At IFGS 2025, the panel discussion ‘The great wealth transfer: wealthtech’s time to shine’ focused on the evolving nature of wealth management, and how digitalisation, personalisation, and creative partnerships are key to scale up wealthtechs.
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Speakers Marine Augé, vice president, FISV; Shri Krishnansen, CCO, WealthOS; Lesley Li, CEO, U Impact; and Carolina Minio-Paluello founder and CEO, Vitruvya, moderated by Adam French, partner, Antler, discussed new solutions in the wealth management sector.
French noted that there is merit in keeping things simple, however, personalisation is key. Auge pointed out that it is important to find a balance where the end-user is not overwhelmed by choice, but there is still a personalised element.
Krishnansen corroborated these points, and added that wealth has fallen behind other sectors in fintech: “We are the last part of financial services to really go through digital transformation, like this is the last bastion that’s holding onto legacy tech. Banking is ahead of us. Payments is ahead of us. Regtech is ahead of us. What we need is to bring these new technologies across the whole value chain.
“The biggest barriers I find are legacy tech, poor understanding of what’s out there and how to use it. It’s not that you have to throw out everything that you have. You can use some of this new technology as connective tissue to help orchestrate between what you have and want. The missing part of the equation is people are just bringing this into all solutions. Oftentimes, you hear people saying ‘I’m using AI now to record meeting notes’. Great. So it spits out a summary at the end. But that’s not enough. It needs to be able to have an analysis of the users accounts to be able to make personal recommendations and take action. What I’m trying to get at is: bring these technologies into the complete value chain. Take AI away from these point solutions, bring it into the back end. To do that, you need APIs, you need all the content protocols, and you need to modernise.”
Krishnansen furthered that embedded wealth plays a role in getting to people when they need it the most, and that embedded finance is crucial. Citing superapps that are on the rise in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, and social media platforms and gaming apps that are keeping people on their apps; Krisnansen indicated that success lies in distributing products through non-traditional providers to level-up their capabilities.
Minio-Paluello added that without blockchain, the digital transformation will not happen, clarifying that blockchain, not crypto, is the key – blockchain is the rail, and crypto is the wagon. Providing examples of how blockchain platforms are being built by asset services to tokenise funds, Minio-Paluello emphasised how the technology can be leveraged by the wealthtech sector:
“I see blockchain as the transformation in the distribution, and turning what today is an opaque and not transparent, into an open, transparent and very inclusive system that very much aligns with the values-based vision of the next generation.”
French asked who will be the winners in the wealthtech space, Auge responded that those who collaborate with leading technology will profit.
Li stated that “human centricity is not just a buzzword anymore”, explaining that new technology is all for developing a human layer. Li emphasised how the obsession with seamless technology like AI is not the end goal, but can be used to propel businesses towards it. Highlighting the value of combining AI and behavioural science, Li clarified that providers need to be able to break down their tech stack for the big picture to crytallise.
In concluding statements, Krishnansen succinctly stated: “Figure out what differentiates you to your customer and invest in that. The rest are commoditised technology, commoditised pieces. Outsource it.”
Minio-Paluello noted that the challengers are underestimated, and the wealth managers should be thinking about how neobanks are moving into the space.
