October 05, 2009

Wealth managers around the world have learnt the hard way that they need to become more transparent but this will push up costs, prompting further consolidation in the crisis-hit sector.In the year following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, volatile financial markets, a crisis of confidence sparked by the $65 billion Madoff fraud of mainly rich investors and the sudden erosion of bank secrecy have wreaked havoc on cosy private banker-client relationships.

"The biggest impact for the wealth management industry has been the shattering of confidence in financial services providers," said Catherine Tillotson, Scorpio Partnership Head of Research. "Clients really want to know what is going into their portfolios."What this increase in client demands and the need for better transparency mean for the industry in terms of competition, costs and consolidation will be among the issues addressed by bankers speaking at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit, which kicks off in Geneva, Singapore and New York on Oct. 5.