AI exposes wealth advisers’ 70% admin drag

Deloitte says relationship work takes only about 30% of current schedules.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could significantly increase adviser productivity in the wealth management industry, as wealth advisers currently spend nearly 70% of their time on administrative and operational tasks, leaving only about 30% for client engagement and relationship management.

According to the Deloitte Centre for Financial Services’ “The agentic AI productivity wave is heading for wealth management”, this could potentially free up time for client-facing work and expand firms' capacity to manage assets.

Deloitte estimates that AI-driven productivity gains could increase adviser capacity by around 30% to 100% by 2032. 

This could free up between 25% and 50% of adviser time currently spent on lower-value tasks.

The increase in productivity could allow the industry to manage an additional $10t to $35t in assets under management (AUM). 

Based on typical advisory fees of 1% of AUM, this could generate between $100b and $350b in annual revenue.

The report noted that the extent of these gains will depend on how firms use the additional capacity, whether through acquiring new clients, providing more services, or improving operational efficiency. 

Regulatory approaches to AI will also influence outcomes.

Deloitte said AI is already helping advisers reduce manual work, but results are likely to vary depending on three factors: advisers' willingness to adopt AI tools, firms' ability to redesign processes and controls, and the readiness of their technology infrastructure.

Amongst these factors, the report identified technology systems as a key determinant of success, noting that fragmented data and poorly integrated systems could limit AI adoption even where firms and advisers are supportive.

Deloitte's analysis outlines three stages of AI adoption. In the early stage, where AI mainly serves as an assistive tool, adviser productivity could improve by about 32%. 

In the expanding stage, where AI copilots are embedded into workflows and governance frameworks support limited delegation, productivity gains could rise to around 57%.

In the most advanced AI-native stage, productivity gains could reach approximately 103%. 

At this level, advisers oversee AI systems that manage preparation, monitoring and routine servicing tasks.