Nestes tempos assustadores, é fundamental para os gerentes de patrimônio determinar onde eles devem investir para crescimento. Por exemplo, eles devem se concentrar em melhorar os negócios existentes ou na exploração de novas fronteiras? Em qualquer uma das áreas, quais devem ser as categorias de prioridade para o investimento? O foco deve estar no curto prazo (nos próximos 12 meses) ou no longo prazo (nos próximos dois a cinco anos)?
Em todas as regiões, nosso trabalho e pesquisa de clientes revelaram alguns padrões interessantes. Por exemplo, as empresas onshore na América do Norte e na Europa Oriental e jogadores offshore na Suíça planejam a maior alocação de recursos (71 %, 63 % e 62 % de seus respectivos orçamentos de investimento) para otimizar as empresas existentes, em oposição à expansão para novas fronteiras. Todas as outras regiões estão alocando pouco mais da metade de seus recursos para otimizar os negócios existentes.
As for exactly where to invest resources to enhance existing businesses, the three highest priorities are improving sales force effectiveness (17 percent of total investment resources), enhancing digital interfaces (14 percent), and increasing collaboration with other business units (10 percent). (See Exhibit 1.) By contrast, the highest priorities for expanding into new frontiers are developing a digital advisor channel (10 percent of total investment resources), acquiring competitors and assets (9 percent), and developing asset management and capital markets capabilities (8 percent).
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Global Wealth 2015
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In addition, most wealth managers across all regions are placing equal emphasis on short-term (12 months) and longer-term (two to five years) time horizons.
Of course, each region has its own character, and growth initiatives will be influenced by many factors. Below, we present a more nuanced outlook for individual regions.
América do Norte
For wealth managers in North America, 2014 was a strong year despite some headwinds. The low-interest-rate environment put pressure on banking-product earnings, for example, and ongoing regulatory pressures continued to raise the cost of doing business. (See “Global Regulatory Pressures Show No Signs of Abating.”) Still, robust equity markets provided ample support.
GLOBAL REGULATORY PRESSURES SHOW NO SIGNS OF ABATING
Wealth managers face an increasingly complex regulatory landscape, with more than 100 updates issued daily around the world. The precise details and scope of some measures are not always evident, creating a major challenge for wealth managers. Indeed, as political and economic instruments, some regulations create more confusion than clarity, and place a significant burden on wealth managers from a cost perspective.
Making things even more difficult, litigation concerning regulatory measures has increased significantly, with some sanctions threatening the sustainability of banks and business models. Since the global financial crisis, litigation costs in the U.S. and Europe alone have amounted to $178 billion, with U.S. banks footing roughly two-thirds of the bill and European banks paying the rest. (See the exhibit “Litigation Costs Have Increased Significantly and Become a Part of Doing Business.”) Most of these costs have been in response to steps taken by U.S. regulators.
Overall, there is no denying that regulatory, compliance, and operating risks have come to dominate the day-to-day business of many international wealth managers. And although classic balance-sheet risks such as credit risk and liquidity risk are typically minor, they still need to be monitored. Wealth managers are being forced to adapt to the same level of oversight as universal and retail banks.
On the positive side, a key result of such developments is that regulatory, compliance, and operating risk management have become core competencies that enable wealth managers to differentiate themselves. It is therefore critical that they fully grasp the evolving regulatory landscape and be able to anticipate changes—both for each business line and for each country in which they do business. (See the exhibit “Wealth Managers Must Fully Grasp a Complex and Ever-Evolving Landscape.”)
For example, new regulations on client suitability and market transparency are constantly adding more requirements to the advisory and selling process. And in cross-border wealth management, the number of countries served is a key driver for the complexity of the business model. The size of the bank determines how much complexity can reasonably be handled.
