Prominent wealth management consultant Bruce Weatherill is launching a global survey of the industry, asking professionals and their clients on what must be done to regain trust, an issue that frequently gains top billing as a concern for the industry.

Weatherill’s eponymous Bruce Weatherill Executive Consulting firm is running the survey, aiming to be complete and published by June this year. The exercise is sponsored by IBM, the global consultancy.

Among the issues addressed in the survey:

-- How successful has the wealth management industry been in rebuilding "trusted advisor status" with clients?

-- What do clients feel are the components of "trust" and are wealth managers living up to expectations?

-- What are the key challenges that wealth managers are addressing in rebuilding trusted advisor status?

-- Has new regulation really benefited clients or stifled the industry?

-- Why do clients chose to stay with and leave wealth managers?

-- How do these trends differ in different geographies and individual countries?

The survey, according to a statement from Weatherill’s firm, aims to “offer a 360-degree view of the wealth management industry, with responses from high net worth individuals and families as well as executives at family offices, trust companies, wealth managers and private banks of all sizes”.

Among other features, results will be made available by geography and individual countries where adequate replies have been received so enabling the data and report to be relevant to practitioners around the world.

Responses to the survey are confidential. Here is a link to surveys for clients and here is a link to wealth management professionals. People will be asked for their email address (optional) only if they want to take part in a prize draw for bottles of champagne and wine and if they want to receive a pdf copy of the report when it is issued. The global report will be otherwise available online and at no cost.

Weatherill has a long track record in the industry; he carried out such surveys on the sector for 10 years as global leader of PwC’s wealth management practice and in 2009 with Dow Jones. In the latest survey, ClearView Financial Media, publisher of WealthBriefing and other wealth management websites, will be acting as media partner.

If people want to fill in a paper copy, send an email to survey@bruceweatherill.com to receive a form to complete or a link to a word document to print out. The completed paper questionnaire can then be sent by post to:

Bruce Weatherill Executive Consulting Limited,

2011 Survey, c/o,

 8 Laurence Pountney Hill,

London, EC4R OBE