Digital Media Is Vital To Reaching The World's Wealthy - Study

Tom Burroughes

28 November 2012

In a report likely to be music to the ears of financial technology firms targeting wealth managers, it says that the world’s up-and-coming high net worth individuals are among the most likely to use digital media in handling and investing money.

Potential and actual high net worth individuals have been quick to acknowledge the role that new technology has played in being successful, said the study, called The Futurewealth Report: The Digital World of the Futurewealthy.

The report was issued by SEI, the US financial services group, Scorpio Partnership, the wealth management consultancy, and Standard Chartered Private Bank. It drew views from 3,477 respondents from across the world with an average $1.9 million in assets.

“We understand the needs of the wealthy are changing and this study is the first in a series that will allow us to forge new directions for one of the most important issues to the next generation – technology,” Al West, chairman and chief executive of SEI, said in a statement about the report.

Among the central findings, the report found that more than half of those surveyed (56 per cent) believe their “engagement with the internet and digital technology” has contributed to their ability to create wealth.

The number responding positively increased to more than three-fourths of respondents (77 per cent) when asked if the internet and digital technology will contribute to their success five years down the road. These results suggest they believe the internet will prove even more valuable to their future success in generating wealth than it does today, the survey found.

“With the rise of a tech-savvy wealthy segment, financial intermediaries, especially wealth management firms, need to adjust their business models and value propositions based on a stronger understanding of their segments’ technology habits and desires, not the size of their wallets,” said Al Chiaradonna, senior vice president of SEI’s Global Wealth Services.

What do you prefer?

Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of respondents believe that collaborating with others online will be important to their continued wealth creation.

The vast majority of respondents (71 per cent) already have a presence on Facebook and nearly a third (31 per cent) use LinkedIn. In keeping with a preference for social networking as their new means of communication, more than half of those surveyed (55 per cent) access social networking sites through mobile applications or devices.

Almost half of the study participants (49 per cent) use a banking/finance mobile application.

This report is the first in a four-part series of studies as a component of the larger Futurewealth Project. Each report within the series, titled “Stepping Up to the Communication Age,” will focus on a different theme around how technology and digital communications can be used to engage the next generation of wealthy.