While a productivity crisis is troubling the wealth management c-suite, they fear advisers can become further demoralised by a new set of systems accompanying tech transformation

Adoption rates will depend heavily on whether AI makes advisers’ lives easier, rather than harder © Envato

Private bankers have long complained of being buried under a rising mountain of admin: compliance checks, suitability assessments, internal reporting and post-meeting notes.

It is a quiet “productivity crisis” that the industry has often whispered about but rarely tackled head on. Now, wealth managers are betting that generative AI could finally change that.

According to Boston Consulting Group’s latest Global Wealth Report, the administrative burden is one of the key drags on productivity for wealth managers. The data is stark. In mature markets, just 22 per cent of assets under management (AuM) growth over the past decade came from existing advisers generating new client wins or wallet share increases. The rest came from markets, acquisitions, or recruiting rival advisers.

“Post-meeting admin is where the biggest pain-point ends up being,” says Dean Frankle, managing director at BCG. “Advisers spend hours typing up notes and preparing reports, things that should no longer be part of their job with the tools now available.”

The analogy Mr Frankle uses is medical. “The doctor’s time is the most expensive. You wouldn’t ask the doctor to type up notes, they review scans, diagnose, and move on. Advisers should be operating the same way. Generative AI can now prepare meeting summaries, surface insights, and suggest next steps based on client history. It’s mind-blowing what’s possible.”

But if the tech is so powerful, why has it not transformed the industry already? Mr Frankle’s answer is blunt: it is not the algorithms holding firms back, it is the humans.

“In our work, we often say it’s 10 per cent algorithm, 20 per cent underlying tech, and 70 per cent change management,” he says. “If you don’t redesign workflows, all you’re doing is giving advisers yet another screen, another tool, more friction.”

Structural shift

Fintech entrepreneur Xavier Gomez, group chief operating officer at Vancelian, agrees. “The obstacles are more structural, regulatory and even financial than cultural,” he says. “Everyone accepts that this shift must happen. The real question is: how do you deploy GenAI securely, ensure it integrates with legacy systems and calculate whether the ROI makes sense?”

For smaller digital-native players like Vancelian, the barriers are lower. “We are more agile,” Mr Gomez notes. “But even for us, the balance is delicate. Clients in wealth management still expect human relationships and personalisation. AI can’t replace that, but it can enhance it.”

“Everyone accepts that this shift must happen,” says Xavier Gomez, group chief operating officer at Vancelian

A fully integrated AI-driven wealth management platform, says Mr Gomez, starts with cloud-native infrastructure, robust cyber security and seamless data management. But even with those foundations, most of the industry remains behind.

“Data is still siloed. Advisers rely on instinct rather than insight,” says BCG’s Mr Frankle. “Firms that crack this where AI can suggest, ‘Call this client today, here’s what to say, here’s the product they might need’ see up to 15 per cent higher product revenue and 20 per cent reductions in churn and prep time,” the BCG report finds.

At the front end, the potential is equally striking. Early adopters of AI-driven lead generation are reporting fivefold increases in lead volume and doubling of conversion rates, thanks to AI models that surface prospects and prepare personalised outreach.

But adoption rates will depend heavily on whether AI makes advisers’ lives easier, rather than harder.

“When the client outcome improves, and the adviser sees they get time back, they are all in,” says Mr Frankle. “When it’s yet another tool that slows them down, that’s when you get resistance.”

External competition

The bigger threat, however, may prove to be external competition, rather than internal resistance. Independent advisers, digital platforms, and US Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) are winning market share, particularly in North America, the BCG report warns. Their edge is leaner operations, better digital experiences, and faster client onboarding.

Wealth managers may not have much time left to get this right. The BCG report shows that organic growth — measured by net new assets generated by existing advisers — is not just a growth metric but a driver of firm valuations. Roughly half the variation in wealth managers’ price/earnings multiples is now tied to expectations around organic growth, not market performance or M&A.

The message is clear: AI is not just a productivity tool, it is a survival tool. “It’s not about replacing advisers,” says Mr Gomez. “It’s about giving them superpowers and making them augmented by AI.”

Or, as Mr Frankle at BCG puts it: “The question is no longer if AI transforms wealth management. It’s when and who gets there first.”

By: Ali Al-Enazi