The editor reviews a new study which examines commercial opportunities around the world for wealth managers and sits down with the writers to discuss what they have learned.

There is an arresting new guide for those seeking to build wealth management businesses around the world, arriving at a time when technology and other forces are driving major change in the industry.

Wealth Management With A Difference: Your Guide To Achieving Client, Generational, and Business Success, by April Rudin and Nick Rice, takes the reader on a tour from demographics through to the digital world, international issues, and the management of talent. Running to 199 pages, it is is published by Wiley, a financial publishing house.

Rudin, who is founder and CEO of her eponymous firm, The Rudin Group, based in the US, is well known to this publication; she has engaged with us many times with ideas about the industry. Rice has been a writer and executive in the wealth sector and is a director at Brunswick Group. He has worked in senior roles at UBS, and has also been an editor and journalist for the Financial Times. The book’s lively style reflects both authors’ skills and personalities.

The authors say the book breaks new ground because it focuses on the commercial opportunities in the industry. They say that this book – containing interviews with more than 80 experts worldwide – fills a gap left by the retreat of some training programmes. For those starting out in this business, it is an excellent place to begin.

Interspersed with descriptions of broad trends and issues are plenty of “lightning round” Q&As with specific individuals, they give the study plenty of colour. It is easy for studies of financial sectors to become mired in reams of data without much conversation. The authors avoid that pitfall. Some of the topics – such as understanding what different generations want and the rise of women as significant wealth holders – are (or should be) familiar territory. What is particularly useful about this book is the way it blends these elements together.

The authors outline the opportunities they see for the sector – such as the need for long-term retirement savings; wealth technology (a particularly informative chapter in this reviewer’s opinion); the digital world (social media, video, and related segments); alternatives (including private markets and venture capital); “purpose” (covering areas such as impact and philanthropy); “international” (highlighting significant wealth creation worldwide and the increasingly footloose lives of HNW individuals); the ultra-high net worth end of the spectrum; and issues around talent (a strong chapter, with detail on recruitment, retention, and development).

It is a mark of this book that it leaves the reader wanting even more information and ideas. It is an excellent conversation starter.

This news service also interviewed Rudin and Rice about the book.

Why did you want to write this?
April Rudin: There has never previously been a book about commercial opportunities in the wealth management industry, as opposed to one focused on investing or financial planning. This is a guide for wealth managers and service providers in this growing and fast-evolving field for achieving success. It is truly global, meaning that it is relevant to audiences around the world, whether they are domestically or internationally focused.

Where did your travels take you?
Nick Rice: We interviewed more than 80 senior leaders and experts globally, drawn from our worldwide network in the industry and beyond. This involved calls at all hours of the day and night and engagement with a variety of business and regulatory regimes. These interviews represented a unique source of ideas and information for the book, and we are grateful to our interviewees for their insights and time.

What impact has it had already, and what do you hope it can achieve in framing conversations?
Rudin: The book has had an overwhelmingly positive reception, including a range of media interviews and kind words from industry leaders around the world. We hope industry professionals will read the book and implement its findings in their businesses. We are also happy to support them by hosting presentations or workshops, or by helping to train financial advisors and employees.

How optimistic are you about the industry?
Rice: The book’s primary focus is on how the industry can continue to thrive and grow by serving a new generation of clients. We discuss the obstacles that wealth managers must overcome to seize these opportunities, as well as potential solutions. Looking at the opportunities and challenges the industry has faced in the past, we are optimistic about its willingness and ability to do so again.

How do you see the wealth sector’s approach to technology – is it still a bit rooted in the past, or are there particular examples of great innovation?
Rudin: Since it handles the life savings of private individuals, the industry is understandably conservative in adopting new technology. However, we have seen significant developments in building out consolidated platforms that make “wealth tech” more productive, easier to use, and more secure – freeing up time for wealth managers to spend with clients. AI is simply the latest advance in this trend.

If I were to talk to you in five years’ time, where would you like to see the industry progress on some of the opportunities you set out?
Rice: We would like to see wealth managers and their providers adopting and implementing a comprehensive strategy for engaging with the next generation of clients. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, they will need to be clear-eyed about where they do and do not have a competitive advantage and shape their business accordingly.

Can you give me a few highlights of the financial centres that excite you?
Rudin: Looking at Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the UAE is one of the most significant emerging hubs. Singapore continues to be a vital and growing centre in the Asia-Pacific region. However, the US, where Nick and I are based, continues to enjoy remarkable global advantages, both as the world’s wealthiest economy and as a driver of new developments in technology and beyond.

Do you hope that business schools will give more space to wealth management as a field to be studied and taught to graduates?
Rice: Wealth management should occupy an important place in the financial services curriculum that mirrors its critical role in the overall industry. Since building personal relationships is such a key aspect of the profession, it should also form part of an introduction to business for arts majors as well as students in business and STEM. We see this as an important source of industry talent in the years and decades ahead.