Over half (56%) of wealth management professionals surveyed in Asia find the technology systems and applications they use outdated – in contrast to Europe where just 37% believe similarly – and in Hong Kong the percentage rises to 63%, according to a recent report.

As well, 49% of respondents in Hong Kong state that their systems are not designed according to their needs, while 44% face difficulties in finding the information they need for clients, finds the report published by Avaloq, a Swiss provider of banking software owned by Japan’s NEC Corporation, that surveyed wealth management professionals around the globe.

As the wealth management industry continues to grow in Asia, financial institutions, the report states, are under pressure to deliver personalized services to a larger and more diverse client base. Yet, in Hong Kong, 78% of those surveyed – above the global average of 70% – identify difficulties in scaling as a moderate to very strong barrier to offering more personalized advisory services to their clients.

And 69% of respondents in Asia, the report notes, agree that too many steps are involved in drafting investment proposals with current technology systems. This figure rises to 75% in Hong Kong, revealing an opportunity for wealth managers to automate and streamline processes.

Technological tools and platforms can greatly support wealth management professionals in enhancing client engagement. Currently, just over half (56%) of wealth management professionals in Hong Kong use their systems with clients, lower than peers in Asia (64%). 

Of those not yet using their advisory systems in client meetings, 83% of Hong Kong respondents state that they would like to, indicating an opportunity to introduce systems that are up to the task. For wealth management professionals globally, the biggest barriers to using advisory tools in client meetings are user interfaces that are not optimized (69%) and technologies that are too confusing to use with clients (60%).

With discretionary portfolio management gaining traction in Asia – and particularly in Hong Kong – more than two-thirds of portfolio managers in the region, the report details, state that improvements to portfolio monitoring (87%), portfolio rebalancing (80%) and portfolio construction (69%) would be beneficial to their work.

As well, automation, the report reveals, is regarded as a high priority by wealth management professionals. A majority of respondents in Hong Kong would also consider enhanced data analytics (68%) and data visualization (52%) as a major improvement. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, the report offers, is likely to help accelerate these efforts.