(Australia) Private banks/wealth managers should concentrate on achieving sustainable, long-term growth and avoid setting unrealistic growth targets, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).A PwC survey of 29 private banking/wealth management organisations in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore revealed these organisations were confident they would outperform market growth yet were unsure how they would go about it.
PwC Australia Wealth Management leader David Prothero said organisations that had a well defined strategy would be competitively positioned.
‘Setting clear priorities and being able to articulate where growth will come from –whether it’s by entering new markets, developing unique products, or acquiring new customers – will be critical to success,’ he said.
The survey showed that Australian respondents displayed greater clarity when it came to defining their strategies for competitive advantage than their counterparts in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Among the challenges identified by Australian respondents were: how to determine the most appropriate business model for the market; how to identify and source new customers; and the difficulty in meeting clients’ needs in Australia’s legal and regulatory environment, especially in the tax and superannuation areas.