Italy, Switzerland and the UK are among the most advanced in terms of using mobile devices as part of a wealth advisory strategy, according to a new report by US-based consultancy and research firm Celent.

To date, advisor app development among wealth managers “has lagged app development for clients”, according to a new report, entitled Mobile Applications for Advisors: A Study of the European Market.

Based on a six-month survey of wealth managers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK, the report found that France ended last year “with very little development in the advisor app market”. The report said more advisor apps have been launched by wealth managers in early 2012, but development in the advisor market is behind that for high net worth investors.

“Italy has been a steady adopter of mobile technology; Italian wealth managers have been among the leading markets in launching advisor apps. Among surveyed firms, the Italian market will be on par with Switzerland and the UK in terms of mobile app maturity in 2012. Italian firms have been unique in their aggressiveness, launching tablet apps on the Samsung Galaxy as well as the iPad,” the report said.

“Germany is the least mature of the six markets. Given the fragmentation of the local wealth management market beyond the so-called 'Big Banks', many firms do not have the budgets to have well developed mobile strategies. However, based on Celent's interviews and secondary research, mobile app development for advisors is slightly more mature than app development for HNW investors,” it said.

In the case of Spain, the report said there was some slow movement in 2011 but a number of banks have since invested in advisor apps for 2012.

“Switzerland currently stands as the most mature market for advisor apps, due to an extremely large and service-oriented private banking industry. However, advisor app development is still slightly behind HNW investor app development. This implies that wealth managers have been focusing on HNW investor apps first and then developing advisor apps,” it said.

Finally, the report said the UK finished last year behind Switzerland and similar to Italy in terms of advisor app maturity. However, development plans this year will place it on par with Switzerland by the end of 2012.

“The UK wealth management app market is poised to take off due to a large and technology-savvy advisor population,” it added.