Clients demand wealth management services

A survey of financial professionals by NorthStar Systems found that over 88 percent of respondents agree or strongly agree that “a strong wealth management platform is critical to growing a financial advisory practice” in 2008. The two most challenging issues cited were client acquisition and competition for wealth managers. Client retention and more demanding clients tied for third.

The survey found that high-net-worth clients are looking for holistic advice from wealth managers rather than traditional financial advisors. Process and software improvements related to client acquisition and client reporting beat out hiring and training as the best ways to scale a wealth management practice. Seventy-five percent of managers said they were frustrated with their current software.