Wealth managers are being pushed toward a modernisation reckoning. Instant settlement is becoming the norm just as automation demands stronger data governance, while rules such as the EU’s DORA act raise the bar for systemic resilience.
For institutions still running on fragmented, decades-old infrastructure, the pressure to act is mounting.
According to Tieto Banktech, which recently delved into how wealth firms can modernise effectively, the answer isn’t a wholesale rip-and-replace of legacy systems. Success depends on giving investors a single, clear view of their portfolios and giving advisers actionable insight, which requires software that can process every transaction securely under one governed operating model. Too often, customer channels, investment administration and post-trade processing remain disconnected, slowing service and adding risk at every handover.
Drawing on more than 30 years in wealth management technology, Tieto argues that “big bang” replacements can work but concentrate migration and continuity risk to a dangerous degree. A more resilient route is to connect elements of the wealth lifecycle incrementally, so each investment delivers a visible outcome while reducing overall complexity.
Rather than modernising the oldest technology first, Tieto recommends starting wherever the greatest benefit can be delivered, whether that’s the adviser journey or post-trade processing, while ensuring new modules don’t become fresh silos through shared definitions, clear record ownership and open interfaces.
Tieto points to one client that had accumulated multiple product platforms and five separate trading systems over decades of growth, with no unified customer or investment overview. A staged transformation preserved existing consolidated reporting while enabling new engagement models, offering three broader lessons: value should be created without disrupting continuity, information should flow as a single trusted stream across execution, settlement, reconciliation and reporting, and governance must be embedded into every API, event and workflow from the outset.
Wealth managers are urged to identify their biggest pain points first, assessing each against customer, growth and oversight outcomes before committing to a modernisation project. Tieto also flags the ongoing shift of service coverage from MFEX to Euroclear FundsPlace as a lifecycle break with significant implications for institutional mutual fund trade flows, one its Wealth Engine platform is designed to address without compromising business continuity.
Ultimately, Tieto frames platform selection as a partnership decision as much as a software one, requiring providers who understand the full retail and institutional lifecycle and can sequence migration around operational readiness.
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