Wealth managers will have to operate like online platform firms if they plan to offer financial advisers a broad toolkit to help customers, especially millennials, according to a whitepaper published by UBS Wealth Management.
Millennials are ahead of other generations in demanding digital communication, constituting 49% of on-demand consumers. In contrast, only 22% of individuals above 55 years of age make this demand.
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Millennials are also more active on social media, with 47% of them using the platform as against 19% of non-millennials.
The findings are significant considering the fact that millennials are expected to be worth up to $24 trillion by 2020. In North America alone, $30 trillion of wealth is expected to be transitioned to millennials and other heirs between 2011 and 50 by baby-boomers.
Also, millennials start twice as many businesses compared to baby-boomers, and are almost twice as likely to withdraw from investments facing sustainability problems, the whitepaper revealed.
UBS Wealth Management global CIO Mark Haefele said: “In a more socially connected age, wealthy millennials and other private clients have expressed growing interest in innovations like digital platforms and sustainable and impact investing.
“This gives wealth managers and financial advisers a renewed opportunity to improve their digital capabilities as well as using private capital to help make the world a more sustainable place.”