Leading wealth managers are responding to the situation in three principal ways. First, they are establishing regulatory and compliance management as a cross-functional organizational unit that leverages synergies and coordinates lobbying. This unit’s activities include the following:
- Gathering regulatory intelligence
- Calculating the regulatory impact on the business and appropriate responses (both financial impact and strategic options)
- Aumentando a compreensão e a conscientização entre as partes interessadas, clientes e o público em geral
Second, wealth managers are improving front-to-back operating and compliance risk management. This initiative involves the following:
- Instalando uma forte cultura de risco e conformidade
- Adopting a front-to-back model with three lines of defense: the front office (sales department), risk controlling, and audit. Compliance and operating-risk management start with the front office.
- Desenvolvendo um kit de ferramentas fácil de usar para gerenciar riscos integrados aos processos diários para todos os níveis de pessoal e atividade-não apenas no departamento de risco
And third, wealth managers are actively reviewing their business portfolios, both by market and by segment, focusing only on those areas with critical mass while deemphasizing and exiting others.
Implementing these steps represents a large cultural challenge for many wealth managers. A full commitment from senior management as well as a dedicated transformation-management team is required for success.
Looking ahead, overall growth and share-of-wallet gains will be targeted both by brokerage and private-banking models, with a particular emphasis on driving organic growth. Indeed, wealth managers of all types are looking for close-to-home opportunities, starting with their existing customer relationships. Brokerages, for example, are seeking to consolidate the investment wallet but also to leverage other areas of the business in order to make inroads into the lending wallet—largely through mortgages and banking products. They are adapting both compensation structures and training programs accordingly, as well as adding specialists to support financial advisors in selling and delivering these products. They are also attempting to create compelling new offerings and enhance service levels in the hope of raising competitiveness and attracting new customers. Private banks, for their part, are continuing to look for ways to drive increased penetration of investment services by bolstering their overall offerings. Increasing capabilities in alternative investments seems to be currently in vogue.
There is also a wide-ranging focus on optimizing resource deployment in order to liberate capacity that can be put toward growth initiatives. Ongoing cost increases and more onerous client-service requirements are prompting players to reevaluate service models and overall economics for low-wealth-band clients and those with limited growth potential. Brokerages, for example, are placing renewed focus on clients with minimum investable assets of more than $250,000. Private banks are reevaluating service models for clients with between $1 million and $5 million in assets, attempting to optimize team structures to match the exact nature and size of the client opportunity. They are taking a hard look at the current assets and future needs of their clients in order to tailor the service model.
Of course, virtually all wealth managers are actively pursuing the next generation of clients, both through new teaming structures and through extending their current business models to tap into younger individuals who may represent the affluent and HNW clients of the future. These new structures are aimed at harvesting clients in the long tail of the RM book and establishing relationships with family members who have (or are likely to have) sizable future assets. One goal is to be able to provide a smooth transition as RMs move on or retire.
For players whose business is primarily in retail banking, leveraging new business models is about profitably addressing the needs of clients and incubating them as their wealth grows. Many such players are evaluating how new technologies can be leveraged to gain competitive advantage.
To a degree, we are witnessing the convergence of brokerage-oriented and private-banking-oriented models. All are pushing toward a more holistic, planning-led advisory approach that includes lending and banking products as well as investment solutions. It remains to be seen whether the regulatory environment will fully converge as well.
The industry is also seeing a continued push toward more-centralized portfolio management, a move driven not only by the search for cost efficiency but also by the commitment to quality. It is paramount to maintain consistency in both investment advice and portfolio performance in an increasingly complex and macro-driven investment environment in which specialized sub-asset classes are more prevalent. Recently, the largest source of alpha generation has been strategic (and tactical) asset allocation, and it is difficult for individual advisors to have enough depth of knowledge (or time) to make macro calls or to navigate allocation across multiple asset classes.
