Research reveals data integration, fragmentation and product implementation as chronic pain points among financial advisers
elemnta today announced key independent research findings that shed light on the severe data-related challenges holding back Australia’s wealth management sector. The research, ‘Data Storm: Exposing the Real Data Challenges in Australian Wealth Management Practices’, conducted by Marshan Consulting, highlights data fragmentation and lack of standardisation as the primary hurdles preventing scalable, efficient financial advice delivery in the Australian wealth management landscape.
The findings coincide with the announcement that influential technology executive and former Westpac Group Chief Information Officer, Dave Curran, has joined the elemnta Board as its Non-Executive Chairman. Curran’s appointment strengthens the company’s momentum in addressing the industry’s systemic data challenges. Curran, one of Australia’s most impactful technology leaders with decades-long experience in financial services, has been closely involved with elemnta for almost five years, and will continue to offer strategic guidance as Chairman as the company continues to expand its market presence.
Research Highlights Data Fragmentation in Wealth Management
The independent research review from Marshan Consulting offers a comprehensive assessment of the data challenges facing Australia’s wealth management and financial advice practices. The findings, which were gathered through in-depth interviews with professionals and experts and a thorough review of existing literature, identified three core challenges:
- System fragmentation: A lack of integration between a large volume of different systems and non-standardised data formats are driving inefficiencies.
- Implementation obstacles: The significant time required for administrative tasks and product implementation, strains profitability and limits service capacity.
- Compliance complexity: Balancing data collection for regulatory compliance with data minimisation required by privacy laws remains difficult.
Importantly, the analysis identified a significant disconnect between the challenges and solutions described in existing literature and provider offerings, compared to the operational realities faced by advisers, driven by fundamental data issues. This contrast has led to a misalignment between proposed technology solutions and the needs of practitioners.
Dave Curran, Chairman of elemnta, commented, “The wealth and financial advice sector is at a crossroads. Our industry has been grappling with the fragmentation and inefficiencies that arose after the 2018 Financial Services Royal Commission, which led to the exit of major banks from providing advice. The industry is simply not equipped to meet the growing need for affordable, accessible advice.
“The research released today validates the challenges we foresaw, and the work elemnta has been doing for the past five years in putting advanced technology and seamless connectivity at the forefront. Ultimately, we need to ease the burden on wealth managers and financial advisers by providing them with integrated, scalable tools that improve efficiency and reduce the cost of delivering quality advice. This is a crucial part of solving the ‘access, affordability, quality’ challenge.”
elemnta’s Integrations Platform capability enables smoother workflow, automation and efficiencies for industry players through a range of data infrastructure capabilities. As a middleware solution, it is designed to orchestrate data exchange and validation, format translation, and facilitate seamless connection to other systems.
Shaun Green (pictured), CEO of elemnta, added, “At elemnta we believe that the industry’s future depends on a strong data infrastructure foundation. The research makes evident a severe disconnect between the top-down technology solutions and bottom-up practitioner challenges. The ‘fracture’ stems from a lack of standard data and system integration at the base of our industry.
“We recognise the challenge lies not with the incumbent industry participants, but in between them. The solution, therefore, also exists in this space, and this is our focus.”
Green went on to emphasise the importance of investment in quality data infrastructure, adding, “Our goal with this research was to spark an industry conversation and bring awareness to the fact that we are rapidly approaching a new competitive frontier driven by digital-first strategies. Given the scale of pain points experienced by practitioners, power will lie with the product providers who place technology at the centre of operations and customer engagements.”
Green concluded, “We’re already seeing the potential of this approach to grow and transform the industry. Feedback from institutions and practices regarding the operational efficiency and service quality derived from our own Integrations Platform supports this promise. The product providers who fail to adapt risk falling behind.”
To explore the key insights from our latest research, ‘Data Storm: Exposing the Real Data Challenges in Australian Wealth Management Practices’, and to view elemnta’s accompanying whitepaper, ‘A Fractured Foundation: The Critical Issue Holding Back Australia’s Wealth Ecosystem’, please visit www.elemnta.com/research.
