PwC have today released their annual Global survey of the sector’s CEO views on the outlook for the Asset & Wealth Management industry.
The survey interviewed 185 Asset & Wealth Management CEOs from 45 countries. The survey shows that 92% are confident or very confident about the growth outlook over the next 12 months, up from 90% last year and higher than the average across financial services sector (86%).
The majority of business leaders in the sector plan to increase their workforce (64%) in the year ahead, higher than other segments in the Financial Services sector.
Over two-thirds (68%) admit they have already changed their people strategy to recruit, develop and retain the skills needed in the future.
CEOs five biggest concerns in the sector are the availability of key skills (71%), the speed of technological change (66%), changing customer behaviour (64%), lack of trust (61%) and cyber threats (59%). Only 10% of AWM CEOs plan to strengthen their digital capabilities, compared with 23% across Financial Services, despite two thirds of CEOs being concerned about the speed of technological change as a threat to growth.
Only 27% of CEOs are looking to collaborate with entrepreneurs or startups. The report warns that the results point to the sector’s reluctance to innovate. By comparison, 31% of Banking CEOs and 37% of Insurance leaders plan to do so, where strategies including working with FinTech companies to develop new products and business models may transform their sectors.
OECD economies are viewed as the most important for the sector’s growth in 2017. This year’s responses showed a big shift towards the US as a key market, with over half (54%) judging it to be the most important market outside their home market, vs 39% last year.
Commenting on the report, Leader of the PwC EMEA Asset and Wealth Management Practice, Andrew O’Callaghan said, "PwC’s latest forecast for the total global industry assets under management is US$101.7 trillion by 2020 - and notwithstanding the geopolitical uncertainties, the global asset management industry is confident it can continue to achieve future growth. In particular, with over 100,000 highly skilled professionals working in financial services in Ireland along with a large diaspora, many of whom will no doubt look to return, PwC is confident that Ireland has the capacity to deal with any relocation from the UK to Ireland as a result of the UK leaving the Single Market. However, the sector needs to rethink the relevance of some of the services it provides to its clients, from big financial institutions to pensioners, and take a longer-term perspective."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
