How Will Mobile Engagement Define The Future of Wealth Management?

 Over the coming decades, trillions will change hands as part of the Great Wealth Transfer, bringing with it a new generation of investors with very different expectations. At the same time, advances in AI, the availability of richer customer insight and the rapid evolution of digital experiences are fundamentally changing how firms acquire, engage and retain clients whilst stemming outflows and increasing Assets Under Administration and Management (AUA/AUM).

These themes formed the centrepiece of our recent Future of Wealth Management event at The Hawksmoor, London, that we hosted alongside our partners Braze. Together, we explored what the future of wealth management could look like with connected digital experiences designed around modern investor expectations.

The message was clear: experience and engagement are becoming the defining competitive advantage.

Experience is replacing products as the competitive battleground

For decades, competitive advantage in wealth management was driven by investment performance, adviser relationships and product innovation. While these remain critical, they’re no longer enough.

Today’s investors compare every digital interaction against the best experiences they receive elsewhere, from retail and travel to entertainment and banking. They expect intuitive mobile experiences, immediate access to information, personalised communications and seamless service across every touchpoint, and the stakes are only increasing.

Research highlights that around 81% of inheritors intend to change wealth management providers within a year of receiving their inheritance. The Great Wealth Transfer will be a tectonic shift for legacy wealth managers, and a moment of complete reset of customer loyalty.

The firms that reduce friction, remove complexity and create genuinely effortless digital experiences will be the ones best positioned to retain and attract the next generation of investors.

Data only earns its keep when it shapes what happens next

Most wealth managers aren’t short of customer data, but they are short of using it at the moment it matters.

Behavioural signals, product usage and transaction history already sit inside most platforms. What’s changed is what clients are willing to hand over directly; their goals, life events, how they want to be contacted. The opportunity lies in connecting it fast enough to shape the next interaction, not the next quarterly review.

When that happens, investors stop being segments and start being people. A life event prompts a relevant conversation instead of a scheduled update, and a change in behaviour triggers a timely nudge instead of silence.

One of Braze’s customers, Wealthsimple, put this into practice with an asset-transfer campaign built on exactly this kind of signal. It drove a record month for net deposits, with 20% of the clients who received it taking up the offer from the campaign. It also worked as an effective acquisition and loyalty play; 25% of all campaign participants were new clients.

That’s real, proactive engagement in practice.

AI is making personalisation genuinely scalable

Personalisation has been a strategic ambition across financial services for years.

Today, AI is making it commercially achievable. Rather than relying solely on predefined customer segments or static journeys, AI powered Customer Engagement Platforms such as Braze enable firms to optimise every interaction in real time, determining the right content, channel, timing and message for every individual.

The result is communication that feels more relevant, more timely and significantly more valuable. 

Importantly, AI isn’t replacing human expertise. Instead, it’s allowing advisers and organisations to deliver more personalised experiences at a scale that simply wasn’t possible before, strengthening customer relationships while improving operational efficiency and commercial performance.

AI can also free up advisor time by taking administrative tasks off their plate, giving them more time for high value, personal interactions with customers. 

The future belongs to connected digital experiences

One of the biggest discussions throughout the event was about how organisations connect strategy, customer insight and digital execution. The firms leading the next era of wealth management will be the organisations that successfully connect customer data, AI, mobile experiences and personalised engagement into a seamless journey that continually adds value throughout an investor’s lifetime. That’s where lasting loyalty will be won.

We’ve seen what that looks like in practice. We worked with Charles Stanley, one of the UK’s largest wealth managers, to unlock more value from mobile for both the customer and the business. By simplifying client journeys and ensuring their mobile experience matched client needs, they have been able keep customers happier and engaged, specifically driving a 47% jump in user engagement between 2024 and 2026 and a rise in App Store Rating from 1.8* to 4.7*. 

That’s the work ahead for the sector: not bolting AI onto an old journey, but rebuilding the journey so data, mobile and engagement move together. The firms that get there first will be the ones the next generation chooses to stand with.