Wealth Management
Retiring baby boomers and the transfer of wealth from one generation to another creates enormous opportunity in the wealth management industry. With greater opportunity for financial services organizations come higher client expectations. As a result, the competitive landscape is shifting to meet a new set of client needs. Both large and small firms are vying for vanguard positions in attracting and retaining high-net-worth and mass affluent investors.
There is clearly greater demand for a more objective, holistic relationship from a trusted advisor. These new criteria have raised the stakes on the value of open architecture product offerings, and fueled the emergence of independent players in the market. As a result, banks, brokerage firms, investment firms, and insurance companies are converging across their traditional disciplines to pursue the coveted role of primary advisor.
Many firms have responded to these market drivers, beginning the transition from a product, commission or transaction-based model to a more diversified, consultative and fee-based revenue model, in an effort to attract the affluent. Such a transition requires consolidated financial planning and portfolio management, reporting, and a holistic view of the client—all of which is facilitated by new applications and technologies.
In order to succeed in the wealth management arena, advisors must be able to build meaningful relationships, and bind clients to the firm. This mission is best served with a single, integrated wealth management platform for viewing and managing clients’ diverse assets. The platform allows the advisor to access the advice and investment processes in an interconnected environment, without having to continuously switch between tools.
A unified wealth management services platform combines the management of opportunities, investments, operations, and clients, as well as includes integration and regulatory compliance and surveillance capabilities. Wealth management professionals need to be able to aggregate, allocate, optimize, and monitor client portfolios, and rely on the platform’s collaboration, workflow, and report generation tools to help them improve their client service and strengthen their client relationships. Firms need to have ready-access to information and data related to all product offerings, as well as quick delivery to the advisor’s desktop in a useful format.
In this brave new world, technology can become both the stimulant and the enabler for firms transitioning to the wealth management services model. SunGard supports financial services institutions around the world in serving high net worth clients. We help meet the needs of trust banks and private banks, retail brokers and investment advisors, compliance officers, and securities firms, and futures clearers. SunGard's integrated suite of solutions spans front-, middle-, and back-office operations, serving both individual and institutional investors, and supporting functions ranging from asset management and trust accounting to portfolio management, securities finance and processing.