A much-needed private wealth shake-up is being dictated by entrepreneur clients rather than product-pushing bank bosses

For decades, private bankers and wealth managers have operated on a broadly consistent assumption: successful entrepreneurs eventually adapt themselves to the structures, rhythms and products of the wealth management industry. The evidence now suggests the reverse is happening.

Across global markets, high-growth founders — particularly those building technology-enabled and capital-efficient businesses — are reshaping what they expect from their advisers.

According to PwC’s Global Wealth Management Survey, more than 70 per cent of entrepreneurs worldwide report feeling underserved by their primary wealth adviser, citing slow response times, fragmented advice and lack of strategic insight. This is not a marginal complaint; it reflects a widening gap between how entrepreneurial wealth is being created and how it is being advised.

The generational dimension of this change is hard to ignore. Founders under 45, many having grown businesses across borders from day one, are approaching wealth decisions with a level of commercial sophistication that traditional advisory models were never designed to meet.

In that context, fiscal uncertainty — exemplified in the UK by the November 2025 Autumn Budget — has acted less as a cause than an accelerant. When policy becomes unpredictable, tolerance for slow or siloed advice collapses.

Beyond product distribution

One of the clearest signals of change is the declining relevance of the historic “relationship manager plus products” model.

For founders navigating scale, capital events and eventual liquidity, investment management is only one component of a much wider set of risks and decisions. What they increasingly want is not a distributor of financial solutions, but a partner who understands the operational, tax, structural and personal consequences of growth.

Founders under 45, many having grown businesses across borders from day one, are approaching wealth decisions with a level of commercial sophistication that traditional advisory models were never designed to meet

European research by EY shows more than 40 per cent of entrepreneurs now prioritise holistic advisory support over pure investment performance, a figure rising fastest among younger founders.

The expectation is not that a single adviser holds all expertise, but that someone takes responsibility for seeing several moves ahead, coordinating tax planning, corporate finance, trust structures and cross-border considerations before issues crystallise. When that co-ordination fails, founders notice quickly — and they move.

This has contributed to the erosion of another long-standing assumption: that wealth advice is delivered by a single, central figure. In practice, high-growth entrepreneurs increasingly assemble advisory “ecosystems” rather than relying on one institution or individual.

UBS, in its Global Family Office Report, describes a clear trend towards networked advisory models, where families curate panels of specialists rather than defer to a single gatekeeper. The logic is commercial rather than ideological. Modern founders operate multidisciplinary businesses and expect their advisers to mirror that complexity.

Transparency has become the minimum entry requirement within this environment. Fees, incentives and conflicts of interest that were once politely overlooked are now examined with the same scrutiny founders apply to their own business models. For technology entrepreneurs in particular, opacity is interpreted as either inefficiency or misalignment.

Yet transparency alone no longer differentiates advisers. What founders increasingly demand is insight: benchmarking against peers, scenario modelling, and evidence-based analysis that informs decisions rather than merely reports outcomes.

Cross-border reality

Global mobility of entrepreneurial wealth further compounds these pressures., While the UK remains an important financial centre, it is no longer the default anchor point for founders whose businesses, investors and families span multiple jurisdictions.

According to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report, Singapore, Dubai and Luxembourg have all recorded double-digit growth in new wealth residents in recent years. For many founders, cross-border structuring is not an optional extra but a core component of their operating environment.

This reality exposes limitations of advisory models that remain nationally siloed. Founders who move capital, talent or residence at short notice expect advisers who can operate fluently across jurisdictions and anticipate regulatory interactions rather than respond to them retrospectively. When that capability is absent, loyalty erodes quickly.

Technology has also reshaped expectations, though not in the way many predicted. Automation is now assumed for reporting, rebalancing, cash flow modelling and scenario analysis, viewed as hygiene factors rather than sources of value.

What founders still insist on is human judgment where consequences are irreversible: timing an exit, interpreting fiscal policy shifts, navigating family dynamics or redefining purpose after liquidity. The emerging model is hybrid by necessity. Artificial intelligence may power dashboards, but critical decisions remain human — and founders are selective about whose judgment they trust.

The UK November 2025 Autumn Budget illustrates why trust matters. While changes to capital gains tax, agricultural property relief, business property relief, and treatment of internationally mobile families attracted attention, the deeper impact was psychological. Policy volatility reinforces the sense that planning must begin earlier, consider more scenarios and remain adaptable. Passive wealth management becomes untenable when legislative direction is unclear.

Modern founders

In conversations with founders, two archetypes appear with increasing regularity.

The first is the disappointed client, who has completed a significant exit only to realise, too late, that their advisory relationship focused narrowly on portfolio construction while neglecting pre-exit structuring or post-exit purpose.

The second is the modern founder, treating advisers as members of a high-performance team, curating specialists deliberately and moving quickly when expectations are not met. Most private bankers and wealth managers encounter both — and the second is becoming dominant.

The wealth management industry stands at a fork in the road. High-growth founders are not inherently demanding; they are simply operating at a speed and level of complexity that legacy models struggle to match.

Firms that adapt — integrating disciplines, embracing transparency and engaging realities of cross-border, tech-enabled wealth — will remain relevant to the next generation of entrepreneurial clients. Those that do not may find their most valuable relationships fading quietly, without confrontation.

Chris Spratling, founder and managing director of business growth consultancy Chalkhill Blue Limited