Over the past couple of years, small and midsize banks have happily positioned their wealth management businesses as alternatives to those of big, wounded banks and brokerage houses.
But that opportunity is quickly disappearing as
"The big banks are getting their acts together," said Dana Abraham, the president of investment and wealth management at
Scott Kavanaugh, the chief executive of
The newly level landscape is one of several trends on the radar of bank wealth management executives for 2011. They expect to expand their businesses through hiring, and in some cases potentially through acquisitions.
They also expect investment clients to slowly regain their appetite for risk. But at the same time, the executives say, clients will expect financial professionals to provide more value than they have in the past.
Some wealth management executives project 2011 to be a year of mergers and acquisitions. M&A activity actually started to appear in 2010. UMB for instance, bought Prairie Capital Management LLC, a Kansas City, Mo., asset management and wealth management firm, along with Reams Asset Management Co. of Columbus, Ind.
Union Bank of California, which is a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., is among those that are interested in expanding through acquisitions in the year ahead. It has a goal of becoming one of the top 10 in the country, and acquisitions of community banks — which could have wealth management businesses — are a possibility, said Mary Curran, executive vice president of Union Bank's wealth management group.
But the bank is also "very interested" in buying or lifting out stand-alone wealth management businesses, she said.
Hiring also appears to be on the upswing for 2011. BancWest Corp., a BNP Paribas unit, for instance, wants to add 11 private bankers, for a total of 34, according to Carolyn Paul, regional manager for its investment management, trust and private banking divisions.
Yet banks may find the recruiting environment to be tougher than it has been for the past few years, Kavanaugh said. A big reason is that turnover rates at big banks and wire houses have stabilized, he said. "It's going to be more challenging going forward to find good, talented people in the industry," Kavanaugh said.
Meanwhile, wealth management executives say they have begun to see more boldness among investors, and expect it to continue into 2011.
"You're going to see equities become more popular again," predicted James Nesci, the chief wealth management officer of Provident Bank in Jersey City, N.J. Nesci has seen clients begin to move into blue-chip domestic equities.
Union Bank executives, on the other hand, say its wealth management clients are interested in diversifying into international stocks.
Paul said the increasing comfort with risk has extended to fixed income as well, with clients investing in longer-term securities.
"Although folks really don't like where interest rates are, they are starting to feel comfortable with putting their toe back in the water," she said.
As they do, however, clients have begun to expect their wealth advisers to do more to serve them. Curran said guiding investors through the implications of the recent tax-cut extension is one way Union Bank is striving to do that.
Abraham said UMB has been "trying to get in the head of the high-net-worth client."
Such clients remain skeptical and somewhat distrustful in the wake of the market crash, she said. What they need now — and did not need two years ago — are advisers with emotional intelligence and soft skills.
Those soft skills might include persuading a client to follow their advice, clients who failed to do so a couple of years ago may now regret that, Abraham said.
"Historically, in a good market, the client seeks advice with good products and service," she said. "Now the client wants someone who can recognize their specific needs and who can motivate them to take action."
