The global wealth management industry is rebounding, but new money is scarce and costs are rising, suggests a new survey.

The survey from London’s Scorpio Partnership finds that assets under management (AUM) by the world’s private banking industry surged by a median of 17% in 2009, pushing industry high-net worth AUM to US$16.5 trillion. But, despite the impressive increase in assets, the firm says that “the health of the industry is far from good.”

Scorpio says that costs are rising and efficiency is falling. Moreover, net new money is proving elusive. It reports that the median inflow across all institutions in its survey is US$900 million for 2009, which is a decline of 60% from 2008 data.

“The wealth management engine is still misfiring for many. On the one hand the asset management machine is working and this is shoring up numbers. While, for virtually all banks, in terms of attracting new business it has been a case of ‘net no money’,” said Sebastian Dovey, managing partner.

“Significantly, our global HNW data shows there are strong signs of wealth creation even in these complex markets and yet new clients are still holding back from opening accounts with the industry.”

Scorpio also estimates that the real total HNW market opportunity is US$26 trillion, implying that there is approximately US$10 trillion of HNW assets that could be advised by banks but is not currently in the sector. “Capturing these assets is real answer for industry recovery,” it says.

Moreover, while industry assets are up 17%, a global benchmark, the MSCI World Index, was up 27% over the same period, suggesting the industry lagged the market rebound.

RBC a new entrant in top 10 private banking operations

The survey reports that the top 10 firms in the business control an aggregate 64% market share. The only Canadian firm on that list is Royal Bank, ranking its private banking operation as seventh largest in the world, with US$379 billion in assets. RBC is a new entrant in the firm’s list, thanks to “an improved level of transparency in its financial reporting for global private banking.”

Bank of America ranks first with US$1.74 trillion in assets, UBS is second at almost $1.6 trillion, and Morgan Stanley is third at US$1.5 trillion. Scorpio notes that UBS is “performing relatively strongly compared to its peers and at a business model level the Swiss house appears relatively healthy. Morgan Stanley experienced a notable surge, up four places, following its deal with Citibank for the Smith Barney business.” Wells Fargo is back in fourth place with US$1.2 trillion in AUM, and from there its a large drop to Credit Suisse in fifth spot with US$775 billion in AUM.

“The premier league of wealth managers have virtually all benefited from strong asset management performance during the past financial year with most in the top 20 posting double digit asset growth. Banks outside the top 100 are starting to show signs of prolonged suffering as NNM and real profits are in decline,” said Stephen Wall, director at Scorpio Partnership.

IE