Goal-oriented advice is key to wooing and winning wary investors battered by the erosion of both assets and trust in the public markets according to a recent presentation to the American Bankers Association.

In a recent presentation on trends in wealth management, TowerGroup director of Retail Brokerage & Investing, Dennis Ceru, noted that financial firms have a unique and timely opportunity to reach out to confused investors and, in the process, forge strong and lasting client relationships.

Ceru offered these insights at the ABA Private Banking & Wealth Management Summit, held on December 3-4 in Washington, D.C. The audience was a group of senior U.S. financial services institution executives working in the wealth management arena.

“Confusion is the top factor uniting retail investors, regardless of where they fall on the economic spectrum,” said Ceru. “Wary investors are looking for help to preserve and protect their assets. While extending an advice-driven, goal-oriented model across a broader segment of retail customers will be a significant challenge for many institutions, it is essential to gaining the loyalty of investors who – above all else – are looking for financial peace of mind.”

Ceru outlined several key points drawn from TowerGroup research on wealth management services:

    investors at all economic levels are seeking timely, easy to understand, actionable and accurate answers to tough questions about money;

  • the level of attention investors perceive they are receiving will be increasingly paramount to success, meaning that understanding the investor mindset is becoming more important for all financial institutions;
  • technology is becoming increasingly important in helping institutions create and deliver the perception of “high-touch” advisory services to a broader market; and
  • financial institutions should identify and stick to core competencies, emphasizing those arenas where they can present a unique value proposition to their market segments.

    “In order to be successful, financial institutions must ultimately shift their organizational mindsets from selling products to providing advisor-driven solutions,” Ceru emphasized.