Everyone talks about the importance of user-friendly digital apps and communications, but a study of investors in Asia, and other markets, finds that they often disappoint users, have bugs, and need to be improved. These findings come from Accenture.

Wealth management clients in Singapore, the wider Asia region and other select markets  are not happy with digital apps on offer, suggesting thats firm must improve on quality, according to a report from Accenture. 

Digital channels are important for the industry today, and much airtime is taken up talking about the wonders of apps, chatbots and other features. But the industry appears to be falling short.

“A well-designed, reliable mobile app with a wide array of features and functionality is imperative to the growth and retention goals of wealth management firms in Asia,” David Wilson, Accenture’s wealth management lead for growth markets, said. “Poor digital experiences not only frustrate investors, but it places an undue burden on relationship managers to pick up the slack of tasks that can and should be automated, limiting their time to handle more high-value client work.”

Accenture found that less than half of those it surveyed (40 per cent) said they were satisfied with their firm’s mobile app and they were critical of their firm’s mobile experience – including performance, usability and robustness. For example, three-quarters (76 per cent) experienced bugs and crashes and another 72 per cent cited scheduled app downtime as disruptive, while more than two-thirds (68 per cent) say there are too many steps required to access desired features.

The second edition of Accenture’s Future of Asia Wealth Management report was based on a survey of 3,700 investors (500 Singaporeans) and nearly 600 relationship managers across 12 Asian markets, as well as interviews with senior wealth executives.

While firms' apps met customer expectations for certain functions such as investment execution, “serious” gaps exist in other areas such as advisory coverage, the report said.

“Investors in Asia increasingly want financial advice and recommendations from their wealth firm rather than relying on a self-directed approach, where they make investment decisions themselves and use wealth firms just to execute their trades,” the report said. 

Most wealth managers’ apps allow clients to perform tasks for just a few asset classes, with around 75 per cent of all assets in Asia as a whole (including digital assets, equities, fixed income, private equity, etc.) not fully supported, in spite of high client demand.

In other findings, the report said that where there is “poor” automation, relationship managers are left handling low-value, manual admin work. This also cuts the level of service they can provide, as 59 per cent of clients surveyed in Singapore say their RM’s service quality could be improved or they are unsatisfied with it.

Despite high-profile cryptocurrency failures and volatility, clients remain interested in digital assets. Nearly one-third (32 per cent) of respondents currently invest in them, down slightly from last year (44 per cent), and an additional 33 per cent are planning to invest in the next 12 months.

AI threat
“With burgeoning tools like generative AI threatening to upend wealth management, firms must position themselves as innovators or risk losing high net worth customers who will define their business for decades to come. Forty-one per cent of Singaporean investors said they would be excited about more personalised portfolio views through their mobile app, a strong indicator of where clients' expectations are heading,” Nicole Bodack, Accenture’s growth markets industry lead, said. 

Investor respondents worked with at least one wealth management firm and had investable assets ranging from a minimum of $100,000 to more than $10 million. Respondents for both surveys were from the following markets: Australia, China (mainland), China (Hong Kong SAR), India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.