It has been a turbulent 10 years for wealth management but looking back at what has transpired may provide pointers at how best to approach the challenges the industry faces

Today’s wealth businesses need transformers, not conformer

Time-honoured investment approaches have become obsolete. High net worth clients have lost in excess of $2,000bn worldwide since the onset of the credit crisis. Trust is the key casualty. The 2008 meltdown is the immediate cause.

Oswald Grübel

Disappointing results, the rogue trading scandal and the resignation of Oswald Grübel leave Swiss giant UBS at something of a crossroads

While the G20 seems keen to tackle the Eurozone debt crisis, the UK is trying to ringfence retail banking to avoid future contagion

Today’s private bankers must devote time and resources to building enduring relationships with their clients while always keeping an eye on changing regulations

Fund managers are operating in an extremely difficult market and are searching for senior staff with proven track records

Fund managers must avoid short-term trends and stick to their investment philosophy if they are to deliver alpha

Every fund manager wants to be the best,” says Kok Hoi Wong, chairman and CIO at APS Asset Management in Singapore. “If you are one of the best you are going to attract assets and you are going to do very well financially.”

Mattia Nocera, Belgrave Capital Management

Innovative products can help clients to achieve their objectives and manage risk, but many are viewed with cynicism and have a long way to go to shake off the image of being little more than fee-generators

Despite some encouraging pockets of sales in Asia, it is becoming difficult to raise a smile among Europe’s fund houses. Most are struggling to keep afloat against the unpredictable currents of macro and policy-driven stockmarkets.

To succeed as truly trusted advisers, private banks will have to up their game in service provided and value delivered.

Strategies for targeting wealthy individuals living in the regions must be very different from approaching those in capital cities.

Tougher regulation should lead to a consolidation of the financial services industry in Greece

Burkhard Varnholt, Sarasin

With many investors now wanting to make short-term tactical bets, private banks must identify which products are best suited to this style of investing and how to go about promoting them to clients wary of glitzy sales pitches

The to and fro; the will they, won’t they; the back and forth: just what are the intentions of the Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) as majority shareholder in wealth management group St. James’s Place (SJP)? Despite stating again last year that its 60 per cent stake in SJP would not be offloaded, the question just will not go away.

Joerg Zeuner VP Bank Group

Germany is leading northern Europe out of recession while the south continues to suffer from debt issues, but it is a company’s links to emerging markets that is catching investors’ attention.

The increasing cost of regulation is a key concern for family offices, which often struggle to achieve profitability.

The multi-family office space in the UK can expect to see a growing number of strategic partnership deals.

Two Tokyo-based financiers give their views on what the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan will mean for the economic outlook

The UK government is introducing new levys on wealthy non-doms, but there are also moves afoot to encourage investment from the seriously rich

Wealth managers lost control of their advisers during the financial crisis and are now looking to tighten the reins, but will this lead to one-size-fits all portfolios?

Regulators may be targeting the ‘one-bank’ model, but the major players continue to tighten the links between units, writes Yuri Bender

Wealth managers have been slow to embrace technology but can learn some valuable lessons from the luxury goods industry, which is using interactive services to engage with customers, writes Stephen Wall

Shelby du Pasquier, Lenz & Staehelin

With pressure mounting from both politicians and regulators, most commentators believe splitting up banks into their capital markets and retail and private banking arms is inevitable. But how quickly is this likely to happen, and what does it mean for wealth management units? Yuri Bender reports

With so many players present in the platform sector, some kind of consolidation seems inevitable, since, despite strong growth, there are not enough assets to go around, writes Stephen Wall

When forging a relationship, people from Western countries tend to put a great deal of focus on the preliminary stages, but, writes Elisa Trovato, continuous and ongoing improvement is just as important

Transparency is a key element in the relationship between clients and wealth managers, however both sides have very different ideas as to what changes need to be made in the industry, writes Bill Yelverton.

Wealth management portfolios with exposure to emerging markets currently pay little attention to life insurance products. However, the asset class provides huge opportunities for HNW clients, writes Sebastian Dovey.