Wealth Management in France 2009

This report focuses on the onshore liquid wealth of affluent individuals and the liquid assets they hold, sizing, segmenting and forecasting the affluent population across 10 liquid asset bands. It also presents detailed HNW demographic and decision trigger analysis, and strategies to drive revenue growth based on large scale survey of the main players.

Report Highlights
French banks have so far been less affected by the economic downturn than less conservative nations, but HNW sentiment has worsened. Opportunities will arise for those in a position to take advantage of them, but opinion is divided over which type of wealth manager will fare best over the next few years.

At present there is an increased demand for discretionary wealth management among French HNWs. This comes despite confidence in and loyalty to wealth managers being at its lowest. Some HNWs wish to partake in execution only management, but are unwilling to do so in the current market conditions.

French wealth managers are primarily concerned with the quality of their service. This is congruent with the high importance placed on personal relationships by French HNWs and their higher than average demand for face to face relationship management.
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Table of Contents 4
Table of figures 5
Table of tables 6
Special Feature: Impact of the crisis on the French wealth management landscape 7
The change in wealth management landscape will be less extreme than in other European countries; big players will continue to dominate the market 7
French banks have been less affected by the economic downturn, but HNW sentiment has worsened 7
There will be opportunities for large wealth managers, but HNWs are frustrated with some aspects of their service 7
French wealth managers do not know what to make of nationalized banks 8
Opinion is divided over which type of wealth manager will fare best over the next few years 9
Data Tables 11
France's wealth 14
Unattractive market conditions in most asset classes mean France's wealthy population must take on more risk if they want a return 14
Base interest rate cuts, lower bond yields and increasing per capita debt are decreasing France's wealth 14
French investors, like those across the developed world, suffered badly from poor returns in equity investments 16
Bond yields have fallen drastically and are no longer attractive 17
France's property investment sector is suffering 17
French investors continue the shift into deposits 18
The Wealth Data in 2009 19
Data tables 20
The French HNW investor 22
French clients remain knowledgeable and risk averse, but market conditions have made them far less loyal 23
French HNWs have a good knowledge of financial products and shy away from risk 23
Wealth management service implication: focus on being seen as a firm whose primary investment aim is the low risk preservation of wealth 24
Innovative Solution: Take heed of the market positioning of shariah law compliant funds 25
Personal relationships remain all-important, but the wealth management landscape has changed 25
Wealth Management service implication: understand and cater to the needs of the individual so that the added value is obvious 27
Innovative Example: Leverage platforms that will increase the knowledge about individual clients 27
French HNW portfolio allocations will change drastically over the next two years 28
French HNWs are still heavily invested in property but have left fixed income products 28
Wealth management service implication: be proactive in advising clients over how to allocate their portfolio, and understand clients' desires 30
Innovative example: Pyxis mobile is providing a complete mobile communications interface to allow wealth managers to contact their clients while on the move 30
Over the next two years, the increase in deposits will continue, and there will be a large outflow from property 30
Wealth management service implication: Look to capitalise on changes to market players' reputations through innovative marketing campaigns and investment opportunities 32
Innovative example: HSBC is rebranding in order to take market share from its competition 32
The French HNW is more concerned about asset preservation and positioning for the upturn than on profiting in the downturn 33
At present a product must be simple, transparent and retain its value well 33
Wealth management service implication: wealth managers must look to develop simple, transparent products to preserve their clients' wealth 35
Innovative example: iShares has launched a range of exchange traded funds (ETFs) 35
In two years' time, close ended property funds will be in demand as investors will look to get back into real estate 35
Wealth management service implication: look to capitalize at the start of the upturn by developing innovative products, especially in real estate 37
Innovative example - ASK set up a new Indian real estate fund to tap into pent up demand 38
Service quality and investment performance are the most important criteria for selecting a wealth manager 40
Wealth management service implication: offer other features to increase service quality 41
Innovative solution: Hayden Wealth provide a financial planning service alongside its wealth management offering 41
Data 42
The French wealth manager's view 44
French Wealth managers have suffered a blow to their reputations, but they perceive their quality of service to be high 44
French wealth managers believe their greatest strengths lie in the quality of their service and the personal relationships they have with their clients 44
Leveraging the use of CRM and offering financial planning are the best ways to increase the share of a client's wallet 46
Being proactive and professional is key to retaining clients 48
French wealth managers contact their clients less frequently than their European peers 50
Despite it being extremely important to clients, French wealth managers speak to their clients less than the average European wealth manager 50
