The rise of the mass affluent

Over the last few years, a growing middle class has led to steep growth in the number of mass affluent customers across the world.

This segment of wealth customers is described as those having investable assets in the range of $250,000 to $1 million. They account for about 40% of global wealth and are expected to replace the middle class as growth drivers in the coming decade. As per a report from Global Data Analytics, the US mass affluent wealth band alone is expected to account for upwards of $US 42 trillion of wealth by 2025.

However, despite their significant scale and the immense potential of the mass affluent segment, it has thus far not been a top priority segment for Wealth Management (WM) firms. Capgemini’s 2023 affluent customer survey found that 47% do not receive the required value-added services from their WM firms.

In recent years, several different FinTechs have seized this opportunity, and begun to offer cost-effective solutions to help clients reach their investment goals. While traditional banks recognize the promise of this segment, they’re not sure about how to approach it, and as a result, it has remained underserved by traditional players. These customers are financially and digitally savvy, fee-sensitive, and inclined to shop around for various options, often spreading their assets across providers. Therefore, a generic cookie-cutter approach is unlikely to create much stickiness in the relationship. However, their investable wealth levels do not justify the traditional, personal one-to-one wealth advisor model. Consequently, the more economical digital self-service models offered by FinTechs have seen significant adoption.

Given this background, traditional firms must consider new ways to attract and retain clients from this segment. These include:

1. Leverage actionable data for insights. Develop a client-centric strategy to create cost-effective yet bespoke offerings with an optimal balance of digital and personal interactions. Mass affluent clients’ aspirations have significantly evolved from basic vanilla products of the past, and hence hyper-personalized offers and service would be key to attracting them.
2. Investment in new age solutions. To optimally serve this segment, it is imperative for firms to leverage the latest technology to differentiate themselves, deliver an exceptional experience, and remain competitively priced. Furthermore, with the great wealth transfer expected to result in over $120 trillion being passed on to next generation heirs by 2048, it would be critical for firms to engage with their younger clients in new ways. The expectations of these beneficiaries – regarding engagement channels, investment opportunities, interest in sustainable products, and preference for alternative asset classes – differ significantly from those of previous generations. Therefore, it becomes essential for firms to invest in the right technologies to effectively serve these new age clients.
3. Invest in an agile operating model. Having a modular architecture centered on an aggregation layer leveraging capabilities from legacy systems, as well as partner components and third parties, will allow WM firms to better leverage their ecosystem. It will also enable them to be better prepared for an expanding product universe consisting of not just traditional asset classes, but also newer ones such as alternatives, private markets, various digital assets (such as cryptos and NFTs), and ESG investments.

Firms are taking new and innovative measures to attract the mass affluent client base. JPMorgan has introduced an innovative “financial center” branch concepts aimed at mass affluent clients. Instead of traditional teller windows, these branches feature library-style sitting rooms and concierge bankers who provide personalized services such as stock purchasing assistance, retirement planning, and help with credit card fraud. Meanwhile, HSBC has relaunched its “Premier” wealth banking brand in Britain, providing a fee-free product that will offer 24-hour-a-day customer service, financial planning tools, as well as travel, international and lifestyle benefits to its mass affluent clients.

As the size of this segment and its investable wealth continue to grow over the next few years, competition between banks and wealth management firms will intensify. Banks will need to differentiate themselves through the relevance of their offerings – advising what is best for the client rather than pushing specific products – along with competitive pricing and the ability to tailor solutions based on the client’s lifecycle stage. Additionally, the capability to identify retail banking clients who may soon join the mass affluent segment, and to start engaging with them early, will position banks to build relationships from the inception of their first portfolios. As these clients’ wealth grows, so too will the potential business for the banks that have earned their trust.