Industries

Wealth Management

Every private client relationship rests on more than the portfolio. We measure what the affluent investor genuinely values, from service to advice to the experience of being looked after, and reveal where loyalty is truly won or lost.

Private wealth is a high-consideration category. The client who picks a private bank weighs discretion, and the depth of a relationship exactly as they evaluate a maison, and they exit for the same reasons: attention that faded, or service that stopped anticipating them.

Much of the research in this sector measures products and satisfaction scores rather than the relationship itself. We bring luxury market research discipline to financial services through wealth management client research, fielded among verified affluent, high-net-worth, and ultra-high-net-worth clients: how they select an advisor, what secures or erodes trust, and what our next generation wealth transfer research confirms about the handover ahead.

Our solutions for this industry

Custom studies, fielded once, exclusive to one client. Each carries the same four parts: the opening line, the idea, what we do, and why it matters to you.

These are custom research engagements. They are not drawn from a syndicated panel, they are not resold, and the findings belong to the sponsoring client alone.

Solution

Advisor Trust & Switching Study

By the time the outflow reveal attrition, the client has already made the call. We identify them first.

Custom engagement. Fielded once, exclusive to one client, never syndicated or resold.

The idea

A departing client rarely signals it in advance. The decision builds quietly, through a string of small disappointments, long before the assets actually move, and an internally run survey is the least likely instrument to hear it truthfully. Independent advisor switching research, asked the right way, reveals what is changing while there is still time to act.

What we do

We survey the firm’s clients across wealth tiers on satisfaction, value relative to the fees they pay, and their stated intent to move within the next two years.
We conduct depth interviews, the proven method for engaging hard-to-reach ultra-high-net-worth and family-office client, uncovering the specific behaviors that precede a departure.
We deliver a single trust and attrition risk score for the institution, benchmarked against named peers using public information, timed around the moment when risk peaks.

Why it matters to you. An advisor trust and switching risk pinpoints relationships at risk and the specific breakdowns contributing to that risk. Affluent client attrition research delivers actionable insights while there is still time to respond rather than a loss to explain.

Solution

Next-Gen Readiness Study

Your next-generation strategy captures what you presume the heirs want. We will show you what they truly do.

Custom engagement. Fielded once, exclusive to one client, never syndicated or resold.

The idea

Every firm now has a next-generation strategy. Very few have tested it with the people it is designed to retain. The inheritor and the first-generation wealth creator do not necessarily share their parents’ wants, and the gap between a firm’s assumptions and their reality is exactly where the relationship weakens.

What we do

We field next-generation wealth inheritors research among the next generation sourced from the firm’s clients, prospects, and the named heirs of current relationships.
We use MaxDiff to establish what matters most, covering advisor selection, human versus digital, appetite for alternatives, sustainability, and family governance, creating a hierarchy of priorities. Our AI in wealth management trust research measures how far they are willing to let intelligence replace human judgment.
We conduct in-depth interviews to capture the language and emotion that surveys cannot reach, and deliver a readiness score benchmarked against current messaging assumptions.

Why it matters to you. A next-gen readiness study for wealth firms identifies the gaps between your proposition and what the next generation expects, before the handover turns assumptions into a loss.

Experience Economy 2.0 - core findings for this industry

Drawn from Wave 1 of the Experience Economy 2.0 series: 500 verified HNWI and UHNWI respondents across six markets. Below, the findings specific to this industry.

Access to exclusive opportunities, the industry’s prized differentiator, ranks lowest
Access to exclusive opportunities or networks scores lowest of all twelve attributes (-0.41), while personalized service (+0.34) and trusted experts (+0.29) lead. Private banking sells itself on privileged access - the deals, funds, and opportunities ordinary money can’t reach - yet the wealthiest clients rank that access lowest. What they can’t easily buy is trust and genuine personalization in the form of an advisor who understands them.
What this might suggest for brands. Exclusive deal flow looks like table stakes here rather than a differentiator for clients who already have it. What it points toward is depth of understanding, personalization, and earned trust as the ground that matters more than access.
Wave 1 500 verified HNWI and UHNWI respondents across six markets
The concierge-and-convenience proposition ranks low
The convenience attributes that anchor much of private-client service sit near the bottom: service that saves time and reduces effort (-0.28), seamless coordination across assets (-0.25), and priority, fast response (-0.23). Efficiency is typically assumed to benefit time-pressed clients, yet in wealth management the most consequential decisions could be the ones that clients want to remain directly involved in. What’s framed as “saving time” can instead be interpreted as “excluding me.” This read is a potential hypothesis to explore; what the data shows is that frictionless convenience is not what wins the choice here.
What this might suggest for brands. Efficiency may be worth underplaying in wealth advisory. The question this data raises is whether service is better framed as deepening a client’s understanding and involvement in major decisions than as minimizing their time on them.
Wave 1 500 verified HNWI and UHNWI respondents across six markets
What wins is trusted, personal advice
Highly personalized service tailored to individual needs is the top driver (+0.34), with access to trusted experts (+0.29) and strategic guidance on major decisions (+0.20) close behind. The cluster that leads is about judgment and relationship: an advisor who knows the client and helps with the decisions that matter. Reliable outcomes register too (+0.10), as part of the picture rather than the headline, which is notable given how strongly the category markets on performance and returns.
What this might suggest for brands. Personalization and the relationship may be what sets a firm apart, more than its performance marketing. The firm that understands its clients best holds the more defensible position; that kind of relationship is harder for a rival to replicate than a campaign.
Wave 1 500 verified HNWI and UHNWI respondents across six markets

See the Full Research Series

Why you should partner with us

We See the Risk Before the Assets Move
By the time outflows appear in the figures, the client made the decision months earlier. Our independent advisor switching research picks up the early signs of doubt, while there is still time to keep the relationship.
We Reach Clients Who Do Not Answer Surveys
Ultra-high-net-worth clients and family offices rarely fill in questionnaires, so we speak with them through depth interviews, not panel substitutes. Every participant is verified by wealth tier and relationship, never by self-declared assets.
We Ask the Next Generation Directly
We speak with the identified heirs of your actual client relationships, not a sample of people who happen to be the same age. That is what turns next generation wealth transfer research from a well-argued assumption into evidence.
We Work for One Firm at a Time
There is no syndicated wealth panel and no shared report landing on a rival’s desk the same week. Your questions, your clients, your findings, and no one else’s.