Following a blockbuster year of growth, financial institutions are asking their wealth management units to do it again in 2025. According to the latest run of our quarterly Influencers Poll, the mean investment services revenue growth target for 2025 is 9% in banks and credit unions, the same goal they were given going into 2024. How will the industry get it done? We turned to AI to help parse out the answer.
First, we asked all Influencers to describe their organization’s strategic priorities for 2025. The input received was highly detailed and revealed a plethora of foci. We then asked Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, to identify the top priorities for each subgroup of Influencers: Banks & Credit Unions, TPMs, and Vendors/Consultants. The results are enlightening.
Advisor recruitment made the top five strategic priorities for all three groups. This should come as no surprise, but there were notable differences among Influencers. While Influencers from banks and credit unions, and those from the TPMs, seem focused on growing advisor headcount primarily through recruitment, vendors and consultants are more focused on advisor development and career pathing as means to overcome the talent shortage.
Banks, credit unions, and TPMs are looking at ways to enhance the client experience in 2025. Gemini identified client experience enhancement as the #3 priority among Influencers from banks and credit unions, and the #1 priority among the TPMs. Digging deeper into the responses, it is clear that improving client experience through technology is the primary focus of those efforts. It’s no coincidence, then, that increasing technology spending made the top five strategic priorities among Influencers from the TPMs.
Wealth integration is a focus for Influencers from banks and credit unions. The integration of trust, private banking, asset management, and retail investments is a top priority for Influencers from banks and credit unions. Integration also made the top five priorities among vendors and consultants. But it appears that Influencers from the TPMs are focused on other ways to help their client programs grow in 2025.
We will check on the industry’s progress towards these goals when we field the next Influencers Poll.