Wealth Management Faces Shortage Of Talent

A shortage of talented relationship managers, rainmakers and salespeople is boosting compensation to new highs, even as banks and other financial institutions battle for the privilege to pay the big bucks, Investment News reports.

A shortage of talented relationship managers, rainmakers and salespeople is boosting compensation to new highs, even as banks and other financial institutions battle for the privilege to pay the big bucks, Investment News reports.

“The cream of the crop are like rock stars now,” Allan Starkie of Knightsbridge Advisors, an executive search and market research firm in New York, told Investment News. “All institutions are fighting for the same talent pool. It’s a huge problem.”
Huge indeed. Starkie predicts that by the end of the decade, wealth management institutions will add some 50,000 jobs – and that doesn’t count filling vacancies. Wealthy clients in particular want executives with sophisticated investment skills – for example, those who understand alternative investments – to handle their accounts, says Investment News. The need for talent seems particularly acute in growing U.S. markets, such as Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.