A boom in Artificial Intelligence is opening up another yawning skills gap in the wealth management industry.

A third of private wealth managers in a recent poll said they put Artificial Intelligence above cyber-security, blockchain, app development and data analytics in dealing with the flood of fintech solutions being rolled out to streamline the industry and keep up with client demands, a new survey reveals.

In a poll of over 500 private wealth executives by the services group Intertrust, almost half (49 per cent) of wealth management firms said that securing Regtech and compliance expertise is still their biggest concern, and is becoming increasingly intertwined with specific fintech advances.

The survey aimed at gauging the impact of disruptive technology on jobs and skills in the sector pinpoints AI as a major challenge and opportunity, with over a third (36 per cent) of respondents saying they are struggling to recruit and capitalize on the technology. Cybersecurity was the second biggest worry in securing talent, followed by blockchain, API development and data analytics. (API stands for "application programme interface" - a set of routines, programmes and tools that allow different systems to integrate with each other.)

Surveys are trotted out regularly exposing how vulnerable the wealth management industry is to skills shortages and the agility to create better client services and reporting methods where tech is instrumental. These shortcomings generally go hand in hand with the industry also confessing that there is little urgency to bring on the appropriate talent at senior and board level to drive these changes.

Almost half the executives in this latest probe said their organisation did not see the need to recruit tech talent or invest in internal training programmes in the immediate future. 

On the upside, nearly 20 percent said they were in the process of securing technical staff at a senior level, while nearly a quarter thought their firms were planning to do so in the near future. Even those on the front foot admitted that recruiting at this level was a challenge.

 “The private wealth industry is facing a growing need for technology-led changes driven by client expectations and the pressures of dealing with an ever-changing and demanding regulatory regime,” said Ian Rumens, global head of private wealth at Intertrust.

The survey highlights the need to bring on talent at a senior level and train existing staff with in-demand skills in order to stay ahead of the tech curve, he said.