Wealth management and private banking websites are failing to attract clients, a new report has found.
The Wealth Management Websites That Win Clients 2012 report conducted by Swiss research company MyPrivateBanking, found that the quality of the 40 leading wealth managers and private banks websites assessed, had not improved since 2011.
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It found that these sites stayed at an average of 61 out of a maximum 100 points when compared with last years results from the annual global ranking of websites.
ABN AMRO, UBS, RBC take top spot
MyPrivateBanking ranked ABN AMRO, UBS and Royal Bank of Canada as the top three private banking websites.
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By GlobalDataThe most impressive result of all was ABN AMRO Private Banking, which scooped the number one spot after sitting in 23rd place in 2011. The European private bank gained the top spot due to its unique offering of easily comprehensible information on costs and fees on its website, and performance data for products and services.
The average banks performance is not even close to that of the top performers, failing often in even meeting basic requirements in navigation, content and interactivity, said Steffen Binder, head of research of MyPrivateBanking.
He said that retail banking clients usually have a better experience using these websites than affluent private banking clients.
Top 10 Private Banking Websites (overall 40 banks ranked):
| Rank 2012 (Rank 2011) | Bank | Total Points (max. 100) | |
| 1 (24) | ? | ABN AMRO | 86 |
| 2 (1) | ? | UBS | 79 |
| 3 (9) | ? | RBC | 77 |
| 4 (9) | ? | Société Généralé | 74 |
| 5 (17) | ? | Standard Chartered | 73 |
| 6 (New) | – | UniCredit | 72 |
| 7 (12) | ? | ING | 71 |
| 7 (12) | ? | Morgan Stanley | 71 |
| 7 (12) | ? | Nordea | 71 |
| 10 (6) | ? | Barclays | 69 |
| 10 (8) | ? | Julius Bär | 69 |
| 10 (2) | ? | Merrill Lynch | 69 |
Weaknesses
The main weaknesses identified in the MyPrivateBanking report are:
- Private banking websites are failing to meet basic requirements of navigation and structure – a major problem area for more than half of the banks assessed is search functions and for 25 % of banks, their websites are only available in one language
- There is a lack of transparency –comprehensive information on the performance or the costs of the products and services offered are made available by less than 20 % of the banks
- Social media channels are not being utilized; 70% of the banks under evaluation fail to link these with the websites – Social media content from sites such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube are often unavailable on the websites
In the report MyPrivateBanking Research has suggestedfour main ways in which wealth managers can strengthen their websites and win clients:
- A critical requirement is implementing a stand-alone platform exclusively for wealth management clients. Content must be made available in the major languages worldwide to attract a wider audience of wealthy individuals
- Make available search tools that offer easy and simple navigation as well as a broad range of contact options
- To ensure credibility private banking providers are advised to disclose critical data, such as assets under management, fees, and past performance for discretionary mandate
- Establishing new social media channels and integrating these with the website
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