Research has revealed that while UBS, BNP Paribas and DBS are the world's front runners in online wealth management, many leading banks around the world are failing to effectively embrace the digital era.

UBS, BNP Paribas and DBS are among the highest-ranking wealth management firms when it comes to their digital outlets, according to MyPrivateBanking Research, this publication can exclusively report.

The Switzerland-based research firm assessed and ranked the overall digital performance of 20 leading private banks spanning the globe, including Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley. 

The firm, which analyses wealth management and financial services firms based on their mobile applications, websites and social media channels, said UBS achieved a rating of 582 points out of a maximum 736, with its mobile channel counting as the bank’s main strength.

BNP Paribas closely followed UBS, scoring 556 points by demonstrating a “balanced and excellent performance” across all three channels, MyPrivateBanking Research said.

Singapore-listed DBS came in third place by earning itself 555 points. It also attained the accolade of best website out of the top three companies.

Now more than ever banks are being urged by their clients and investors to become more digitally accessible, but creating and maintaining such offerings can often be an expensive and time-consuming undertaking.

The research found that most leading banks and wealth management businesses share the ultimate goal of impacting clients’ experience in a positive way, but are undergoing multi-channel transformations at varying paces and in their own unique ways.
 

“One striking finding from our analysis of wealth managers’ performance across multiple digital channels is that there is a huge variation in website, mobile and social media offerings,” said Steffen Binder, director of research at MyPrivateBanking. “Even within a channel, websites for example, most firms demonstrate an inconsistent level of capability between domestic and international sites.”

Consequently, only five out of the top 25 global wealth managers based on assets under management made it into MyPrivateBanking Research’s shortlist of the top ten digital leaders.

Commenting on this result, the firm said: “This is far too large a proportion of clients for whom their wealth management relationship is under-digitised and the pace of change is too slow.”

Although the front runners have learned more about the online behaviours and needs of high net worth individuals than many of their opponents, there are still major gaps to be filled before an omni-channel offering can be achieved, MyPrivateBanking Research said.

Judging by the research, it would appear that there is still a significant amount of digital ground to cover within the wealth management sector and the leading banks’ efforts may just be starting to break the ice.