Houve duas consequências importantes dessa tendência. A primeira é que as soluções padronizadas e embaladas estão se tornando cada vez mais prevalecentes na extremidade inferior dos níveis de HNW, e os fundos negociados em troca (ETFs) proliferaram não apenas uma abordagem de investimento passivo, mas também uma maneira eficiente de obter exposição ao setor. Tomada como um todo, esses desenvolvimentos estão mudando profundamente o papel do consultor de investimentos individuais. Esse desenvolvimento também está se alimentando da tendência tática de alocação de ativos, pois os bancos não podem mais oferecer produtos proprietários que são a fonte de desempenho superior do investimento. A maioria teve discussões com uma ou mais plataformas de consultoria robótica sobre alguma forma de parceria, investimento minoritário ou contrato de etiqueta branca. Esperamos ver mais desse tipo de atividade no próximo ano, pois os gerentes de patrimônio tradicionais tentam navegar no cenário digital. O escrutínio regulatório aumentou os requisitos de liquidez e reservas de capital. Os regulamentos de proteção ao cliente continuaram a se tornar mais apertados em muitos mercados europeus, aumentando a complexidade e pressionando as margens. Tópicos geopolíticos, como a troca de informações automatizadas, também estão na agenda. Os centros offshore, sob forte pressão dos governos, estão passando por uma transformação relacionada à transparência e à regularização dos clientes.
In addition, limitations on proprietary products and the inability to co-invest alongside the bank because of the Volcker rule is forcing a redefinition of the wealth-manager value proposition in the UHNW space. This development is feeding into the tactical asset-allocation trend as well, as banks can no longer offer proprietary products that are the source of superior investment performance.
Finally, the “robo advisor” trend is catching the attention of many wealth managers. Most have had discussions with one or more robo-advisor platforms about some form of partnership, minority investment, or white-labeling agreement. We expect to see more of this type of activity in the year ahead as traditional wealth managers attempt to navigate the digital landscape.
Europe
European wealth managers—both onshore and offshore—are facing numerous challenges. Regulatory scrutiny has increased requirements for liquidity and capital reserves. Client-protection regulations have continued to become tighter in many European markets, increasing complexity and pressuring margins. Geopolitical topics such as automated information exchange are also on the agenda. Offshore centers, under heavy pressure from governments, are undergoing a transformation related to transparency and the regularization of clients.
Além disso, estamos testemunhando um crescimento relativamente lento no lado do mercado. O ambiente de baixa taxa de juros e a fraqueza do euro tiveram efeitos negativos na lucratividade de alguns jogadores, e as pressões de custos estão forçando os gerentes de patrimônio a repensar seus modelos operacionais. A ênfase está em menos complexidade e em modelos de entrega mais magros e simplificados. Como eles podem levar suas ofertas para o próximo nível e ganhar uma vantagem competitiva sobre seus rivais? Os jogadores onshore e offshore estão revisando suas opções.
Challenges aside, European wealth managers are seizing the moment to look ahead and determine their investment priorities for the future. How can they take their offerings to the next level and gain a competitive edge over their rivals? Both onshore and offshore players are reviewing their options.
Jogadores Onshore. No lado estratégico, os gerentes de patrimônio estão buscando entender melhor os clientes e suas necessidades, bem como desenvolver proposições de valor claramente diferenciadas e modelos de serviço para segmentos específicos e estágios da vida. Eles estão combinando elementos do serviço presencial tradicional com elementos digitais perfeitamente integrados, com um objetivo da verdadeira excelência multicanal. Muitos gerentes de patrimônio estão repensando suas filosofias gerais de investimento. Há também a questão de manter os recursos humanos robustos, atraindo e desenvolvendo a próxima geração de RMs - pessoas cujos perfis podem ser muito diferentes dos de seus antecessores. Eles estão buscando levar recursos analíticos para o próximo nível para permitir conselhos mais personalizados, bem como desenvolver uma segmentação de clientes mais eficaz, a venda cruzada e a venda. Melhorar a colaboração em diferentes linhas de negócios também é uma prioridade, como continua a transformar modelos de preços. Obviamente, são críticos um forte apoio da gerência sênior e o financiamento suficiente para a jornada de transformação. O primeiro diz respeito à sua ambição estratégica, onde o foco está no aumento da escala e à busca de oportunidades de fusões e aquisições. Eles também estão decidindo ativamente quais mercados continuam servindo e quais sair (com a maioria tendo percebido que tentar ser tudo para todos não é mais uma proposta vencedora). Assim como jogadores onshore, eles estão redefinindo modelos de serviço para diferentes segmentos e repensando quais segmentos servirem. For onshore players, investment priorities are a combination of both strategic and tactical measures. On the strategic side, wealth managers are seeking to gain a better understanding of clients and their needs, as well as to develop clearly differentiated value propositions and service models for specific segments and life stages. They are combining elements of traditional face-to-face service with seamlessly integrated digital elements, with a goal of true multichannel excellence.
