Partners from wealth manager consultancies said acquiring new clients and creating a clear business infrastructure were the most pressing issues for wealth managers, at a recent London conference hosted by SEI Investments, the US consultancy.

Consultants also told SEI that providing a scalable and standardised advice process is an important challenge and firms are keen to boost their investment offerings while keeping costs under control.

The consultants anticipate firms will redesign their advice processes and invest in new systems which are integrated with downstream applications.

They also said that meeting demands of increasingly sophisticated clients was putting significant strains on business systems.

“Firms are increasingly focused on three objectives: transforming their fragmented business infrastructure to an integrated, client-centric model; institutionalising their advice model and strengthening their client acquisition capabilities,” Brandon Sharrett, managing director of SEI’s private banking business in Europe, Middle East and Africa, told the conference.