The wealth and asset management industry has long been a cornerstone of global finance, offering a wide array of services that cater to the investment needs of individuals and institutions. This sector is characterized by its intricate nature, constantly evolving with market trends, regulatory changes, and technological advancements. As the industry navigates through challenges such as margin compression, the shift to passive investments, and high operational costs, it continues to seek innovative solutions to enhance efficiency and deliver superior client outcomes. The integration of artificial intelligence and data analytics is poised to revolutionize this sector further, driving more informed and strategic decision-making processes.
Mark Thomas, the Chief Strategy Officer, epitomizes the expertise and strategic foresight necessary to thrive in this complex industry. His journey began with an internship at Orn Capital, followed by significant roles at Accenture and Alpha FMC, where he honed his skills in client service, analysis, and strategic consulting. Mark’s academic background and professional experiences fueled his passion for asset and wealth management, driving his career progression and establishing him as a thought leader adept at tackling multifaceted challenges and nurturing stakeholder alignment.
Currently, Mark leads strategic initiatives at abrdn, a company renowned for its commitment to client service and innovative investment solutions. Under his guidance, abrdn employs advanced technologies and a client-centric approach to empower investors and deliver tailored financial solutions. By maintaining a forward-thinking perspective and adapting to industry shifts, abrdn continues to set benchmarks in the asset management sector, ensuring that it meets the evolving complex needs of its diverse clientele while upholding a high standard of excellence and integrity.
Let’s explore Mark’s journey in the complex world of wealth and asset management:
Strategic Evolution in the Financial Sector
Mark’s professional journey began with an internship at a small hedge fund called Orn Capital in 2007, where he gained experience in operations and marketing. After completing his university degree in business, he joined Accenture, where he honed basic consulting skills and focused on analysis, client service, and delivery.
His interest in the complexity of the Asset and Wealth Management industry led him to join boutique consultancy Alpha FMC, where he worked with a wide range of Asset Managers to help them improve their businesses. His experience and expertise in strategy eventually led him to his current role at abrdn.
From Academia to Industry
Mark’s interest in the wealth and asset management industry was sparked by a combination of personal and professional experiences. While studying at the university, he found himself drawn to financial modules and enjoyed dabbling in light-touch investing on the side. However, it was through his consulting work and MBA that his passion for the business side of the industry truly blossomed.
He was fascinated by the challenge of creating and sustaining a successful business within the complex world of Asset and Wealth Management. Over the years, his career has evolved as he has gained experience and expertise in various aspects of the industry.
Decision-Making Amid Uncertainty in Finance
Alongside some luck, a strong interest in the industry, and plenty of mentorship along the way, Mark’s curiosity to tackle complex problems and put in the work to find solutions has been key. He thoroughly enjoys problem solving, and that’s key to delivering results. He loves to work with people and communicate ideas and analysis to align diverse stakeholders. Additionally, he can make decisions based on a combination of facts, experience and intuition, even when dealing with uncertainty.
Balancing Analytics and People Skills in Finance
Mark focuses as best as he can on numbers, data, and facts; these are his critical sources for decision-making. Long meetings can be turned into quick ones when the facts are produced, so he always tries to understand the truths that are available to him when considering problems and important decisions.
On the flip side of this analytical work is the people aspect, and so understanding who he needs to work with or convince, the skills he needs to harness, and their specific styles and perspectives are critical to developing and securing the right outcomes for the business.
Navigating Key Challenges in the Industry
According to Mark, the following strategies are essential for addressing the most significant challenges currently facing the wealth and asset management industry:
- Margin compression in active management: The solution tends to be to move more into Private Assets, but this is not the only solution. Another solution can simply be to focus on areas of strength and scale or where one can foreseeably sustain good margins.
- The continued shift to passives: A trend likely to continue, especially as AI begins to get more widely applied to Passive or semi-passive investing. The solution can again be to look at where Passives will struggle to replicate—the more specialist end of investments across asset classes, which is a strength of abrdn.
- High-cost bases across businesses: Businesses must look to technology to help drive costs down. The industry has been slow-moving in this regard, but we are starting to see some progress, particularly through the application of AI.
Technology will drive Significant, Disruptive Change
In his view, what will come as little surprise is that Gen AI and technology supporting automation will fundamentally change the industry. This will impact organizations across their value chain and disrupt the traditional ways of doing things. For adoption to take hold, it will require openness to solutions and a cultural willingness to change from Mark’s perspective.
The focus will turn to rapid and tailored product development, exceptional client service supported by data insights, and automated data-driven investment processes that lead to outperformance.
Excellence in Client Service
Abrdn prides itself on client service and receives a lot of positive feedback on the quality and care that goes into its service and relationship management. It will continue to deliver this by having strong, dedicated teams and technology to deliver a tailored client experience and partnering with clients to ensure that it delivers against their objectives. Abrdn’s goal is always to make its clients better investors.
An Industry to be Shaped by a Range of Forces and Trends
He believes it’s a fascinating time for the industry, which is being buffeted by macroeconomics, geopolitical tensions, a year of widespread impactful elections, and central bank policies. The US continues to show resilient growth, while APAC and other EM markets continue to hold long-term growth potential due to favorable demographics and technology adoption.
European and APAC investors continue to favor sustainability, which has become a polarizing view in the US. All of which is to say, Mark believes that one needs to align tactical and strategic business exposures in line with these ongoing and anticipated developments.
In terms of asset class-specific trends, the focus for many active managers is on developing capabilities where growth is in-flight and expected. In Equities, these are primarily Tech, Healthcare, and green energy.
Private Markets continue to showcase strong growth prospects due to higher margins and other larger themes, such as the transition to green energy. In multi-asset, we see continued demand in Model Porftolio Solutions, which are proving particularly important as the Financial investing become ever more democratised. In Fixed Income, Mark sees an opportunity for active managers in high yield and Emerging Market Debt.
Managing Risk as an Organisational Priority
For Mark, it’s all about establishing a strong risk management culture across the firm. Everyone in the organization has a crucial role to play in this, supported by skilled risk and compliance teams. It is these teams who establish and run robust processes at all levels, deliver training, and know how to handle risks.
This enables the whole organization to identify, manage, and mitigate risks and issues as and when they arise. It’s critical that organizations stay abreast of the latest regulatory developments and can quickly adjust their businesses to reflect what is required by the regulator. Maintaining a dialogue with the regulator is equally helpful to ensure that the business is well understood.
Guiding Principles for Aspiring Professionals
Mark’s advice to aspiring professionals looking to pursue a career in wealth and asset management is, “Perception becomes a reality—always make a good impression and become known for reliably delivering high-quality work. Be proactive and deliver everything you agree to to a high standard. Simply put, make sure you stand out for high quality.”
“Read and be curious; do your best to understand the industry, its participants, and its challenges, and readily ask questions. It is an industry full of jargon and complexity that many people find challenging to simplify.”
Mark believes that there are no stupid questions, so if you don’t understand something, don’t stay quiet!