As in other areas of the financial services industry, forging partnerships with the next generation of challengers such as financial technology companies and niche boutiques is a priority, as is exploring alternative business models such as crowd investing and crowd financing. Many wealth managers are rethinking their overall investment philosophies. There is also the matter of keeping human resources robust by attracting and developing the next generation of RMs—people whose profiles may be vastly different from those of their predecessors.
On the tactical side, European wealth managers are investing in improving proactive client servicing, which requires effective management of client service organizations. They are seeking to take analytical capabilities to the next level to enable more tailored advice, as well as to develop more effective client targeting, cross-selling, and up-selling. Improving collaboration across different lines of business is also a priority, as is continuing to transform pricing models. Of course, strong backing from senior management and sufficient funding for the transformation journey are critical.
Offshore Players. Offshore players in Europe are investing primarily in three areas. The first concerns their strategic ambition, where the focus is on increasing scale and seeking M&A opportunities. They are also actively deciding which markets to continue serving and which ones to exit (with most having realized that trying to be everything to everyone is no longer a winning proposition). Much like onshore players, they are redefining service models for different segments and rethinking which segments to serve.
Segundo, os jogadores offshore estão investindo em aprimorar suas proposições de valor e esclarecer sua diferenciação dos concorrentes de várias maneiras amplas. O movimento em direção ao aumento das capacidades digitais é uma iniciativa e possui várias dimensões. Isso inclui construções em larga escala de bancos privados digitais como um canal independente e aprimoramento da experiência do cliente, tornando as interações mais simples e fornecendo disponibilidade 24/7. Além disso, eles estão introduzindo modelos de preços menos complexos e mais transparentes que mostram aos clientes exatamente o que estão pagando. Foram feitos grandes investimentos para aumentar a excelência em frente e encontrar as pessoas certas. Essas podem não ser novas iniciativas, mas nos últimos meses testemunharam uma onda de atividade de investimento. Um outro objetivo é libertar o tempo para que o RMS gaste em encontrar e servir os clientes certos. Os jogadores estão buscando otimizar seu número de escritórios, com locais não-core sendo vendidos ou fechados e os principais locais aprimorados e expandidos. As tendências de mercado, consumidores e competitivas estão reformulando a indústria regional de gerenciamento de riqueza. Os mercados em terra estão atingindo a escala, e a perspectiva econômica geral é reequilibrar, impulsionada por uma dinâmica de refrigeração na China. Liquidez e capital estão se tornando mais caros, o que está tendo um impacto na capacidade dos bancos de obter financiamento. No que diz respeito aos clientes, está ocorrendo uma mudança geracional, com um número crescente de investidores mais jovens financeiramente experientes. A transparência mais clara no desempenho de diferentes gerentes de patrimônio está oferecendo aos clientes o tipo de informação necessária para avaliar os provedores. Cada vez mais, os bancos comerciais também estão entrando no espaço de gerenciamento de riqueza, alavancando suas capacidades e sinergias de grupo, bem como o acesso ao cliente e o conhecimento no local dos regulamentos locais. Há segmentação adicional das ofertas principais como a maioria dos gerentes de patrimônio na Ásia-Pacífico, como os de outras regiões, passaram a entender completamente que o tamanho não se encaixa mais em tudo. Tais organizações se concentram em ecossistemas específicos-por exemplo, verticais do setor, como pequenas e médias empresas de negócios para business-e em produtos para necessidades em estágio da vida, como a criação de um novo negócio ou planejamento para a aposentadoria. Eles também tentam "possuir" o fluxo de informações no ecossistema de destino e aproveitar essa vantagem para fornecer conselhos e soluções financeiras. Tais soluções podem incluir estratégias de empréstimos e investimentos para empresas menores ou estratégias altamente personalizadas para economia de aposentadoria e gerenciamento de renda. Os atacantes