Specific asset performance and investment opportunities are what most clients want to discuss 53
Money market funds are the most important resource focus due to the harsh economic environment 54
APPENDIX 57
The drivers of growth in the wealthy population 57
Income growth (combined with inflation, changes in GDP by sector, household savings rates and debt levels) 57
Investment returns (market capitalization, interest rates and bond yields) 57
The following measures are not, in themselves, drivers of wealthy population growth 57
Market capitalization 57
GDP 57
The following measures are not drivers of wealthy population growth except under very restricted circumstances 58
Primary residence value growth 58
Inheritance 58
Methodology 58
Wealth Management Market Leaders Survey 2009 58
Global Wealth Model 58
The UK sub model 58
Global sub model (for all other countries) 59
Forecasting methodology 59
Continuous refinement to the understanding of liquid wealth distribution 59
Datamonitor's wealth numbers compared with other wealth numbers 60
Definitions 60
Western Europe 60
Further reading 60
Ask the analyst 60
Datamonitor consulting 61
Disclaimer 61
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Table 1: To what extent do you agree with the following? (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = somewhat disagree, 3 = somewhat agree, 4 = strongly agree) 11
Table 2: To what extent do you agree with the following? (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = somewhat disagree, 3 = somewhat agree, 4 = strongly agree) 12
Table 3: To what extent do you agree with the following, % 13
Table 4: Household savings rate and retail debt outstanding per adult, % and USD 20
Table 5: Level of long term interest rate, % 20
Table 6: Year-on-year stock exchange performances, % 20
Table 7: Year-on-year net inflows into asset classes, EURbn 21
Table 8: HNW attributes on a scale of 1 to 4 (risk appetite and knowledge) (1 = very low, 2 = somewhat low, 3 = somewhat high, 4 = very high) 24
Table 9: HNW attributes on a scale of 1 to 4 (1 = very low, 2 = somewhat low, 3 = somewhat high, 4 = very high) 27
Table 10: What proportion of your HNWs' portfolios is allocated to the following five asset classes? 29
Table 11: HNWs' portfolio allocation now versus in 2 years time 32
Table 12: What are HNWs demanding today? 34
Table 13: In 2 years' time, how much demand do you expect from HNWs for the following product areas? 37
Table 14: What do you find most influences the provider selection of HNWs? 41
Table 15: HNW motivations when it comes to investment decisions, % 42
Table 16: HNW motivations when it comes to investment decisions, % 42
Table 17: HNW motivations when it comes to investment decisions, % 43
Table 18: HNW motivations when it comes to investment decisions, % 43
Table 19: What are the greatest strengths and weaknesses of your company today? 46
Table 20: What is the most effective means of increasing share of wallet today? 48
Table 21: What is the best way to retain clients today? 50
Table 22: On average, how often do your relationship managers speak by phone to each HNW client? 51
Table 23: On average, how often do your relationship managers speak in person to each HNW client? 52
Table 24: When speaking with clients, what do they most want to talk about today? 54
Table 25: What product areas will your wealth management service focus most resources on in the next 2 years? 56
Figure 1: Wealth managers in France think that large wealth managers will have the best opportunities in the next few years 8
Figure 2: The view of wealth managers is that nationalized and part nationalized banks will attract good relationship managers because they are financially secure 9
Figure 3: Both large and small wealth managers have their competitive advantages 10
Figure 4: Debt levels in France continue their increase 15
Figure 5: Long-term interest rates are declining slowly after a high in 2007 16
Figure 6: Stock markets around the world collapsed 17
Figure 7: Outflows are seen in all asset classes apart from deposits 19
Figure 8: HNW investors in France have a higher risk appetite than the average European HNW investor 24
Figure 9: There is a greater risk of HNW clients in France leaving to find another wealth manager than the average European HNW investor 26
Figure 10: The majority of HNW wealth in France is invested in the 'equities' asset category, with this accounting for 24% of all investments 29
Figure 11: In 2 years' time the majority of HNW wealth in France will be invested in the 'cash or near cash' asset category with this accounting for 26% of all investments 31
Figure 12: In France, HNW investors' greatest demand is for simple, transparent investments 34
Figure 13: In 2 years time, the greatest demand amongst HNW investors in France will be for closed ended property funds with 22% of HNW investors demanding this category of product 36
Figure 14: Product demand will alter noticeably over the next two years 39
Figure 15: HNW investors in France are most influenced by service quality in their choice of Wealth Manager 40
Figure 16: The greatest strength of Wealth Managers in France is their quality of service 45
Figure 17: The best way for Wealth Managers in France to increase share of wallet is to offer financial planning 47
Figure 18: The best way for Wealth Mangers in France to retain HNW investors is to make sure all problems are resolved quickly and completely 49
Figure 19: In France the Wealth Management relationship managers speak to clients by phone approximately once a week 51
Figure 20: In the Wealth Management relationship managers speak to in person to clients approximately once a quarter 52
Figure 21: The majority of clients in France want to speak to their wealth manager about performance of specific asset classes within their portfolio 53
Figure 22: Wealth managers in France will be focusing most of their resources on money market funds in 2 years time 55
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