Research finds wealth managers face growing pressure from clients to advise on digital and crypto assets

According to new research from London-based Nickel Digital Asset Management (Nickel), 69 per cent of professional investors predict over the next two years that wealth managers will come under growing pressure from their clients to offer advice and investment vehicles focusing on crypto and digital assets.  Some 23 per cent expect clients to place considerably more pressure on them to do this.

Nickel commissioned research with 200 professional investors from across seven countries who collectively manage around USD329 billion in assets, and only 23 per cent of those surveyed expect the pressure on wealth managers to cover crypto and digital asset services to fall, with 7 per cent predicting their clients will opt for direct market access bypassing their wealth managers.

More than three-quarters (78 per cent) of professional investors believe wealth managers will lose clients if they choose not to offer advice around crypto and digital assets or access to funds investing in them.

Fiona King, Managing Director Institutional Sales, at Nickel Digital, says: “The number of sophisticated retail investors is increasing dramatically, and they are becoming more demanding in terms of the service and support they want from wealth managers and advisers. Increasingly this includes offering advice and access to a wider range of asset classes, including digital assets.

“Our research shows that those wealth managers who choose to ignore the multi-trillion dollar digital asset market run the risk of losing clients. The pressure on wealth managers to offer advice and funds on the market will only grow as the digital asset sector develops.”