The financial crunch and concurrent recession that the market has come across has put forth the wealth management industry under colossal uncertainty and a period of transition. Even though the market is providing with several perceptions, the advisors have to go under demographic, technological and regulatory changes which will not only make the situations tough for them but will give a complete makeover to the entire industry as well.
2017 has already been a significant inflection point, and 2018 will be equally crucial for the market as well. As the fiduciary rules will keep changing, and also the ways, investors will have different access to all the investment products, the methods they used to receive the advice will also change. Since the entire platform of investing is going digital very recently, even the mode of advice has also changed in the past few years. While investors were more used to receive advice from human beings, Patrick Dwyer Merrill Lynch finds that the robot-advisors have also found some prominence as well.
Challenges to Face- Patrick Dwyer Merrill Lynch on the Entire Industry
Going by the latest trends and multiple shifts in the industry, the new paradigm is going to bring immense challenges in the business models. More and more opportunities are growing in the market, and the advisory firms are getting more and more competitors, which not only compel them to module their ways of advising and wealth management but also give the advisors some potential boon as well.
Going the by the suggestions of few experts like Patrick Dwyer Merrill Lynch, the consumers will be at the receiving end, and the environment has been built up accordingly. For the advisory firms, the entire scenario might look a bit ominous, but there are enough opportunities to come up and evolve and find their respective opportunity. However, one thing cannot be denied at all, the cost of serving the clients have increased, and these changes have forced all the companies to have their services go digital. Also, the advisors have faced with multiple challenges, and providing the investors with such articulate value gives a challenging proposition.
It is indeed a costly investment for the companies as well, but to grow big, that is necessary. However, according to the experts, the immediate challenge that most of the advisors find is the changing fiduciary standards as provided by the law book. The small advisors have always had a significant portion of their income tied to commissions, and that is what will bring their career to an end.
No advice or even costly advice is much better than bad advice because the investors want their money to be safe and secured. The industry is growing up, and along with that, even the companies need to grow equally well as thoroughly. Either it is the public good that you need to do, or else there are enough of them to replace you. Make sure your policies head towards something that will continuously maximize the profits of your investors.