With fierce competition for high net worth (HNW) expat clients in Australia, wealth managers who are able to on-board clients in a foreign country and assist them during relocation will enjoy a competitive advantage, says leading data and analytics company GlobalData.

Australian HNW expats are a lucrative target segment thanks to their more complex servicing requirements, which translates into higher fee income.

GlobalData’s survey of the market, however, shows that only 16% of wealth managers target expats while they still reside in their home country.

Heike Van Den Hoevel, Financial Analyst at GlobalData, says: “At least to some extent this can be attributed to the shrinking international footprint of Australian banks. This makes it even more important to find new avenues to reach out to expats while they still reside in their country of origin.

“Partnerships with relocation companies represent one such approach. In many cases, a migrant’s first point of contact is a relocation company, making them a natural referral partner choice. In fact, not only would such partnerships provide a cost-effective means to generate new business, but they would allow providers to set themselves apart from the competition.”

GlobalData’s research reveals that only a very few providers have the in-house capabilities to provide specialty services that generally sit outside of a wealth manager’s core competencies anyway. For example, less than 10% of wealth managers offer property services, such as finding suitable permanent or temporary accommodation. However, in several cases a bank’s relationship with its affluent clients is not limited to the provision of financial services.

Hoevel concludes: “Partnerships with companies that support expats in finding all the new services they need upon arrival– from a property, to a school for their children, to help with banking – is a logical move for wealth managers targeting expats.”