacy, and outcomes.
Staying on top of changing industry expectations is crucial. But are your tools making compliance easier? You should be able to trust your fintech solutions to adjust to regulatory changes and client expectations as needed.
Today’s advisors are busier than ever, tasked with managing complex accounts and sorting through heaps of information to help their clients find the best solutions. In order to meet changing expectations, advisors need modern tools that help them automate processes and gain instant insights.
Performance reporting, account dashboards, email automation, business intelligence tools, and many other fintech solutions support advisory services, enabling professionals to accomplish more in shorter periods of time. We are seeing a growing number of advisors breaking away to form their own RIAs as independent financial advisors, supported by complex tech stacks and outsourcing solutions that make firm ownership possible.
With the current market volatility and an expected downturn on the horizon, advisors are offering risk-focused services. Moving forward, advisors can use modern tech solutions to help them pinpoint increased risks, providing less aggressive recommendations for investing and wealth management.
One example of this trend can be seen in the increased interest in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing. Some investors are looking for characteristics that help show a reduced risk through more responsible business practices. Expect to see many clients take a risk-averse approach toward investing in 2023.
Keeping clients is a crucial part of building a sustainable business. It takes less time and effort to keep existing clients than it does to attract and convert new ones. Some fintech solutions make it easier to nurture client relationships and provide a better overall experience. And happy clients are more likely to send you referrals — making it possible to grow your business with minimal effort.
Email marketing is a great way to keep your clients up to speed on their accounts and your latest offerings. Automated advisory fee billing tools can help streamline your workflow while offering a consistent and transparent statement that proves business value.
It’s easier to remain agile if you have a good sense of what’s coming. Here are examples of trends we expect to see for 2023.
Client privacy and data protection are crucial. While cybersecurity has been a focal point for years, we expect to see it remain a top priority for advisors and RIAs in 2023. Fintech asset management solutions must provide maximum security and robust contingency plans; otherwise, they could prove a threat to your business. Independent advisors building out their own tech stacks are at an increased risk for potential cybersecurity gaps and integration issues.
As customers change, advisors must change with them. Providing a wider range of financial advisory services helps support all of your clients’ concerns surrounding their estate management, family wealth planning, and investment portfolio. We are also seeing more advisors turn to fee-based models that prioritize the fiduciary rule and ongoing advisory services.
More data means more opportunities to identify patterns and make informed decisions. However, big data can be overwhelming. It’s crucial to know you are working with accurate sources and how to turn raw data into information you can act on. Fintech solutions for managing clients (CRMs) and assessing market trends are examples of how smarter tools can help advisors leverage the incredible amount of information available today.
How clients experience your services influences how they feel about the outcome. You want your clients to feel supported and prioritized. Client portals, automated performance reports, and proposal generation tools are examples of fintech trends that can help you prioritize the customer experience (CX).
Are you making changes? Here are three ways you can prepare to take advantage of industry trends and long-term stability.
Take a good, hard look at your current processes. Where are clients falling through the cracks? What are the most common complaints or questions that you get? Where do you spend most of your time? You probably already created a business plan, but that isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it solution; you need to continually adjust based on changing trends and expectations.
Assessing your business should help you pinpoint which fintech solutions could optimize or improve your workflows. You might want to seek out an expert who can offer an outside perspective on your business. Determine what is working well for you and where you could implement a smoother or more efficient process.
Once you’ve analyzed your business processes, it’s time to set specific goals for the days, weeks, and months ahead. Target the areas that need improvement and set defined goals for what tools you will try, what change you are hoping to see, and when you will reevaluate.
For example, a new goal might include providing clients with updates before they ask, since you know reporting has been a pain point for your clients in the past. You will define the types of reports you will run and choose the email marketing tool you will use to automatically send out weekly or monthly updates. Then, you will reassess your process in three months to see if things need further tweaking.
Prioritize your goals based on what will solve the largest pain points for you, your team, and your clients. Choose solutions that allow you to do more without adding more to your plate. Some fintech solutions take time to put in place, but end up saving you a lot of time and resources on the backend by automating some of your regular tasks.
There are many available fintech solutions that could potentially benefit your business. The right provider can help you spend more time on the tasks that matter most to you. You need support from a team that cares about your business and your clients as much as you do. AssetMark has spent decades helping advisors adapt to the shifting landscape and meet the needs of their clients.
Request a consultation to learn more about how AssetMark can help you find the right fintech solutions for your business.