HNW clients using multiple wealth managers to diversify advice

Investors are looking at the advice from their wealth managers through a critical lens, an EY report finds

private equity wealth management UK — According to EY, wealth management clients are becoming more active, more selective and more willing to move their assets // Image: William Barton, Shutterstock

HNWs are no longer relying on a single wealth manager, a report from EY has found, instead seeking to diversify the advice they receive on their asset allocations, as well as the spread of their investments.

Clients now use an average of 2.3 wealth managers to look after their assets, according to EY’s 2026 Global Wealth Management Industry Report, which surveyed over 100 wealth management executives.

‘Client expectations are rising at a time when relationships are becoming more fluid and more competitive,’ said Jun Li, global and Americas wealth and asset management lead. ‘Clients today are more engaged, more informed and more willing to act when they do not see clear value.’

The report found that 29 per cent of investments made by HNWs in 2025 were self-directed, demonstrating how the clients of wealth managers take an active role in their investment strategies and decisions.

As well as being increasingly fiscally literate, clients are using AI to source financial advice on their own; wealth managers also have been using it to increase the remit of their work.

‘This is not simply a technology upgrade – it is a fundamental shift in the wealth management operating model,’ said Olaf Toepfer, the founder of EY’s Global Center for Wealth Management. ‘As advice becomes more accessible and client expectations rise, the bar is shifting from insight to execution.’

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Clients are also more willing to move their investments: according to the report, 45 per cent of wealthy investors planned to move 25 to 50 per cent of their assets to other wealth managers, which EY said highlighted an ‘intensifying competition for client share of wallet’.

This comes as younger generations often change their wealth managers after inheriting wealth from their parents, according to a report from Capgemini. The survey said that 81 percent of younger people who are set to inherit large sums of money from their parents planned to look at alternative wealth management firms, citing poor digital offerings or a lack of services as the reasons for their respective moves.