About the event

The growth potential for the bank’s wealth, trust and brokerage units is enormous. There’s an estimated $11 trillion in retirement assets of people age 60 and over, and it will be $16.1 trillion by 2009.* The big question looms: Is your bank’s investment business poised to take advantage of opportunities in retirement income generation?  Can your bank compete with RIAs and recognized brokerage houses for these much sought-after clients?

Banks are still the newest players in the increasingly competitive universe of wealth management, and face significant challenges in reaping potential gains of from existing customers who have investment needs. Many banks’ wealth strategies are hampered by disjointed silos, and staffed with advisors who lack financial planning savvy. With so much opportunity presenting itself, and with bank investment units poised to gain the most, banks must work hard to restructure, train, research, market and sell.

Smart banks are making significant strides—training their reps in retirement planning, reorganizing their wealth units to bridge the gap between brokerage, trust and other parts of the bank, becoming sophisticated in marketing and sales, and gaining a keen understanding of client needs and how this can drive growth in assets under management.

As financial institutions everywhere feel the rippling effects of the subprime mortgage crisis, and shrinking margins elsewhere in the bank, the wealth and advisory units are emerging as one of the banking industry’s most promising areas of revenue generation.  But without examples of how to build and/or transform your wealth management unit, the opportunity is likely to pass, with little gain.

This conference provides a forum for the bank investment industry to meet and discuss how to get the bank’s wealth and advisory business retirement-ready--From understanding the newest financial instruments to creating business strategies that will boost assets under management.