digitais já são uma realidade para bandas de riqueza mais baixas, mas ainda não segmentaram segmentos mais altos. Dentro desse contexto geral, dois modelos diferentes estão surgindo (e concorrentes): bancos comerciais locais e especialistas globais. O forte crescimento continua sendo um imperativo para todos, embora cada modelo tenha uma abordagem diferente. Muitos tendem a adotar uma abordagem holística na esperança de se tornar um balcão único. Alguns jogadores se tornaram hábeis em alavancar os recursos do grupo - como aqueles vinculados ao Banco de Atacado e Investimento, bem como ao gerenciamento de ativos - para desenvolver modelos de consultoria e novos produtos. Essa abordagem pode ser auto-sustentável, com clientes corporativos e de bancos de investimento oferecendo oportunidades de investimento para clientes de riqueza, que por sua vez fornecem uma fonte de liquidez. Em uma escala mais ampla, esses jogadores estão cada vez mais tentando maximizar as referências em diferentes áreas da instituição e investindo para aumentar a excelência em vendas.
Simplicity also applies to other parts of the business, and wealth managers are making efforts to tailor their investment offerings accordingly. In addition, they are introducing less complex, more transparent pricing models that show clients exactly what they are paying for.
Finally, offshore players are investing in higher levels of overall efficiency and effectiveness. Major investments have been made in raising front-office excellence and in finding the right people. These may not be new initiatives, but the past few months have witnessed a wave of investment activity.
The new focus is on the middle-management side, coaching team leaders to become truly effective front-office managers, and on building both an activity-based reporting system and a client-centric sales culture. A further objective is to liberate time for RMs to spend on finding and serving the right clients.
Additional investment is being made in optimizing footprints and locations in terms of scale, processes, and minimum critical size for profitability. Players are seeking to streamline their number of offices, with noncore locations being sold or closed and key locations being enhanced and expanded.
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific is and will remain a massive engine of new wealth creation. Market, consumer, and competitive trends are reshaping the regional wealth-management industry. Onshore markets are reaching scale, and the overall economic outlook is rebalancing, driven by a cooling-off dynamic in China. Liquidity and capital are becoming more costly, which is having an impact on banks’ ability to gain funding. With regard to clients, a generational change is taking place, with increasing numbers of financially savvy younger investors. Clearer transparency on the performance of different wealth managers is offering clients the kind of information they need to evaluate providers.
From a competitive standpoint, wealth managers are becoming more sophisticated and moving toward more detailed advisory offerings. Increasingly, commercial banks are also entering the wealth-management space, leveraging their group capabilities and synergies as well as their client access and on-the-ground knowledge of local regulations. There is additional segmentation of core offerings as most wealth managers in Asia-Pacific, like those in other regions, have come to fully understand that one size no longer fits all.
It remains to be seen whether digital attackers will encroach on the wealth management space in Asia-Pacific as they have in other areas of banking and other regions. Such organizations focus on specific ecosystems—for example, industry verticals such as small and medium-size business-to-business enterprises—and on products for life-stage needs such as setting up a new business or planning for retirement. They also try to “own” the flow of information in the target ecosystem and leverage that advantage to provide advice and financial solutions. Such solutions can include lending and investment strategies for smaller businesses or highly customized strategies for retirement savings and income management. Digital attackers are already a reality for lower wealth bands, but they have not yet fully targeted higher segments. Within this overall context, two different models are emerging (and competing): local commercial banks and global specialists. Strong growth remains an imperative for all, although each model has a different approach.
