Oliver Buomberger, Deputy CEO & COO, Saxo Bank Switzerland:

Portfolio optimization: Oliver Buomberger. (Image: courtesy)

Personal investment advisory in wealth management is not facing an end — it is facing a sharp refocusing. For ultra-high-net-worth clients in particular, it will matter more than ever. Their lives are growing more complex, more international, and increasingly shaped by highly individual requirements. What they need is not product salespeople, but peer-level sparring partners. Advisors must have a comprehensive grasp of succession planning, tax structuring, and cross-border wealth organization — and must be able to think in an integrated, connected way.

Classic investment advisory centered on equity markets, by contrast, is losing ground. Via digital trading platforms, clients today invest faster, more efficiently, and at lower cost. Meanwhile, powerful and freely accessible AI tools deliver well-founded portfolio optimization proposals.

Proving Value Clearly

Banks that continue to charge high — or partially hidden — fees for straightforward equity and ETF allocations or standardized model portfolios are coming under increasing pressure. They will need to demonstrate their added value far more clearly going forward. For standard investments, more and more investors will turn to digital solutions.

The future of personal advisory in wealth management therefore lies not primarily in product selection, but in holistic guidance through complex wealth and life situations. That is where genuine value is created.

Read the next page for the statement by Franco Polloni, Head Switzerland & Italy Region, EFG International.