Wealth managers’ mobile apps aren’t sophisticated: study

Mobile is a force to reckon with in the wealth management industry, but apparently many advisers didn’t get that memo.

In fact, a recent study found that most wealth managers’ mobile apps are not all that innovative and don’t provide the features and functionality that wealthy investors crave.

MyPrivateBanking Research, a research company that studied 70 mobile apps from 30 banks’ wealth management divisions and wealth management firms from around the globe, found that their apps don’t all serve high-net-worth clients effectively. According to the study, 63% of wealth managers have one or more mobile apps that specifically serve those clients, for example, and it was the same number last year, too.

“Many banks have not realized yet their high-net-worth clients are actually very strong and sophisticated users of mobile devices,” said Steffen Binder, research director at MyPrivateBanking. “Their use has surpassed desktop computers.”

The problem then is a misperception of clients. By seeing high-net-worth individuals as only moderately tech savvy, banks have not learned how to address clients’ wants and needs via a mobile app, and don’t give them the the option to get sufficient information and transact via mobile devices, Mr. Binder said said.

Insufficient security and lack of forward-thinking technologies were other issues: Only two-thirds of the apps that the research firm tested included security disclosures. Further, only 15% of the wealth managers that researchers studied had taken advantage of newer technologies such as secure fingerprint authentication and voice control.

“The right thing to do for these banks is to change their strategies very quickly,” Mr. Binder said.

Financial advisers should take note of this study’s findings, since most do not yet see mobile as a priority. The 2015 InvestmentNews Tech Study found that 26% of advisers have a mobile strategy in place for their firms to use smartphone and tablet technologies more effectively over the next one to three years. Another 66% said they do not have a mobile strategy in place and 8% said they were not sure.

One way to adjust their digital strategies is to offer more encompassing, sophisticated apps. That means taking the features wealthy clients tend to use more often into consideration, ramping up portfolio-analysis tools and investment status updates, and boosting the app’s communication functionality.

“So many apps are at this point lacking good messaging,” Mr. Binder said. “We really see a high priority for apps that enable clients to get in touch with personal advisers on a secure channel.”

Ross Gerber, president and chief executive of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, said that there are four sections to his firm’s app, including goals-based investing, budgeting, investment tracking, and news and social media.

Mr. Gerber said that many of his fellow advisers’ apps are static and need to have more components if they’re to be useful in engaging with clients.

“They’re basically glorified websites,” Mr. Gerber said. “Most apps fail because they only solve one problem.

“What we did was put the whole financial plan experience in one place,” he said.