This was the title of a panel I hosted in Geneva, Switzerland, the week before last, as part of the inaugural Geneva WealthTech Forum (https://tsfc.ch/event/geneva-wealth-tech-forum-2017/), The forum was organised by The Swiss Fintech Convention (www.tsfc.ch) jointly with Synergy Asset Management (www.synergy-wealthgroup.com) and with the support of the State of Geneva and its Department of Economy, Security and Innovation (www.ge.ch/organisation/departement-securite-economie).

As an industry analyst, themes like this are always interesting to uncover. But, despite my historic role, I have never looked into the topic of female wealth. More fool me. As a white male, who would probably would be categorised as middle class, the wealth management industry, as with many other sectors, has probably been built by people like me, led by people like me and largely targeted at people like me (just a bit richer!). Dare I say it, I just don’t get it. Anyone not fitting that profile might have a case to suggest the industry does not fit them too well and, most likely, they will have a strong argument.

The point being that an industry built from one group’s perspective has work to do to adapt to meet the growing diversity of wealth holders, creators and inheritors. Women being one large example of that as are minorities of one form or another and millenials. Actually, if it is more fool me, it is definitely more fool the wealth management industry because they are the ones that will miss out on a potentially giant opportunity if they don’t engage and adapt as required to meet the needs of their new potential audiences.

Some research-based highlights for female wealth
The numbers make for interesting reading:

• In 2016, according to Boston Consulting Group, women held $39.6 trillion of private wealth, or 30% of total private wealth in the world
  • The bulk of that sum comes from those who are self-made
  • The share had grown from 25% in the previous 5 years
• Women will receive 70% of the wealth that will be passed on over the next 2 generations
• According to EY, the global wealth of women is expected to rise from $13 trillion to $18 trillion by 2021

These are numbers that should make the industry stand-up and take notice. But does it?

Bound by experience
Well, not so much. Despite those numbers significant questions remain over the wealth management industry’s approach to and support for female clients and their needs. In fact, while some developments have taken place, when compared to the opportunity, it seems to be nowhere near enough. The approach, the behaviour, the products, the service model, it could all be done differentlz to meet the needs of this gigantic segment,

Let’s be clear, like with other opportunities in front of this industry, the sector first needs to break free from its existing mindset of what wealth is, who it is for and how it is delivered. The sector is too often bound by what it has got used to and what worked niceltz in the past, not the opportunity that sits in front of it which will require it to adapt the existing model.

What became clear in moderating the panel discussion is that in targeting women’s wealth the sector will need to make steps at culture and business model change, which is also exactly what should be happening to the wider business model. There is a changing marketplace out there! So, similar to a topic like digitalisation, where small steps are made in specific areas and then implemented deeper into the business, when talking about a segment and opportunity like women and wealth, there is in fact a greater prize on offer to wealth managers. This is not just a segment. If the industry can adapt to its needs it is a roadmap that can later be deployed further across the business for a broader benefit still.

A broader development opportunity
If womens' wealth is a small segment or an under-served one currently, it might therefore be a good place to test and develop and create that roadmap. Firms needs to realise the opportunity and start to act. Whether in engagement and prospecting, education and behaviour, product, service, people, pricing or other factors, female wealth holders might provide that strong base segment for wealth managers to really start to develop their future proposition and then, if successful, to then take those learnings and deploy them more broadly across their businesses for the benefit of further client segments, staff and the organisation.

Ultimately, while the segment is no doubt important and clearly needs a better propsosition to engage with this industry, there is more at stake for the industry. This could actually be meeting the future needs of clients and delivering a business model that can do that. Better serving female clients might in fact represent the future client-centric proposition and future-ready business model that we are waiting for. Let's see.