High-net-worth millennials think about charity entirely differently from the Gen X and Boomer generations. A study by Bank of America-owned U.S. Trust showed the youngest of the three generations isn't as interested in writing a check for a good cause — millennials would rather contribute in other ways, which could affect how an advisor manages their wealth. Only 36 percent of millennials defined "giving" as making a charitable financial donation, versus 61 percent of Gen X participants and 83 percent of Boomers. Far more than other generations, millennials said "giving" meant investing in companies making a positive impact and "social entrepreneurism."
Morgan Stanley to Train Advisors on Sustainable Investing
Recognizing a spike in demand for sustainable investing, Morgan Stanley wants to teach its 16,000 financial advisors how to successfully implement these strategies in their practices using Morgan Stanley’s “Investing with Impact” platform. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management developed an e-learning education program in collaboration with the Institute for Sustainable Investing and will make the course available directly through advisors’ desktops. The curriculum comes after a recent Morgan Stanley survey found that 80 percent of HNW millennials are interested in sustainable investing and assets invested in this area have risen 135 percent since 2012. “Our objective was quite bold — to be a catalyst in driving adoption of sustainable investing by our Financial Advisors, and to provide every client who desires it an opportunity to invest in alignment with their values and impact objectives,” said Lily Trager, director of investing with impact and head of impact solutions at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. This is the second move the firm has made this week with the goal of better attracting millennial clients; Morgan Stanley also entered into a partnership with Twilio to enable its advisors to text message with clients.
Washington Trust Wealth Management Adopts SEI Wealth Platform
Washington Trust Wealth Management and SEI announced that Washington Trust plans to adopt SEI's Wealth Platform. Washington Trust is the nation's oldest community bank, offering a full range of services in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The SEI Wealth Platform will provide Washington Trust with unified front, middle and back-office service, improving the client experience with increased productivity and efficiency. "The SEI Wealth Platform will give Washington Trust Wealth Management a state-of-the art digital system to provide our clients with the outstanding service standards they expect," said Mark Gim, Senior Executive Vice President, Wealth Management and Chief Strategy Officer at Washington Trust. "Through its fully-integrated workflows, automation and straight-through processing, we believe SEI's unified platform will also improve our employee experience and efficiency." SEI, which launched in 2013, now supports 11 private banking firms and their clients and has six other clients in various stages of implementation.