The primary focus of local commercial banks is onshore business, targeted largely at lower bands of wealth, although some players are pushing to build a greater offshore presence as well. Many tend to take a holistic approach in the hope of becoming a one-stop shop. Some players have become adept at leveraging group capabilities—such as those linked to wholesale and investment banking, as well as to asset management—in order to develop advisory models and new products. Such an approach can be self-sustaining, with corporate and investment-banking clients providing investment opportunities for wealth clients, who in turn provide a source of liquidity. On a broader scale, these players are increasingly trying to maximize referrals across different areas of the institution and investing to increase sales excellence.
Atualizar os recursos digitais é outra iniciativa -chave. Os objetivos gerais incluem a redução do custo a serve para faixas de riqueza mais baixas, fornecendo mais funcionalidades faça você mesmo (incluindo o aconselhamento do robo), melhorando as ferramentas RM para promover melhores atividades e eficiência da linha de frente e alavancar big data. Otimizar o reconhecimento da marca e as referências de clientes para aquisição de clientes é uma prioridade, assim como a parceria com os bancos comerciais locais para segmentar algum grau de negócios onshore e obter fontes adicionais de clientes. Esses especialistas globais também estão pressionando a agenda de digitalização, com vários objetivos: melhorando o entendimento do mercado e o acesso ao cliente, aprimorando a eficiência da linha de frente e envolvendo os clientes da maneira que se acostumaram com seus bancos de varejo e comerciantes on-line. O crescimento lucrativo continua sendo o primeiro imperativo para a maioria dos jogadores. No entanto, os principais atores locais foram capazes de sustentar um forte crescimento de ativos sob gestão e níveis aprimorados de lucratividade, à medida que as famílias ricas buscam cada vez mais ter suas economias gerenciadas profissionalmente. Uma dinâmica comum é que os clientes estão se tornando mais conhecedores e sofisticados - e, portanto, mais exigentes. Eles também conseguiram criar forças de vendas eficazes e modelos de negócios eficientes. Algumas dessas instituições têm como alvo especificamente clientes, entre US $ 5 milhões e US $ 10 milhões em ativos investíveis, alavancando efetivamente seu acesso privilegiado a novas fontes de riqueza. Eles investiram em capacidades de consultoria e, em alguns casos, usaram o acesso a instrumentos com vantagem de impostos para ganhar participação. Suas principais prioridades são desenvolver novos canais e aprimorar as interfaces digitais. Agronegócio). Essas instituições se concentraram em tornar os modelos de entrega mais eficientes, otimizando portfólios de clientes e implementando iniciativas de redução de custos. Alguns jogadores tomaram medidas para se tornarem mais centradas no cliente-abrindo arquiteturas de produtos, reduzindo a complexidade em suas ofertas, aumentando as capacidades multicanais e refinando estruturas de compensação de RM. Ainda assim, muitos jogadores têm um longo caminho a percorrer. Além disso, a tendência anterior de uma maior atividade onshore se reverteu, com a depreciação da moeda local empurrando um novo dinheiro líquido para o exterior, principalmente para os centros de reserva dos EUA. No entanto, os jogadores chilenos continuam mostrando espaço significativo para melhorias em sua eficiência e eficácia da frente. Seus RMs tendem a ter portfólios menores e menor produtividade que o RMS em mercados mais desenvolvidos. Melhorar a eficácia da força de vendas é uma prioridade e é a chave para aumentar a lucratividade. Também houve um aumento recente em escritórios multifamiliares que prometem uma oferta imparcial e do lado da compra aos clientes da UHNW. Como resultado, alguns dos jogadores mais estabelecidos no Chile, especialmente aqueles com modelos orientados a corretagem, estão repensando suas estratégias para responder a clientes que ficaram decepcionados com os retornos recentes e estão demonstrando interesse em mudar seu banco privado ou começar a trabalhar com um escritório multifamiliar. A evolução de um modelo de corretagem para um modelo puro de bancada privada não é um caminho fácil, no entanto, porque envolve a alteração dos modelos de compensação RM e a cultura geral do lado da venda. Algumas divisões de bancos privados dos bancos locais têm tentado criar relacionamentos mais holísticos de clientes que incorporam investimentos, empréstimos e vínculos com outras empresas, como banco corporativo e de investimento.
