The rising burden of complying with regulations, a trend expected to continue after the financial turmoil, is leaving wealth managers feeling overwhelmed, a poll carried out by SEI has found.

In one of its Quick Polls, SEI said results of the survey showed that 67 per cent of wealth managers say they spend significantly more time working on compliance issues than they did two years ago. They expect that the pressure will only intensify, as 56 per cent said they plan to increase their investment in risk management and compliance.

“Many wealth management groups have struggled to adopt best practices in the face of increased scrutiny from both federal regulators and investors,” SEI said.

Ninety-three per cent of respondents say they are anticipating and planning for regulatory scrutiny to increase. At the same time, only 33 per cent of wealth managers say they are confident their current risk management procedures have kept pace with the rapid regulatory change, the report said.

"Bank wealth managers should be focused on growing their business and creating lasting client relationships, but the increasing compliance burden has begun to consume more of  their time and attention," said Jim Morris, senior vice president for SEI's Private Banks segment. "For far too many, a new model of risk management is needed – one that maintains the highest levels of compliance standards while still allowing business to  grow efficiently and put the focus back on the customer,” he added.