The good times are back in capital markets, although you wouldn’t know it from the headlines in Europe. The industry is generating around a trillion dollars in net annual revenues and overall profitability is high. But taking a look behind the numbers reveals a cause for concern, particularly for some of the sell-side players. The…

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order approving the Precidian ETF model—a “novel type of actively managed ETFs” whereby daily disclosure of portfolio composition is not required.[1] Active managers who licensed or intend to license the model should have had a keen interest in the long-awaited regulatory disposition. The approval places some new…

Workplace financial wellness is a multi-billion dollar market. And while corporate programs are not new, they’ve not yet taken hold as most companies hoped they would. With mostly limited uptake and low sustained usage, workplace financial wellness could use a shot in the arm to better deliver the outcomes employers want. That means the timing…

The outlook for wealth managers should feel rosy, in theory. After all, the demographics of wealth are promising. Consider: In 2018, the global ultra-wealthy population with net worth of >$30M rose to 22.4 million people [i] Global wealth management assets under management (AUM) is set to double by 2020 to $145T [ii] By 2020, women…

A modern back-office could save wealth management firms millions of dollars. But, in the rush to equip advisors with the best digital technologies, the back-office is sometimes neglected. I advise my clients to focus on both. The savings generated by modernizing back-office operations could help fuel customer-facing transformation. Accenture research tells us that by 2020,…

Accenture’s latest analysis, our Capital Markets Vision 2022, shows a highly diverse picture of investment bank performance and outlook. Yes, the top four investment banks (all generating above $20bn in revenue and all US domiciled) are creating significant economic profits and thus shareholder value. And yes, profitable niches do exist further down the scale for…