By contrast, global specialists are focusing mainly on offshore business and higher wealth bands, leveraging their global reach and capabilities to offer superior products and advice. Optimizing brand recognition and client referrals for customer acquisition is a priority, as is partnering with local commercial banks to target some degree of onshore business and gain additional sources of customers. These global specialists are also pushing the digitization agenda, with several objectives: improving market understanding and customer access, sharpening front-line efficiency, and engaging customers in the ways to which they have become accustomed with their retail banks and online merchants.
Despite many challenges, the wealth management industry in Asia-Pacific is poised to thrive over the next decade. Profitable growth rightly remains the first imperative for most players.
Latin America
In some Latin American markets, the depreciation of local currencies, disappointing returns from local investments, and doubts about the long-term economic outlook have resulted in an increased percentage of net new assets flowing offshore. Nonetheless, leading local players have been able to sustain strong growth in assets under management and improved levels of profitability, as wealthy families increasingly seek to have their savings managed professionally.
Of course, the priorities for wealth managers vary across the region depending on each market’s level of development. One common dynamic is that customers are becoming more knowledgeable and sophisticated—and therefore more demanding.
In Brazil, for example, leading players have developed highly sophisticated offerings that allow them to gain share and earn substantial profits. They have also managed to build effective sales forces and efficient business models. Some of these institutions have specifically targeted clients with between $5 million and $10 million in investable assets, effectively leveraging their privileged access to new sources of wealth. They have invested in advisory capabilities and in some cases used access to tax-advantaged instruments to gain share. Their main priorities are to develop new channels and enhance digital interfaces.
It is worth noting that Brazil’s central bank raised interest rates in order to address the country’s uptick in inflation in 2014. That step benefited fixed-income investments, especially two tax-advantaged vehicles known as LCIs (Letras de Crédito Imobiliário) and LCAs (Letras de Crédito do Agronegócio).
In Mexico, the onshore wealth-management market is dominated by the largest local commercial banks. These institutions have focused on making delivery models more efficient, optimizing client portfolios, and implementing cost-reduction initiatives. A few players have taken steps toward becoming more customer-centric—opening up product architectures, reducing complexity in their offerings, raising multichannel capabilities, and refining RM compensation structures. Still, many players have a long way to go. In addition, the previous trend toward greater onshore activity has reversed itself, with local-currency depreciation pushing net new money offshore, mainly to U.S. booking centers.
Chile is known for its well-developed and increasingly sophisticated onshore offering. However, Chilean players continue to show significant room for improvement in their front-office efficiency and effectiveness. Their RMs tend to have smaller portfolios and lower productivity than RMs in more developed markets. Improving sales force effectiveness is a priority and seen as key to lifting profitability.
Several types of players dominate in Chile: local investment banks, brokerages, and commercial banks that have invested in developing private-banking offerings. There has also been a recent surge in multifamily offices that promise an unbiased, buy-side offering to UHNW clients. As a result, some of the more established players in Chile, especially those with brokerage-driven models, are rethinking their strategies in order to respond to clients who were disappointed by recent returns and are showing interest in switching their private bank or starting to work with a multifamily office. The evolution from a brokerage model to a pure private-banking model is not an easy path, however, because it involves changing both RM compensation models and the overall sell-side culture. Some private-banking divisions of local banks have been trying to forge more holistic client relationships that incorporate investments, loans, and ties to other businesses such as corporate and investment banking.
Colômbia e Peru continuam sendo predominantemente locais offshore, apesar do forte desempenho macroeconômico recente. Apenas alguns jogadores locais investiram no desenvolvimento de ofertas sofisticadas de bancos privados, e os jogadores tradicionais offshore ainda não desenvolveram uma presença local significativa. Os gerentes de patrimônio têm a oportunidade de repensar seus modelos de negócios e se preparar para uma fase que possa apresentar oportunidades de crescimento em terra muito atraentes. Jorge Becerra
